Piolo Pascual is singing god knows what from a makeshift dressing room atop a loft at this racing-themed cafe in Alabang. So that's what Ibarra is going to sound like. He's dressed in a white shirt, slacks, and decent leather dress shoes, an assistant and a stylist clinging to his side. He's a busy, busy man who acts like he's been here before and that's because he has.
Close to three decades in the limelight does that to you, I suppose. It's the day of the shoot and everyone here is in the presence of the Pascual mythos. There is no camera he hasn't seen before, no scene he hasn't yet unraveled, and this day should be no different. A legend is as a legend does. The mythology, indeed, matches the eye test.
Think back to the first time you ever heard about the name Piolo Pascual. This was right before the fascination of his stardom became a national pastime. Before people were arguing for him as the Philippines' closest thing to a Brad Pitt. There was a time when we simply knew him as just a gorgeous man. And he was. He still is. Papa P makes sense on a visceral level as a celebrity because he was a bona fide pretty boy who felt distinctly Filipino somehow. There was a crisp, golden, brown everyday-man sexiness to the guy you just couldn't ignore. The mole on the left side of his face might have something to do with it.
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"I always say, 'I hope this [role] will bring out another side of me as a performer. I want to be able to at least just do roles or choose the roles that I know would benefit cinema."
It wasn't just that, of course. There was always something more. After his days as a bit player in the '90s, a decade dominated by the Rico Yans, Marvin Agustins, and Diether Ocampos of the world, Pascual would come to own the 2000s for that ineffable charm. The 5'10" macho frame came with it, too. Maybe you remember his early entry into the celebrity zeitgeist with the Hunks. This was when he, Carlos Agassi, Diether Ocampo, Jericho Rosales, and Bernard Palanca, among others, were taking their shirts off on ASAP, to the delight of our neighbors, sisters, aunties, and mothers.
Jacket by Cerruti 1881; shirt by Van Laack. PHOTO: KOJI ARBOLEDA
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You might have also recognized him then from Mel Chionglo's 2000 film Lagarista. If you got past the nudity, you knew that the real highlight of that film was Pascual displaying the quintessential on-screen presence that would make him a megastar. Written by the great Ricky Lee, the story revolves around Pascual as Gregory, who peddled his way through Manila to transport film reels and, yeah, do some "extra service" here and there. The film was more about the history of modern Filipino cinema than just that. Right there functioning as a driver of this narration was Pascual. He'd be part of that tradition soon enough.
Or, perhaps, you best knew of him with his dazzling performance as Jules in Chito Roño's Dekada '70 in 2002, where he bagged eight Best Supporting Actor awards in the process. He sparred with his gargantuan co-stars, screen heavyweights like Christopher De Leon and Vilma Santos. Suffice it to say, he more than held his own.
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When he got matched with Judy Ann Santos, Pascual would become a definitive household name. Talk about a powerhouse tandem in the 2000s. Their string of movies together, which includes personal favorites Don't Give Up on Us and Till There Was You, was pure box office. Oh, and how can we ever forget about Milan? "Mahal mo ba ako dahil kailangan mo ako, o kailangan mo ako kaya mahal mo ako?" Damn, Jenny (Claudine Baretto). The actor became a leading man among leading men. A man among boys.
"I've seen myself lose my temper. I've seen myself be victorious. I've seen myself feel defeated. But it's all part of it. It's all part of having to get back up and rise again and be better."
Dozens of films, soap operas, and accolades later, he's doing just fine as a Filipino celebrity culture bearer. Over the course of the past 25 years, not much has changed in our showbiz landscape. The sun still rises in the morning, tabloids spread (un)founded rumors on the streets that spread like wildfire, and Pascual is as big a star as he's always been, albeit now being an elder statesman for the industry. Truth be told, it's gotten a little boring somehow. Hell, even Pascual knows that. It is that same boredom that has helped him find new life.
