About meeting a lawyer or two

We saw two lawyers recently. No, not in court, but in showbiz-y events. (We are not Cristy Fermin, after all).

The first one is from Cebu, the supposed Piolo Pascual look-alike. But, sorry, Oliver Moeller didn’t look like that to us.

Moeller looked like a very handsome cage star when some journos, vloggers and TV crews swarmed around him at the 190th anniversary celebration of Ginebra San Miguel (GSM) at the Novotel in Cubao, QC. 

There must be about a dozen mega handsome cagers (start the count with Kiefer Ravena, Ricci Rivero and the Paras brothers Andre and Kobe) and the Ginebra team does have some of them, so it wasn’t unreasonable for the un-knowing us that the towering guy the journos had cornered must be some swell cager.

We actually didn’t know Moeller was a towering figure, very lanky! We didn’t even know he doesn’t always look like Papa P, so we did not think it was him that the media had cornered outside the Novotel function rooms. He was soft-spoken and ever smiling. What a lawyer!

But we did not think a lawyer would agree to be an ambassador of a liquor brand. It was easier for us to immediately accept Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach as GSM Calendar Girl for 20xx.

Attorney Moeller was launched that night as GSM ambassador along with showbiz star mementoes buyer Boss Toyo and GMA Sparkle Star Mikee Quintos. The lawyer must have easily accepted the honor to be a liquor ambassador because GSM has bested many world famous gins from all over the globe in several competitions. 

Ginebra has received eight Quality Awards (five golds and three silvers) at the 2012 World Quality Selections, organized yearly by Monde Selection. Three of the brands have also earned the Monde Selection’s International High Quality Trophy, granted to products achieving Grand Gold or Gold Awards for three consecutive years.

The brand is the first to be distilled in the Philippines in 1834 mainly for the moneyed men since gin at that time wasn’t cheap. There was only one distillery producing it, mainly from imported juniper berries since those wild fruits don’t thrive here in the country. 

The name Ginebra actually comes from the word “gin,” which traces its roots to the French name Genièvre or its Dutch variant Jenever, which both refer to a plant called juniper, whose berries were used to add flavor to gin in the 17th century. Both Genievre and Jenever are variants of Guinevere. 

Ginebra goes with the history of the country and the now-190-year-old company behind it even commissioned historian Alvin Campomanes to highlight that night at Novotel the in’s and out’s of Ginebra throughout almost two centuries now.

The enigmatic handsome lawyer from Cebu will most likely attract a multitude of new GSM drinkers. And so will the frisky Boss Toyo and gorgeous Mikee Quintos.

The other lawyer we met was Rey Bergado who founded and still heads the band InnerVoices. He is mild-mannerred, like Moeller. 

But Bergado wasn’t a lawyer yet when he put up the band 33 years ago in the 90s. He was in his early college years in a Catholic school, like all the four other members of the original group. It was Bergado, too, who thought of the name InnerVoices largely because he had in mind then making the band compose their own songs, aside from playing existing songs which they all like for personal reasons. A member of that original group was bassist Porong de Torres, who eventually became the father of The Voice Kids runner up Esang de Torres. 

InnerVoices can be considered the oldest existing pop band in the country though it is “patay-buhay” (dead-alive) as a performing group. The band actually began alongside Eraserheads with whom they used to perform in the once very famous bar, Art Venue at Taft Avenue, Manila. At that time, part of InnerVoices’ attraction, just like  Eraserheads’ was their original songs. Those of InnerVoices were mainly compositions of Bergado, such as “Come Back, Come Back” and “Please Stay.”

The band’s other original members were Sandy Buenconsejo, Baldwin Diaz, Red Miane and Ruben Tecson who has remained with the group through the years. They would disband in the late 90s because they felt they had to have more stable professions. Before they parted ways though, they managed to do an album, Find a Way, under Universal Records. In 1996,  InnerVoices bagged the Awit Awards.

Sometime in the early 2000s, when Bergado had become a lawyer, he decided to revive the band even as he could only locate Ruben and another Tecson--Rene--whom Bergado recruited during the band’s stint at Art Venue. The two Tecsons are not blood-related. Bergado recruited new members, including one main vocalist, Angelo Miguel. They did gigs until 2015 because, again, the members felt they needed a more stable livelihood.

The band was frozen once more but Bergado kept them together as a barkada who would get together for drinks and small talks. Since almost of them had conjugal partners, they took to making each other godfather in the baptism and confirmation of their children. And as all of them are into motorbiking, they got into rides in so many places. All the while, Bergado was lawyering in a government agency. The others were into family business. 

The lawyer in Bergado kept the communication lines open among them during the pandemic. They even supported each other financially as some of them had business establishments that could not operate profitably. 

In 2022, though, Bergado couldn’t help himself anymore about not making music for the crowd and revived InnerVoices once more. Even if lawyering entails meeting all sorts of people and elucidating to them on pertinent laws and legal ways of doing business, performing before a crowd as band keyboardist offers a rarefied fulfillment for Bergado.

“That inner duwende [passion] is alive and kicking still, forever giving me inspiration to make new songs, always exciting me to go up on stage, play with my keyboards and lead the band...” said Bergado in one media huddle.

The band’s first gigs were at 19 East, the popular lounge at Sucat Service Road in Parañaque. Beside Bergado and the two Tecsons (drummer Ruben and lead guitarist Rene), the band has three new members: lead vocalist Angelo Miguel, bass guitarist Alvin Herbon, second keyboardist Joseph Cruz and drummer-percussionist Joseph Esparrago.

Innervoices wows the crowd with 80s and 90s songs, and mainly on the dance-able ones. 

Said front man Miguel about the band music of the 80s: “The songs from that era had the best lyrics and messages, and what added to the powers of the songs, is that you can actually sing it, while you’re dancing. The lyrics had a life of its own and it was never drowned by all the synthesizers, guitars and all the prevalent instruments that were staples then.”

From 19 East, they now have about half-a-dozen places to entertain in: Hard Rock in Makati, Bar IX,  also opened and got Bar 360 at Newport World Resorts, and Aromata in Scout Lazcaño St., QC. Restaurant in Q.C.”

Last year, InnerVoices also released three new songs — the Angelo-penned single, “Isasayaw Kita” (for his unborn daughter, Hope, who died in 2020, and which has already more than one million views on Facebook), Hari and Anghel composed by Eduard Mitra — all released thru Vehnee Saturno Music.

So, there, a lawyer that loves to entertain through music.