Angeline Quinto (right) with Mama Bob
It has been seven years since Angeline Quinto popularized “Patuloy ang Pangarap”—her winning piece in the talent search, “Star Power.” But it’s surprising and heartening to know, she related, that the ballad continues to inspire people to this day.
The messages she recently received on Instagram, from overseas Filipino workers in Dubai, were especially “touching.”
“I was going through my inbox one time, and saw messages from a group of friends working abroad. They confided in me that they were feeling homesick; that their lives have been extremely difficult. But as much as they wanted to go home, they have no choice but to stay because they needed their jobs,” she related.
“But hearing ‘Patuloy ang Pangarap,’ they told me, made them hopeful and feel better about their situation,” Angeline told the Inquirer in a recent interview. “It became their theme song. And they promised to watch me perform, should I find myself doing a show there. They were so grateful to me. I couldn’t help but feel emotional.”
Such moments, she said, only reaffirm what she believes is her purpose as an artist.
“I wasn’t able to finish my studies. I didn’t experience having a regular office job. But maybe I was born to be a singer and inspire other people through music,” the 28-year-old recording artist said. “It’s important to know one’s purpose in life. I believe that this is mine. And I hope to sing as long as I can.”
Quinto (left) with her superhero
Aside from her loyal fans, it’s her adoptive mother, Sylvia Quinto, who continues to be Angeline’s source of strength—the reason she works as hard as she does.
“She’s my superhero,” she said of her mom, whom she fondly calls Mama Bob. “From a young age, I already knew about her sacrifices and strength. I didn’t have my biological parents growing up. But she raised me like I was her own… with Mama Bob, I feel complete.”
Thus, Angeline vowed to give her 100 percent in everything she does, so she could give Mama Bob the comfortable life “she deserves.” “She had been working all her life, so I just want her [to have] time to just rest and enjoy life,” she said. “Now it’s my turn to work and give her the nice things I have been wanting her to have.”
Angeline isn’t one to entertain bashers. But it’s an entirely different story, she stressed, if her family gets dragged into the fray. “I don’t make a big deal out of issues or intrigues. But keep my family and my loved ones out of it,” said Angeline, who, earlier this year, filed cyberbullying charges against netizens who threatened her and her mother, following rumors that she laughed at a video of Sarah Geronimo’s onstage “breakdown.”
“I don’t want anyone stepping on her (Mama Bob) name just because of fake news,” she added. “That’s why I wanted to take a stand.”
Meanwhile, Angeline revealed that she plans to work on a new album about women empowerment and that she’s part of the upcoming movie adaptation of the musical, “Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady,” which will also feature Sam Milby, Lovi Poe and Solenn Heussaff.