Peers and directors remember AJ Perez

FAME was almost within reach.

Peers and directors pointed out that the 18-year-old actor AJ Perez was being groomed as ABS-CBN’s “next important star,” when his life was cut short in a road mishap.

AJ Perez was being groomed as ABS-CBN’s “next important star.”

A movie with Star Cinema was already in the works, and he was given the lead role in a special episode of the drama anthology “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” which will air on April 30, episode director Dado Lumibao told Inquirer Entertainment.

In the Lenten episode, Perez plays an impoverished boy who walks from Manila to Samar.

“It would be our tribute to him,” Lumibao said.

It was a tough four-day taping, Lumibao recalled. “We had to travel from Laguna to Sorsogon. In most of his scenes, AJ had to walk under the hot sun or the pouring rain. But I never heard him complain. He was a pro.”

Filmmaker Jeffrey Jeturian, who also worked with Perez in “Maalaala Mo Kaya” years ago, recalled: “He was a newcomer then, but he struck me as a serious young guy who was determined to make it as an actor in the industry.”

Filmmaker Jose Javier Reyes, who directed the teen actor in the Metro Manila Film Festival movies “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo,” “Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo” and “Magkaibigan,” remembered congratulating Perez’s dad Gerry on Facebook because the kid had just finished high school from La Salle Green Hills and planned to take up Marketing at the De La Salle University Taft.

“He valued education,” said filmmaker Francis Xavier Pasion who directed Perez in the ABS-CBN soap opera “Sabel.”

Don Cuaresma, Pasion’s fellow director on “Sabel,” recounted: “After work, even if we packed up at 4 a.m., he would go straight to his class at 7 a.m. After school he would report to our set in Pagsanjan, Laguna, still in his school uniform. Between takes, he would study and finish his assignments.”

Pasion remembered the first time he noticed Perez at the time the latter was launched with other Star Magic talents over five years ago.

“[Director] Olivia Lamasan singled him out, saying that he has the makings of another Rico Yan,” Pasion said.

Yan was another Lasallian and young achiever who passed away at a young age.

Johnny Manahan, head of Star Magic, said: “We share his family’s deep-felt sorrow and will miss him.”

“ASAP” costar Julia Montes called Perez “a true gentleman.” (Montes was supposed to costar with Perez in a Star Cinema movie.)

Comedienne Eugene Domingo, who played Perez’s mom in “Mamarazzi,” said: “He was hardworking, respectful and cooperative. I will always remember him as a sweet boy.”

Joseph Marco, Perez’s “Sabel” costar, said that he is “thankful that he got to meet and befriend someone like AJ who was sincere.”

Marco expressed sadness because a number of Star Magic talents won’t able to attend the wake “because we are in the US for a tour.”

Cuaresma said it was Jessy Mendiola, Perez’s partner in “Sabel,” who confirmed the news to him. “Jessy was crying on the phone.”

Brief encounter

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old fan who shared the stage with Perez on Saturday night, a few hours before the young actor died, could not believe that her idol was gone.

Perez chose Maria Victoria Perez (no relation to the late actor) from among the audience at the city plaza in Dagupan, Pangasinan, for the Kapamilya Caravan show where the actor made his final appearance before he died in a road accident in Tarlac at past 12 a.m. on Sunday.

During the show, Perez mingled with the audience and picked Maria Victoria from the crowd, knelt before her and sang “Alipin.” He hugged her and held her close throughout the performance.

Her relatives said she could not contain her excitement from the experience that she woke up her siblings and cousins when she got home to tell them that AJ Perez sang to her.

That same night, she posted on her Facebook account the photographs taken during the show.

On Sunday morning, she was having breakfast with her family when an uncle arrived and broke the news that Perez died when the van his group was riding in collided with a bus in Moncada, Tarlac.

When she checked her Facebook account, she saw a cousin’s comment on her photograph with the actor: “Patay na si AJ.”

Her father, Jessie, said his daughter could not stop crying for hours. “Idol niya talaga (He was really her idol). She kept asking me to bring her to the show [in Dagupan] when she learned that AJ would perform there,” he said.

“When we were on our way home after the show, she even asked me if we can invite him to her debut three years from now. She told me to save money for his talent fee,” Jessie said.

The wake for Perez was moved yesterday from La Salle Green Hills to Christ the King Church in Greenmeadows, Quezon City. With a report from Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon