Overseas

filipino globe celebrity
November 2006
37
Singing stars Jessa Zaragoza
and Dingdong Avanzado
are a new kind of
sensations in the US.
“I am the phenomenal
housemaid,” Jessa quips, “ironing
clothes, washing dishes, name it.”
“And I’m getting to be an expert
at what I do around the house, like
taking out the garbage” Dingdong
chimes in.
The couple immigrated to the US
a few years ago, leaving behind
the bright lights of the Philippine
music scene.
They have a four-bedroom,
two-storey house in Vallejo,
Califrornia, where Dingdong works
on weekdays as marketing manager
of a mortgage company owned by
an uncle. Jessa has been busy lately
learning how to drive. Dindong
has just bought her a brand-new
Mercedes-Benz..
They still get to do shows either
together or separately on most
weekends. There are, after all, 2.4
million Pinoys in the US eager to
watch their kababayan perform.
Jessa flew to Hawaii a few weeks
after the October 15 earthquake
that left several islands there
without electricity for a few days.
“I was supposed to do the show
with Rica (Peralejo) but she got
stranded on an island that had
no power for several days due
to the earthquake, so I ended up
doing the show all by myself,”
Jessa tells Filipino Globe.
The couple are back in the
Philippines for a visit and to
promote their duet album, which
they recorded a few months
before they migrated to the US.
On most weekdays, Jessa is a
housewife who had to learn how
to cook. She wakes up early and
makes a big production out of her
cooking.
“You’d think she’s shooting a
commercial for some kitchen
product,” Dingdong says, teasing
his wife.
Like a typical household in the
US, they have no maid, not even a
yaya for their daughter who misses
having a pet dog in the house.
Dingdong and Jessa obtained
special visas that classify them as
“extraordinary persons” due to
their singing talents. It’s the same
type of visa
granted to singer April Boy Regino
who, according to Dingdong, lives
in Carlson City.
The couple had to hire an
immigration lawyer to facilitate
the processing of their application,
backed by voluminous documents.
Their greencards
allow them to be away
from the US for a
maximum of four
months in a row in
a year. “So, if, for
instance, Jessa gets
offered a TV soap
here and she would
be taping for only
four months, that
could be arranged,” Dingdong
says.
Dingdong says settling in the US
is a humbling experience even as
the decision to move his family
there was a well-thought-out one.
One humbling experience he had
was getting rejected for a credit
She cooks, he
takes out
the trash
Dingdong and
Jessa miss the
star treatment,
but they’re
doing just fine
in the States,
writes Danny
Vibas
“
You’d think she’s
shooting a
commercial for some
kitchen product
DINGDONG
On Jessa’s new passion
card. “In the Philippines, agents
and companies were running after
me to offer me all kinds of credit
cards,” he says. In the Philippines,
of course, he was a well-loved
pop singer for almost 15 years.
He even became a councilor in
Quezon City.
Cleaning the house, mowing
the lawn, taking out the garbage,
going out to the laundry shop,
and lining up for anything and
everything are things Dingdong
regularly does in the US. “Oh,
once in a while some really sweet
kababayan would recognize me
and point me to a side door so I
can be attended to without waiting
for my turn in a long line of
people,” Dingdong says.
While he and Jessa miss the star
treatment in the Philippines, they
find life in the US well worth it.
In fact, they want their next child
to be Made in the USA.
Ai Ai comes clean about children’s fathers
DANNY VIBAS in Manila
There must be something about
turning 42 that moves comedienne
Ai Ai de las Alas (right) into being
more open about some truths in
her life.
For instance, she now openly
admits that her three kids do not
have only one father in the person
of singer Miguel Vera who is now
based in the US.
Her only son, the eldest, has
stage actor Rey Malte Cruz as
father. However, the boy, who will
be college age next year, seems
to have always known that his
father is not Miguel with whom
her mother had an invalid marriage
for years – since Miguel was
already married (to a non-showbiz
girl) when he deceived Ai Ai into
matrimony more than a decade
ago.
Actually, Ai Ai did not keep it a
secret to some press guys that one
of her kids is not Miguel’s. That
is, to press guys who happened to
ask. But then she would not say
which one of her three children
was not fathered by Miguel and
who the kids dad is. And after
admitting her indiscretions, she
would beg the scribes not to write
about it to spare her children from
embarrassment. To return her
honesty, no showbiz reporter ever
wrote that her three children had
two different fathers.
Ai Ai recently told some scribes
that her son has met his halfsiblings.
And since the boy is about
to go to college, she has warned
him not to get anyone pregnant.
And that if he could not suppress
his urge to bed some girl, he had
better know how to use rubbers.
Ai Ai is suddenly talking about her
children and their father perhaps to
avoid talking about her own flimsy
and whimsical lovelife.
And she has none these days.