CUNETA IN CONTROL
by Ryan San Diego, Agenda Magazine, December 1995

She has been asked countless times to run for political office. Her face, her name, and her voice have been used to sell everything from cosmetic products to a presidential candidate. Not even the dearest of our political leaders have had an appeal so vast. Once the fairy tale princess of our dreams, she now reins as a queen whose immense power over the masses cannot be overemphasized. Agenda faces the Megastar to see just how Sharon Cuneta rules her subjects and her very own life.

It was a Friday night where I could be anywhere but the ABS-CBN compound. I was thinking of all the merry-making on the other side of Metro Manila. The traffic and the rains didn't help at all increase my enthusiasm. Perhaps the first sign that I was in for something extraordinary was when the guards didn't try to harass us and let us in the studios without much fuss.

Upon entering the recording studio, my eyes were drawn right away to where she was. To say that I was in for something extraordinary was an understatement. In a flash, I was certain something was missing. The red carpet.

I suddenly became a willing subject of some kingdom that Sharon Cuneta ruled. Her Yaya Loring, a few assistants, a couple of back-up singers who also happened to be her close friends were in the studio too. These were people who were supposed to be used to be around the Megastar, but, still, they all seemed part of a court which followed Sharon around wherever she would go. Queen Sharon. It sounded so real.

Here was the woman who, while being almost untouchably royal in her status, was also a prime commodity in the entertainment industry. Just always ready to devour her were a jungle of fans, showbiz colleagues, and the ever-so-hungry press. Her personal life seemed inextricable from her career. But in between the pain and the pride, she developed and demonstrated extraordinary control, a reserve she consciously and expertly exerted over her life, both personal and professional.

"Ever since, lagi akong planado, kailangan organized ang buhay ko. You know why? I've always been scared of losing control over my life," she said, sounding not a bit like the lady who, at age 12, made Mr. DJ the AM and FM radio anthem of its time.

Sharon is turning 30 this January. Typically Capricorn, she is now the picture of stability. As sure footed as a goat, she treads the showbiz path with much care and caution. "I have to get everything in order," she said. "When I have a concert, I ask myself, what can I control? I memorize my lyrics, memorize my choreography, memorize all the songs in the repertoire. I have to know when I'm coming in, know when I'm suppose to stop. You can do your best and everything follows. Sometimes, one man in the group makes a mistake and it sort of upsets me. Maybe, the standards I've set for myself cannot be the same standards for other people I work and live with."

This obsession for order has even perhaps permeated Sharon right to the core. The night of her photo shoot, she went to the portfolio of photographer Ricky Villabona. As she came across some pages where the pictures have been tilted out of place, she slipped her hand through the plastic fillers and straightened them out. "No, you don't have to do that," Ricky said. Sharon replied, "Ok lang 'yon. Na-di-disturb ako pag may mga out-of-place, eh." She proceeded and did just that with every page that she found in disarray.

Ricky felt that Sharon should see his portfolio first because he had heard that she actually preferred working with Jun de Leon, the famous celebrity photographer who did several of her album covers, movie posters and publicity pictures. In relation to her cover shoot, Agenda also has a roster of make-up artists and stylists who would drop everything just to work on Sharon, but she made it clear that she only wanted Fanny Serrano to touch her face and her hair.

It is truly understandable that Sharon had definite choices and trusted only a few. She was a product in demand whose packaging had to be handled with much care and planning. She admitted, "I am deliberate. I have to have my day planned out and practically my whole life. All areas of my life in fact. I have to have a plan A, a plan B. I have to have a plan C."

Was there anything at all that wasn't in her control? The answer came quite obviously.

"The only time I feel I'm losing control is when I'm part of the oldest story in the book - falling in love." She continued to clarify, "Not when I'm in love, but while I'm falling in love, because that's when I have to check myself and say, Sharon, mahal mo ba talaga ito? When I got married at 18, I thought I knew everything. I thought that if you give 100%, you also get 100%. Ang totoo, you only have control over your own feelings, but not everybody else's, so natuto ako. After awhile, I learned to reserve naman a little for myself para no matter what happens, hindi HA?!"

