
Now we know how sensible and responsible parents are the acting couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera.
They have turned down offers to appear in films determinedly intended to make it to the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival, which runs during the Christmas season.
In a media interview recently, Dantes revealed that he and Marian regret not having spent enough time with his kids during Christmas 2023 because of their MMFF movie.
“Konsensya. Konsensya, dahil nung nakaraang Christmas sobrang naging busy kami (Conscience. My conscience was bothered because last Christmas we got so busy).
“Kahit mismong Christmas day nasa labas kami, nagpro-promote ng movie. ‘Yung mga anak namin naiwan sa bahay, di kami kasama (Even during Christmas day we were out, we were promoting the movie. Our kids were at home, without us).
“Mga bata pa sila (They are still young). They’re supposed to be celebrating and enjoying Christmas kasama kami (with us),” said the father of two. Daughter Zia is turning nine on 13 November this year. Son Sixto (nicknamed Six) turned five in April.
Dantes calmly but firmly concluded: “So, we both decided na di kami ulit gagawa ng (that we won’t do another) movie for MMFF.”
Rewind, the couple’s entry in last year’s MMFF, became the country’s highest grossing movie after its main producer, ABS-CBN Star Cinema, screened it in the US and other countries.
The film reportedly grossed a little over P1 billion. Agosto Dos Productions, a company owned by Dantes, was also credited as producer.
Meanwhile, only five approved entries to MMFF 2024 have been announced. They were accepted by the festival’s selection committee based on the submitted script with confirmed lead stars.
Some lead actors in the already approved entries are known to have young children, such as Vic Sotto, Dennis Trilllo and Jhong Hilario.
Business-minded Andrea and David
Actor Andrea Brillantes is highly credible these days every time she declares that she has no love life. She hasn’t complained about missing the feeling of being in love. She’s too preoccupied with business ventures and endorsements to bother to fall in love. She would rather rise financially.
The ex-girlfriend of star cager Ricci Rivero recently joined a jewelry company and a perfume business as an investor, not just endorser.
But naughty-looking actor David Licauco has been doing her one better: the ex-basketball varsity player has been “secretly” keeping a girlfriend, engaging in restaurant and construction ventures, and acting in TV shows and movies left and right. About a month ago, he even joined on-screen-only sweetheart Barbie Forteza and other GMA7 Sparkle stars in a roadshow in the US and Canada.
And, oh, at the media conference for his latest TV series, Pulang Araw, on GMA 7, he wowed everyone with his knowledge of Philippine history. He outscored his co-stars in a history series in a quiz on Philippine “trivia.”
Brillantes recently acquired P2.5 million worth of shares in LVNA by Drake Dustin, a Filipino-owned luxury jewelry brand. Andrea’s latest venture shows she’s well aware that a career in entertainment might not last forever.
Declared the former child star who also owns a beauty brand. “Something sparked in me that I also want to be a businesswoman and not just an actress... I’m 21 now, it’s a nice age to explore and to invest on things.”
Brillantes also launched new scents for her own makeup brand Lucky Beauty on the same day that she renewed and signed a longer contract for beauty milk brand Dear Face.
So how does she handle her business ventures without giving up her profitable livelihood as an actor?
“Tinututukan ko po siya lagi ‘pag wala akong taping. Actually, kahit nasa taping ako nakatutok pa rin po ako (I focus on them when I have no tapings. Actually, even when I have tapings, I am still focus on them),” replied Andrea at her contract renewal with Dear Face Beauty Milk last week.
Proof of her hands-on style is the expansion of her cosmetics brand. Lucky Beauty introduced three new scents, namely, Diary of a Lady, Stories for a Girl and Letters from a Woman. All bottles retail for P777 on leading e-commerce platforms in the country.
The young actor-entrepreneur is happy with the way her life is going, as well as with her fellow Gen Zs who are into putting up their businesses after going through the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Licauco owns Kuya Korea, a casual restaurant in University of the Philippines (UP) Town Center in Quezon City that serves popular Korean dishes. He also runs Sobra Cafe, a dining spot in Alabang that serves Filipino comfort food.
“I also have a construction company actually. My own. I have a partner who is an architect,” Licauco revealed to media.
The company currently operates within Metro Manila. The actor-businessman confided how he realized he can go into the construction business himself when he was putting up his own restaurants.
“Nu’ng kino-construct ‘yung mga restaurant ko, na-realize ko na kaya ko palang gawin ito nang mag-isa ako. Bakit pa ako kukuha ng contractor? So dahil doon, naisipan kong gumawa ng construction company,” the actor bared.
His company currently does fit-out construction, but he is looking into doing government projects.
He concluded with a good advice: “I feel like gano’n naman ‘yung buhay eh (life is just like that). You just never know kung saan ka pupunta (where you might go). Just taking all the opportunity that you can get and accepting it. Galingan mo na lang lagi (Just do your best in everything).”