After losing her twin babies, one after the other, due to spontaneous abortion (a medical term for a miscarriage on the first trimester), many thought Heart Evangelista who is married to Senator Chiz Escudero would go into a long period of depression, as most women who lost their babies would. Yet, she emerged from that condition with nary a trace of the psychological scar that situation nicks many a woman’s life.
Heart went on with the things she loves to do, like vlogging (that has earned her a status as one of the country’s most-sought after on-line influencers), painting (both on canvas and on other media available like textile, leather, and so on), and traveling (as part of what she does as an influencer).
Just recently, Heart’s work on canvas founds its way to the pages of international fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar’s February 2019 issue. The painting is called “Follow Your Heart” and the issue features Jennifer Lopez on the cover.
“I almost screamed in excitement,” Heart writes on Instagram, “when I saw this full-page spread of my painting on the latest issue of @harpersbazaarus!”
She also says, “What a way to welcome my birth month! Thank you to the lovely people of the @harpersbazaarus team for featuring my work. It means so much to me!”
Late last year, she went into another partnership with a clothing label. It was with Fashion Power called LM for Kamiseta (Love Marie for Kamiseta), Love Marie being her birth name.
The collaboration was successful and seemingly the owners of the fashion are bent on carrying on with the line that was launched in November last year.
Heart says, “When you see someone dressed up so amazingly, and confident with what she’s wearing no matter how she interprets her fashion statements, and you see that she’s conquering the world at the same time, it’s so inspiring”®!”¬VI mean that’s power.”
These days, Heart is in China to shoot something (“No, it’s not for the sequel of Crazy Rich Asians,” she clarified). Which she can’t disclose yet. But, the Filipino TV/movie star-fashion influencer”®!”¬Vpainter is not about to turn her back on acting on either television or in the movies.
“That’s how I got into this whole wide world where I am now, so why forget where I came from?” she asks.
In the middle of this year she could start on a new drama series. “I’ll make sure I will have enough time to focus on that, though the other things I do I can just easily juggle the schedules.”
Also, she said that with the elections coming, she might just join her husband in her campaign sorties. “But not all the time,” she explained. “After all, it’s for a local position, so my participation in his political undertakings should only be minimal,” she chuckles.
Heart is singularly in a league all her own. No one among her peers in local show business has earned her level of stardom. She may not be anointed “queen” by the local entertainment media in her capacity as an actor, but she is even greater than any of the showbiz queens the local movie press has been hailing till they run short of superlatives to shower them on.
But, Heart stands alone and with a sense of fulfillment on a pedestal friends with money and influence around the world have laid for her.
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Kaibigan Dan Roleda reaches out to the entertainment industry
We had lunch with Atty. Dan Roleda, the 61-year-old lawyer and former Manila Councilor (fourth district, Sampaloc, Sta. Mesa, 1992-1998), party list representative under Ang Lakas Ng Bagong Kooperatiba (ALAB) 1998-2001, and Presidential Adviser for Foreign Investments (2001-2010).
Little did you know that he is very close to the local entertainment industry being a close friend of award-winning director and fellow Waray Chito Roño.
As Manila Councilor and President of the Philippine Councilors League, Kaibigan Dan authored and passed the Amended Amusement Tax Law in 1995 that primarily protected movie producers. The amended law ensures transparency in the ticket sales for the correct collection of the said tax by local government units, and at the same time allows movie producers accurate data on box office sales. The law made mandatory the use of transparent ticket boxes that we now see today in all theaters. The law was simultaneously passed by all the Local Government Units respective to Sangguniang Bayan.
Kaibigan Dan has kept tabs with the industry and wishes to address its present problems like the benefits and welfare of all workers related thereto, which are sub-standard, and of course, piracy. Piracy robs the artists, crew, movie producers and cinema owners of millions in revenues. This in turn, has led to low production output and has deprived actors, producers, directors, musical score composers, make-up artists, film crew, etc. of decent salaries and proper remunerations.
He is also just as concerned about film distribution. He knows that movie producers lose a lot of money when theater chains unceremoniously pull out their films from cineplexes after a day or two. It does not help that local films must compete with Hollywood, free TV and social media.
Now, Kaibigan Dan is guning for a seat in the Senate. He said he wants to form a special governing body that will help producers and all workers related to the entertainment industry. Knowing that many entertainment workers are freelancers who don’t enjoy the benefits of health care and insurance, Kaibigan Dan plans to come up with a legislation that requires film and television show producers to give insurance and other benefits to members of the production team on a per-project basis.
This magna cum laude and valedictorian of the UST College of Law (batch 1981) graduated with a degree in Economics (UST, 1971). That’s why he was appointed are Presidential Adviser for Foreign Investments under former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2001 to 2010. In 1985, he established the Professional Models Association of the Philippines (PMAP) to uplift the standards and benefits of models.
As an educator, Dan does lectures to graduating students in various schools and universities on different current events and issues as part of the students’ thesis or project studies.
This God and family-centered man believes we all want better lives. “We work because we want to upgrade our way of life. We dream of better lives for our children, he says. That’s why his hashtag, #betterthanthat embodies these aspirations, which are Kaibigan Dan’s as well, as he explores all avenues to help his friends—every Filipino here and abroad.
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