The show Julius and Tintin Para sa Pamilyang Pilipino — hosted by the couple Julius Babao and Tintin Bersola, and which airs weekdays at 4 p.m. on Cignal TV's One PH tele-radio channel — has an interesting guest on its 20 December episode.

New York-based Filipino nurse-physical therapist and painter Rommel Rico is known for supporting the health and well-being of Filipino families through his exhibits. He creates thematic designs on shirts and bags for the benefit of advocacy groups. He also donates murals to medical establishments.

Surprisingly he didn't go to art school.

"My academic training is primarily on Physical Therapy because my parents wanted me to have a college degree that's easily employable, rather than Fine Arts, which was what I wanted to take… after finishing vocational high school in Romblon," recalls Rico, whose father was a policeman and his mother a teacher.

After working as a physical therapist in the Philippines for a few years, Rico left to pursue his passion for painting in a place he had only seen in art magazines and publications: New York.

"I had my parents' blessings when I first went to New York where we had no relatives. They saved up and funded my trip and believed for some time that it would be easy for me earn well there as a physical therapist. I didn't tell them that it was part of my plan to find out how I can be a professional painter," recalled Rico.