Khalil Ramos
“A long-distance relationship (LDR) is the worst,” said Khalil Ramos, who stars in the first of five episodes of “The Ampalaya Chronicles,” when asked to recall a past incident that made him feel bitter toward another person.“It’s like you want to do everything for that person because you care for her, but all the forces of nature are going against it,” he told reporters on Thursday night. “It’s like a ticking time bomb. When the feeling actually explodes, that’s when you feel bitterness. But how can you make her feel that you’re bitter when she’s so far away?” asked Khalil, adding that the relationship, which happened when he was in high school lasted for only eight months. The girl had to relocate to the United States.
“There’s no more bitterness now. I’m in a relationship that’s very sweet,” declared Khalil. He is dating actress Gabbi Garcia and will celebrate their third anniversary next month.
Khalil, meanwhile, celebrated with Gabbi his 24th birthday recently. “I told her I wanted to start the decade by learning new things, and she knew that I’ve always wanted to learn alternative brewing of coffee. I’m a coffee connoisseur, so we went to a coffee school. They even taught us to plant coffee beans. Those were very useful information, but I don’t think I’d put up my own coffee place any time soon,” he declared.
He also said he spent his birthday thinking about his “plans for 2020, for the coming years and decade. I want more clarity, more guidance toward the path that I want to take, in terms of my career. Thankfully, I’m blessed with a family that’s very loving and problem-free, not to mention a relationship that I truly treasure.”
Khalil said he hoped to release an album with Cornerstone, his talent management company. “I don’t write music. I find it quite difficult to express myself musically. It’s where I know I needed that extra help. I hope we could begin putting up a team to produce music for me this year. I really want to return to singing,” he added.
He is currently part of the ABS-CBN rom-com series “Make It With You,” where he plays Sputnik, a lawyer and a childhood friend of Liza Soberano’s character, Billy.
“I like the character because being a lawyer is something I haven’t experienced before. I have a lot of lines and scenes that felt ‘very corporate.’ People have yet to see these scenes on TV. The story will unravel as the show progresses. I would say that this is one of my more serious characters, it’s just that the approach is very light. The show in general is heartwarming, cute and charming,” he said.”
We can also see Khalil on the streaming app iWant via the series “Ampalaya Chronicles,” particularly in the episode titled “Adik,” which is based on the best-selling book and stage performances of curated spoken-word poems by Mark Ghosn (“Ampalaya Monologues”).“Adik” revolves around shy yet romantic poet Carlo, who only wishes to get close to his longtime crush Nina (Elisse Joson). He luckily gets his chance when Nina approaches him, hoping he could help her write and perform poems for her talent portion in an upcoming beauty contest. As the two get closer, Carlo can’t help but hope that Nina also develops feelings for him.
“It’s important for me to be able to study and get to know Carlo and his inspiration behind this. We’ve been talking since our look-test session and storycon,” said Khalil of Carlo Hornilla, the spoken word artist whose piece, “Adik,” became the basis of the episode.
“We also focused on his accent, because Carlo is Batangueño. We wanted to be as true to Carlo’s story as possible. It’s my duty as an actor to fulfill that. The performances required a lot of rehearsing. I haven’t experienced spoken word or any kind of poetry before. I had to understand the rhythm. Carlo’s writing has its own beat. His style is rap. I had to work around that, so I’d be able to portray the character correctly,” Khalil explained.
He said he could relate to his character in many ways. “You can see that he’s intimidated with Elisse, who is his dream girl, someone who is way out of his league,” he said. “I’ve had my fair share of that in the past. Whatever he went through, I had the same experience.”
As to what the young audience would pick up from the story, Khalil said: “It’s a matter of picking yourself up, of bouncing back. These experiences will fuel you, will give you the strength to show the world who you really are.”
“Adik” is directed by Real Florido, written by Florence Henzon and produced by Firestarters Production. INQ