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“The funny thing is, before I reached 40, I was thinking I already hit the glass ceiling in terms of the roles that I was taking on,” he says, talking about his past experience as an “exclusive talent” in the network system. "And little did I know, after I hit 40, I was like, ‘How could I even think or how could I even limit myself if there are still a lot of other roles that I could actually possibly take on?’”
There's an argument to be made that we have yet to see the best Pascual can be as a character actor. We find Pascual taking on much more daring ventures as of late. He's gone long cinema with Lav Diaz, done ambitious neo-noir political thrillers with Erik Matti, and is about to dip his toes into the Filipino New Wave with Brillante Mendoza.
“You know, being in this business so long, I'm privileged to be given a chance to explore, to be able to kind of get myself out of the comfort zone, get myself out of the shell, and try other things," he adds. "You want to be able to not just reinvent yourself, but really just get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to do something you haven't done before."
Part of the privilege of his stardom these days is getting to really think about the kind of characters he wants to play. "I get a lot of offers but, as adventurous as I am, sometimes I take on roles that were forced upon me back in the day. But now, at least I'm able to choose some roles that I can say would fit me well. I always say, 'I hope this [role] will bring out another side of me as a performer. I want to be able to at least just do roles or choose the roles that I know would benefit cinema."
"If you're just going to make me feel or look dumb, then you're just wasting my time."
When you come to see a Pascual film, you have to understand the star's own calculations. He has the production down to a science, apparently. "I'm making sure it's only 90 minutes if it's not a period film. And if it's a rom-com, it has to be less than 90 minutes. I'm all about the beats (the rhythm of the production, if you will). I take it upon myself to really make sure that whatever I'm doing with the help of our team, we make it worth your while."
Pascual warns casting directors, too. "If you're just going to make me feel or look dumb, then you're just wasting my time."
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Shirt by Van Laack. PHOTO: KOJI ARBOLEDA
Even during the COVID-19 health crisis, Pascual wasted no time filming. Even then, he was busy shooting two unreleased films. Upcoming films like The Ride and psycho-thriller Mallari, about the serial killer priest, are just the tip of the iceberg for this next chapter in the 46-year-old's career. He says that he has a lot more projects lined up that he can't delve into yet as of this writing. Pascual can never say no to a great role, after all.
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"Being in the midst of the pandemic made me realize a lot of things, made me grateful, and made me want to anticipate what could happen next. Getting out of the pandemic, all the offers came in, and I'm a sucker for good stories. When you give me or offer me or pitch me something that I can't resist, I'll make sure I'll make it happen."
Yes, this includes the theater. Pascual will be entering previously uncharted territory with his role in Ibarra, the award-winning musical, this year. This is his first time doing theater work since college. "It's been a while. What a shame," he tells Esquire Philippines, reminiscing about his start on stage.
PHOTO: KOJI ARBOLEDA
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At the University of Santo Tomas, Pascual was part of the prestigious Teatro Tomasino some 30 years ago. That was sort of his launching pad into showbiz. "Most of my friends from the Theater Guild in Teatro Tomasino were working either for ABS or GMA. It's my first love and it's one of the reasons why I became an actor. It's because of the stage. If not because of theater, I would not have been given a chance to be launched in ABS."
"I would say it's high time for us to pitch concepts that are out of this world. I mean, watching all these films from different countries makes you realize that, 'Dude, we can do better films.'"
Pascual says that he's always wanted to go back to the theater. And here we are. This June, Ibarra will be staged at the GSIS Theater and Pascual is going to play Crisostomo Ibarra for 10 nights. The proceeds of the production will benefit programs like Rise Against Hunger Philippines. This role provides him with yet another opportunity to create a persona, considering that it's a character he's always wanted to play. He was a big fan of its original run as Kanser in the '80s, which is the longest-running play in Philippine theater history.
