INDAY Badiday danny cinco
Although Mother’s Day is over, I still want to pay tribute to my late great mom, Inday Badiday (or Ate Luds). Shouldn’t we honor our moms every single day and not just on a single day in May? Many of her fans have been prodding me to write a book about my SuperwoMOM. But until that happens, allow me to share with you some amusing and amazing show biz anecdotes that she told me. I hope that the celebs I mentioned here won’t mind. It’s all in the spirit of fun because my mom always loved a good laugh. Her infectious laughter still reverberates in my heart. She was the ultimate chronicler of celebs’ lives and loves. I am more than proud to call her mom. If I could choose to be anything in this lifetime, I would still choose to be her daughter.
Priceless memoirs
When Nora Aunor was not in the mood to be interviewed by colegialas, she would pretend she had no voice and then motion to my Ma to answer on her behalf.
As the first lady radio (AM) supervisor, Ma paid Joey de Leon (who was one of her DJs) a surprise visit in the radio booth once because she was wondering why Joey was hardly talking on the air and was just playing music. It turned out Joey was busy entertaining female fans.
JOEY de Leon
When Ma invited Alma Moreno to be a guest in the boxing match that my Tito Tad had mounted, they had to drop by a salon to have Alma’s thick eyebrows shaved.
One of Ma’s all-time fave answers in her countless interviews with the stars was Tito Eddie Garcia’s reply when she asked if he was billing-conscious. He said, “It doesn’t matter to me where they place my name as long as they spell it correctly.”
The first time she met Robin Padilla when Deo Fajardo brought him to her office, Ma immediately said that he struck her as a “male Nora Aunor in the making.”
Ma could not stop laughing when she recalled one interview with a character actor. She had a hard time concentrating because she was distracted by the big booger in his nose but was too shy to tell him about it.
Ma also laughed uncontrollably when she recounted how Tito Ike Lozada suddenly “disappeared” on stage. He was so heavy, the floor gave in and he fell into the hole.
A comedienne friend requested Ma to send her flowers with a note that said, “I love you more than he does.” She wanted to make her boyfriend jealous. Ma gamely played along.
Ma loved telling the story of how she got her fave YSL towels. When an actress opened a gift and saw YSL embroided on the towels, she told Ma: “My initials are not YSL; you can have these.”
NORA Aunor
Ma was reprimanded by Kuya Germs (German Moreno) when their shooting in Hawaii was delayed because they could not locate her. She had left the set without telling anyone that she was going to watch the shooting of one of her fave shows, “Hawaii Five-O.”
• Ma’s gauge if the masa would be able to relate to an issue she was discussing was our househelp, Tasing. She used to say, “Naku! Di ’yan maintindihan ni Tasing!” Tasing served as Ma’s clown. Ma totally cracked us up when she told us about the time she asked Tasing, who looked so tired with her three kids in tow, “Maganda ba ang movie na pinanuod n’yo?” Tasing replied: “Naku, Ate Luds, di kami nakapanood kasi yung passes na bigay nyo ay para sa ANY Theater. Inikot na namin ang buong Cubao, wala kaming mahanap na theater na ang pangalan ay ANY.
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PERSONAL: Muchisimas Gracias to Joey Sarmiento and lawyers Ferdie Topacio and Cris Villalobos for their kind assistance over and beyond the call of duty.