SHARON CUNETA: 'NOTHING I WANT MORE'
by Maryo B. Labad, Woman Today, May 16, 2001

The election fever is now on its final course. For the past several months, megastar Sharon Cuneta has made herself very visible, especially in the provinces. She's been busy attending political sorties, campaigning for husband Atty. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, a senatorial candidate under the People's Party Coalition.

Sharon says the campaign has opened her eyes to the plight of our countrymen, especially the people from Mindanao. "I have adopted Mindanao," she gladly relates. "It's in my heart. When I'm there, I'm always touched; always happy and always feel loved.

She says it was Kiko who opened her eyes to things other than showbiz: "Kiko has always been a good teacher to me. Before kasi, it was just my house, my work, my family, my self and my friends. Now, if there's one thing I'm grateful for about the campaign, it is that it has given me the chance to really reach out to the people and learn their problems. It has served as a reality check. I didn't realize that these problems really exist."

Owing to this, Sharon will request for help in lowering the amusement tax if Kiko wins. "We might be accused of certain biases because I'm from the industry," she maintains. "What we can do maybe is make a proposition and let other people work on it kasi the cheapest form of entertainment is still the movies.

"And a lot of Filipinos are the masses, and they're the ones watching our movies. For two hours, they can forget their problems and just be entertained. They find their hereto or heroine, or their favorite actor or actress. It also opens their minds and encourages their creativity. They like to imagine a better life. They like fairy tale stories, Cinderella stories, success stories. It's nice to be in that position where you can give them that kind of joy even for a couple of hours. And we can't take that away from them."

In fact, Sharon will work on two movies this year, one of which is a project with Robin Padilla under her mother studio, Viva Films. Only recently, Sharon launched her latest album, "Nothing I Want More." After the elections, Sharon hopes to do a concert series in the provinces and a major one in Manila.

"I want to work doubly hard this year and finish all my commitments because, by next year, we are set to have another baby," she explains.

Fittingly, Sharon has no plans of working this Mother's Day. She would simply like to enjoy her family. "I'd like my whole family to spoil me on that day," she quips. "I just want to celebrate that day with them."

As many of us know, Sharon is once again a mother after 16 years (eldest daughter KC has just turned 16). And she takes delight in her role as new mother to four-month-old Frankie.

"I love being a mother," she says proudly. "I'm so in love with my baby. Being a mother again, I think it's different because I'm a bit older now. Of course, I love my children equally."

The only adjustment she has made as a new mother, the megastar adds, is that she is older now and more mature. "I'm 35. And we really waited so long for Frankie. Even KC was waiting for a baby sister. Before Frankie, we were really praying on our knees. We were already four years married when she came along. In that period, I had two miscarriages, and this didn't happen before I had KC," she explains.

And how is Frankie?

"Oh, she's so adorable," she exclaims. "She's a happy baby because I had a happy pregnancy, even if it was painful and difficult for me because I had all these shots every day. She brings so much joy into our lives. We see her as God's gift. Right after I gave birth, I suddenly picked the name Simone (her first of three), and I had no idea that what it meant is that 'God has heard.' When our pastor told me, I cried because she was supposed to be Sofia."

And how are Frankie and KC getting along?

"KC adores her, and she adores her ate," she tells. When she hears KC calling her Simone, because KC doesn't call her Frankie, she looks at her ate and she smiles. And KC loves it when she is able to put her to sleep and make her laugh. I think KC is gonna be a pretty, pretty good big sister.

"When I had KC," Sharon recalls, "I was 19, and I was still a child myself in many ways. At 19, you're just finding your place in the world and under the sun, and trying to find your real gifts. You're still trying to determine what you really want to do. So you're not really set yet.

"Then my marriage was really going down the drain. For a while, my career was neither here nor there. For years, I had a wonderful career. Then, suddenly, in 1988, I really had a terrible and horrible year. Thank God in 1989, things became okay. I had not only grown up myself and found myself, but also I had to raise a child on my own. And I had to put food on the table because I had too much pride to go back to my parents and tell them that I need your money again. I went back to them only when I felt that I made it on my own again, para hindi naman nakakahiya sa mga magulang ko."

Sharon remembers that when her previous marriage broke down, her problems piled up one on top of the other. She points out, however, that all the experiences she encountered that year served as her awakening.

Sharon goes on to share some tips on being a working mother.

"I've always believed that there is such a thing as time management," she stresses. "There is also the belief that you keep thinking of yourself as a super woman, but there's no such thing as a super woman. If there's something you really think you can't handle, don't force it; just know your priorities. If your priority is your family before career, then sometimes your career will have to give in. It's possible to maintain both, a good family life alongside a good professional life, but you can't spread yourself too thinly. You just have to accept that you can't do everything.

"Ako, now that I'm older and okay, tapos hindi ko napapabayaan ang work ko, if I have the choice, I want to retire in the province where my children could breathe clean air and have a nice wholesome environment to grow up in. Manila is so congested, and all the temptations are here."

Any lessons from her mom that Sharon might want to share as well?

"First, use your heart along with your head, and not one without the other, because you'll never be happy. Then, if you lose your money, you lose a lot. And when you lose your friends, you lose a little more. But when you lose your name, you lose everything.

"Lastly, always put God first. When you have a reverent fear in Him, everything follows," concludes the megastar.