"I guess it's all a matter of timing. I mean, my favorite local book in school was Noli Me Tangere," Pascual explains. "And so when the news came and then when they pitched it, I said yes to it with my eyes closed because I've always wanted to do it. So I just wanted to check it off my bucket list and, at the same time, see for myself if it's for me."
He also credits his so-called theatrical awakening to watching Hugh Jackman in The Music Man on Broadway last year. "He (Jackman) was tap dancing, was singing, was dancing, and was doing everything. And I said, 'My god, this guy is like 10 years my senior and is still able to do what he's doing.' So I was embarrassed."
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Pascual is willing to do everything, except for maybe tap dancing. "I stick to what I know better," he quips. Film, theater, and television are entirely different media, of course. But Pascual has no trouble transitioning to this particular art form. The process can be a little tricky though. Television takes more scenes and it does pay the bills more consistently.
Movies, he says, is "the process of being able to ride through the arc of your journey, knowing where you're coming from and how you're going to learn from the character and the journey of the story, taking it to the end."
Theater, on the other hand, just has a different gravitas to it. "One thing I miss about the stage is the reaction that you get right away and the adrenaline, knowing something might happen. There can be a glitch. All those things happen unexpectedly." But, hey, there's just something about (whispers) cinema, right? "Film is really my expression."
"We can come up with films that we can showcase and champion on the global scene and make them see and realize that Philippine cinema is thriving. If you have a bigger perspective and if you want to be able to just live out your vision, then think big."
Part of this expression is becoming more experimental in a creative sense. And Pascual exercises this through the film production company he founded with his friend, director Joyce Bernal, about 15 years ago. Spring Films positions itself as an alternative to the kind of cinema we see in the mainstream, he claims. It started out with the widely acclaimed Kimmy Dora franchise, featuring fellow icon Eugene Domingo. The company has become quite the group under Pascual and Bernal's watch.
"Spring Films is my baby. It's a platform for me to at least exercise my knowledge in terms of filmmaking. We're able to not just shortlist, but also compress the list of the films that we can take on and make sure that it's not all mainstream," he explains, "that it's not all rom-com, or it's not all predictable. We gear towards content that hopefully will change a person's outlook in life, just like ourselves. I have so much respect for cinema."
Pascual adds: "We wanted to be a little edgy, but not film noir, not the kind of indie film that not a lot of people get to watch. There are a lot of investors who are interested to produce, to try it out [with us]." Even for a film like The Ride, the star says that he wanted to expand its scope. "I told my partner Erickson Raymundo from Cornerstone that this has so much potential. So let's make it bigger in terms of perspective. And that's what we did."
PHOTO: KOJI ARBOLEDA
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The star is thinking global for Filipino content, especially in the era of streaming platforms and the like. "You also want to show them our heart, our core as Filipinos. So you don't want to go Western. You want to show them your flavor. You want to show them what you're made of, then in the Filipino way."
Times are changing and Pascual is changing right with it. As an artist, this age could mean more possibilities. Performers aren't just boxed into theatrical releases anymore, as well. You can't just limit yourself to one platform. In his view, you have to find a way to not just survive but flourish. Sure, with the excess of content we have right now, it can be quite a challenge for the Filipino product to penetrate the market. But Pascual senses that content creators are slowly regaining the upper hand.
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"Even when I was in the States, I would audition. I would save up so I could do workshops and I would audition again. I could always feel in my heart that there was something else for me."
"You have a lot of streaming platforms, buying, bidding for your films, for your series. And I would say it's high time for us to pitch concepts that are out of this world. I mean, watching all these films from different countries makes you realize that, 'Dude, we can do better films,'" he notes. "We can come up with films that we can showcase and champion on the global scene and make them see and realize that Philippine cinema is thriving. If you have a bigger perspective and if you want to be able to just live out your vision, then think big."
