Sharon Cuneta: I’ve my mother’s face, arms, skin, clavicles

FAMILY OF STARS Elaine Gamboa-Cuneta with daughter Sharon Cuneta, sisterHelen Gamboa—both singers and actresses—and brother-in-law Sen. Tito Sotto, a former movie and television actor. The widow of former Pasay City Mayor Pablo Cuneta died at noon yesterday after a lingering illness. ARNOLD ALMACEN

(Editor’s Note: Sharon Cuneta posted the following on Facebook on Sept. 12.)

From her I got my face, my arms, my clavicles (:-)), my skin, my hands and fingers, my manners.

I didn’t get her pagka-vanidosa (healthily vain, not conceitedly!) or her legs, and her feet and toes are (a bit :-)) prettier than mine. We are different in our ways of thinking (I have taken after my father in that area).

She has always been a señorita/señora (Daddy’s fault—he spoiled her and never wanted her to work!), and though she and my Daddy gave me everything that probably spoiled me, they made sure I didn’t turn out to be a brat.

In fact, I turned out to be a hard worker, refusing to depend on anyone for my bread and butter, and the things I want as well as need. From them both I believe I got a “big” heart. From them both I learned how to get along with people of all kinds of social standing—(often) respecting, sometimes learning from the mistakes of those above us, and to be kind and just as respectful to those less fortunate than we. To “see” people not by what they have but instead, by their hearts. She is “masungit” but nice, and I was born smiling and friendly!

She was a firstborn, I was born last. She taught me how to cook, she played the piano while I sang. She is funny, so my brother and I are, too. She is my mother. Elaine Gamboa-Cuneta. And I love her very much.

Pain, fears and hopes

On Wednesday, Elaine Gamboa-Cuneta died of a lingering illness at the age of 79.

Bayani San Diego Jr. of the Inquirer Entertainment staff wrote:

Although she is a confessed daddy’s girl, singer-actress Sharon Cuneta once said she was able to dote on her mother for the past few years since her father, former Pasay City Mayor Pablo Cuneta, passed away 14 years ago.

In the past few years, she would take her on long trips—on family vacations and when she had concert tours here and abroad.

In a 2006 interview, she related that she once told her mom of a plan to build a home in Laguna province.

Sharon’s mom retorted: “But would I ever get to see it?”

The casual remark hit Sharon hard and she had the house built with dispatch so her mom would have the chance to enjoy the laid-back pace of living in the province.

For the past few months, while her mother was confined in the hospital, Sharon would write short notes to share her pain, fears and hopes, with her Facebook friends.

Sharon’s mother passed away 2:05 p.m. Wednesday, after a lingering illness. She would have turned 80 on Dec. 31.

Fighting heart

In one Facebook post, Sharon recalled that her mother had been a fighter throughout her ordeal. “Mama has a really strong, fighting heart. Guess it runs in the family,” Sharon said on Facebook.

At first, doctors had suspected cancer.

In a previous interview, Sharon recalled that she was 11 when her mom survived a bout with breast cancer.

“She had a mastectomy,” she related in a 2003 Inquirer story. “She went to Houston for chemotherapy for two years. I heard the doctors and my relatives drop words like ‘malignant’ … Miraculously enough, she got well. If I had lost my mother (as a child), I don’t know how my life would have turned out.”

Her mom’s cancer crisis came a year before Sharon joined show business.

When Sharon won as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in 2004, her mother told the Inquirer: “I am proud of my daughter. She makes lots of Filipinos, here and in other countries, happy through her movies and songs.”

In a text message, Francis Pangilinan, Sharon’s husband and presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernization, told the Inquirer that the family is still finalizing details at press time, but the wake begins Thursday at Santuario de San Antonio, McKinley Road, Forbes Park, Makati City.

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