When she said this, my picture of her became even more vivid as that of a queen who was robbed of her fairy tale. The choices of her heart had been tough, because somehow it had been her heart that she had never learned to restrain.

Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion were the ultimate love team of their time, also one of the few that were translated into real life. As far as Filipinos were concerned, the wedding of the century happened, not in the United Kingdom, but in the Cathedral where the two took their vows. Too bad that fairy tales like this one do not last. To the broken hearts of their fans, Sharon and Gabby soon parted ways.

Though she never claimed that the romantic miscalculations would never be committed again, Sharon assured herself one thing. "I'll never allow the same person to do the same damn thing to me. God said 'Go ahead and forgive.' He didn't say 'go and be stupid.'"

True enough, the queen sat snuggly behind the wheel of her career even through the most trying times. After she left husband Gabby Concepcion, she never found herself turning to drugs or alcohol for consolation as I would imagine any jaded superstar would. "If this part of my life is destroyed already, I have no business messing up the other aspects of my life," she explained. Every once in awhile on her TV show, she would shed tears publicly. These were not signs in any way that she was loosening her grip. Only sometimes the pressure was too much to bear alone in private and her subjects were only too ready to weep with her.

Upon her separation from Gabby, Sharon did not have as much money as she projected to the public she had. Contrary to what people thought, she did not buy the Twin Towers condominium that became her private retreat. She was just renting it. It even took her 8 months to furnish it. "I was frightened of what the whole thing could do to me and my daughter. The press hounded me with questions. So, difficult as it was, I didn't move back with my parents if only to prove among other things, I can strike it out on my own."

Though this industry has showered her with wealth and adulation, she said "I don't think I can ever learn to love this business. I can learn to live with it, get used to it. But I don't think learn to love it. Just think of what it had done to my personal life." When she bids farewell to show business, Sharon, likewise, has everything down pat.

"When I quit, I already planned out everything. I have several businesses outside of showbiz. I want a degree, maybe in Business Management. I want to use my brain. Sometimes, I feel nababagoong na ang utak ko. Wala na akong binasa kundi lyrics at script! I want to know what I can do with my money. The money I have saved."

What she has saved is not just money. She has earned not just fame. It is power of a truly charismatic sort. It is power that grants her the trust of millions of people, not all of which are fans, but people who basically take Sharon's word as gospel truth. Who, among our hyped-up assortment of stars, can take an ice cream brand in her hands and pose as serious threat to in competitions tradition of market domination? Who else can make travelling by sea seem more luxurious and pleasurable than the comforts of an airplane? More recently she lent her face to a cosmetics brand and turned its colors into gold that shines bright right into the eyes of its competitors. Certainly, she is being paid more by the minute for her advertising endorsements than what she gets by the hour for her show business work, but as far as the advertising and marketing bigwigs are concerned, she is worth every centavo. Her Midas touch now affords her to relax a little and truly enjoy what she has earned.

"The success I'm enjoying, and the reason why I've stayed this long in this business is, of course, more than just talent." She continues, "I have the right friends and I have the right family. And they are very important to me. Pag namamatay ka naman, hindi mo naman sasabihin, excuse me, yaya, paki-abot nga ang bank book ko, ang titulo ng bahay ko, ang alahas ko. Hindi. Pag namamatay ka na, I want to see my kid, my husband, my friends. Ganyan diba?"

Her career, her future, her life - Sharon has got firmly tucked under her belt. If her organizational obsession overlooks anything at all, it is only as minor as her messy bedroom. "My room," she exclaims, "you should see my room with all the magazines that have piled up around my bed. I don't know when I'll ever find the time to put some semblance of order into it."

With this statement, she paradoxically put everything in place. The queen of my awe is no faux. If she avowed not having control over her heart and her clutter, she's got to be real and human. And was again led to ask - so, where's the red carpet?

The interview ended Saturday at two in the morning. As the Agenda team walked out of the ABS-CBN studios, I realized the red carpet was right under my feet, leading me to a deeper understanding of what charisma was all about. I have long stopped thinking of the merry making on the other side of the city. What the heck - I just had the privilege of an audience with HER MAJESTY. She gave me just that feeling.