Media outlet and well-admired content-maker ABS-CBN found it cute, sweet, historic (and economical?) to make Mendiola and Manzano ceremonially sign their respective contracts with the company on the same day (afternoon of 2 July). Their separate contract signings were held in Studio 2 one after the other: Manzano first, and then the wife.

Their respective huddles with media people were also held in the same venue sequence: the lobby of Dolphy Theater, which was grandiosely production-designed with huge vases of flowers and chandeliers. They took turns sitting on a richly upholstered gray peacock chair. Only about 20 journos and vloggers were invited. Both huddles felt intimate.

What Manzano had was actually a contract renewal, though he has been with ABS-CBN for 24 years. The event was also meant to announce his upcoming new game show, Rainbow Rumble.

That of the wife is a comeback contract: her career began in ABS-CBN in 2007 as a Star Circle Batch 15 member. She signed up with Viva Artists Agency in 2019, but the pandemic came in 2020, and she married Luis in a civil wedding in 2021 February. Their first and only child as of now Isabella Rose, nicknamed “Peanut,” was born on 29 December 2022.

Manzano at the huddle was his usual jolly self, with him turning very serious now and then and intoning long substantial answers, such as when he was asked about the possibility of entering the political arena.

In the past, he used to answer that question laconically by saying no he is not running for anything. Now, in so many words, he revealed that there may yet be a day that “I will consider getting not into politics but into public service.” He confided that he is moved by how the people of Batangas, where his mother (Vilma Santos) was Lipa City mayor for several terms and Batangas governor, talk about his mother as a public servant, a leader, and not as a politician.

Manzano implied that if and when he joins “public service,” it would be preceded by his deliberately slowing down on his showbiz commitments. He revealed that there are still many kinds of game shows he would like to come up with and be its host. His dream is to come up with ABS-CBN a game show format that other countries will acquire and adapt. 

“Dapat sila naman ang may gayahing game show mula sa atin! Sana magsimula yon sa Rainbow Rumble (They should copy one of our shows and I hope it’s like Rainbow Rumble),” he seriously declared.  

The game show will be launched this July, and he dubs it as a “pot luck” game show because easy, tricky, funny, and hard questions will be drawn out by contestants from pots containing the questions. “It’s still a game of chance. There’s luck involved. If a contestant is lucky, they may pick out the easiest question from the pot of hard questions,” he smilingly asserted.

As for his wife re-joining showbiz, he does not have restrictions for her. “She once told me, she wouldn’t do kissing scenes. I reminded her that I grew up watching my mother and my father (Edu Manzano) kissing different persons in every movie they made. Those scenes never affected me and my respect for them as my parents. So, go ahead, kiss with anyone on camera for as long as your director tells you that the scene is necessary...”

So there, that’s how serious this Manzano can turn when it is necessary.