It's time for calculated risks is one way of putting it. This is something Pascual has learned from the businesses he owns, like the care facility Big Hearts Adult Daycare & Assisted Living, Inc. in Parañaque or the boutique resort, Isla Amara, in El Nido, Palawan, which is a joint venture with Kathryn Bernardo. Throughout his career, he's learned how to handle his money. He's always been a frugal man.
"I've always been a practical person and I've always known from the get-go that this (show business) is not forever. You're not going to be in your prime forever. You're not going to get the same pay forever," he states. "So as you're climbing up the ladder, you should save something and make sure that you are able to diversify and use your money for something else that can help you grow as a businessman."
Even if he can't be as hands-on as he wants to be with them at times, he has found like-minded investors who share his vision. "I always know what I'm getting myself into. With the resort thing, I've always wanted that because I'm a beach lover. I love the beach, so it's always been a dream to own a hotel, to own a resort. That just fell in my lap." The daycare, on the other hand, was a project with his sister and brother-in-law that originated in the United States.
Moving back to U.S. has always been on the back of Pascual's mind since his early 20s. "I didn't know I was cut out for it (as an actor in the Philippines)," he says of his rough start in show business. "I didn't know I was going to last this long." He'd move to the U.S. for a while, taking odd jobs like working security at the Oscars. Imagine that. His mother told him to try out life in the States for five years, at the very least, seeing as though his career wasn't panning out the way he initially hoped it would. "I tried it out many times and never broke out."
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He further explained: "Even when I was in the States, I would audition. I would save up so I could do workshops and I would audition again. I could always feel in my heart that there was something else for me. So I quit my job in the States and moved back here." Pascual also told his mom that he would go back here and there to keep his citizenship.
And the rest is history. "It just dragged on from five to 10, 20, now 30 years. I guess I've always had so much respect for my craft (acting). And I see so much growth in this business. I've seen myself lose my temper. I've seen myself be victorious. I've seen myself feel defeated. But it's all part of it. It's all part of having to get back up and rise again and be better."
Believe it or not, Pascual was thinking about leaving the Philippines around the time of the film Starting Over Again's release in 2014. The movie was such a big hit that he just had to stay, as well.
"I would never consider myself as an icon. If you put that in your head, that's the end of you."
Almost three decades in, it's hard not to think about the cultural cache Pascual has. You can't teach years, much like you can't teach perseverance. On most days, we'll still find Pascual on the set, whether it's as a producer, actor, or consultant. He considers it home.
The man has made the most out of his chances, the same way he's made the most out of the initial swoon factor and becoming one clever performer. This is a Pascual who's seen the hills and valleys of the industry and has come out of it as one of Filipino show business's most revered stars, one that transcends eras and platforms and monickers and hunks and starlets.
PHOTO: KOJI ARBOLEDA
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The unbearable weight of fame can be tragic. Yet, for those who know how to handle it with care, they are rewarded tremendously. "I carry on, move on right away, and never dwell," he adds, looking back at what the decades have taught him. "The thing I like about being in this business is that I don't have to pretend to be who I'm not because I'm able to exercise my real character on and off camera. I don't have to be another person just because I want to please somebody."
There's something to be said about how gracefully he has grown into becoming an ambassador for Filipino entertainment. We can also argue that he is a face that has defined generations. Yes, with an "s." It'll probably take us maybe two more decades before we can really reflect on the gravity of this man's legacy. He is one of the Philippines' greatest stars, and he isn't even done yet. "I would never consider myself an icon. If you put that in your head, that's the end of you," he says. "To me, it was only about getting by."
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And suffice it to say, he has. How can we ever tell the history of modern Filipino show business without Piolo Pascual? The funny thing is, he's still rewriting it as we speak.
Story: Bryle B. Suralta Photos: Koji Arboleda Lighting Director: Joey Alvero Styling: Paolo Chua Grooming: Donnabel Magbojos Editor-in-Chief: Paul John Caña Production: Paolo Chua Creative Direction: Bacs Arcebal Design Direction: Igi Talao Location: Karrera Showroom
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