Ladies on top

A life and career not dependent on men’s approval and patronage, we suppose, is among the hallmarks of women empowerment all seasons of the year.

And it looks like there are a number of women in Pinoy showbiz, on-camera and off-camera stars who enjoy such self-empowerment. Count in not just the likes of Andrea Brillantes, Kathryn Bernardo and Liza Soberano but also female directors (such as Cathy Garcia-Sampana) and female network executives (such as Cory Vidanes) who think up their own projects and propose them to the company for funding, casting/staffing, and implementation — not for the approval of their macho bosses or male gay bosses (or should bigshot male gays be counted in as “empowered women”)?

And it looks like there are a number of women in Pinoy showbiz, on-camera and off-camera stars who enjoy such self-empowerment. Count in not just the likes of Andrea Brillantes,  Kathryn Bernardo and Liza Soberano but also female directors (such as Cathy Garcia-Sampana) and female network executives (such as Cory Vidanes) who think up their own projects and propose them to the company for funding, casting/staffing, and implementation--not for the approval of their macho bosses or male gay bosses (or should bigshot male gays be counted in as “empowered women”)?

If the life-defining and career-changing decisions Janine Gutierrez and Maris Racal have been making did not need approval and support from their supposed respective boyfriends, then we should readily classify them as empowered women. 

If Jam Villanueva is really doing well despite losing boyfriend Anthony Jennings to Racal and his showbiz career, we should not hesitate to call Villanueva an empowered woman. if  Villanueva is bitter, and does not let that bitterness way lay her life, she still deserves to be looked up to.

Brillantes may be looking like some playgirl who goes out dating one basketball star after another, but her sense of independence and integrity has never been affected by her fondness for sportsmen. She has never bothered to justify to her fans and bashers why she goes out with the men she dates. Ain’t that a manifestation of self-empowerment?

And now Brillantes has decided to do sexy scenes with Jake Cuenca for her latest project with ABS-CBN: a possibly long stint in Batang Quiapo, the under throned primetime rating topnotcher. Some wags may soon suggest that the Kapuso network had better collaborate with ABS-CBN by co-producing Batang Quiapo and casting their action-drama stars with Coco Martin.

Brillantes seems unnerved by doing intimate scenes with Cuenca who is a decade-plus older than her. She’s 21 and he’s 37. 

She may soon get bashed but those bashers are just pretending to be turned off by a May-December bout in bed. They secretly admire her for the nerve. The same way bashers pretend to hate Racal for snatching Jennings from Villanueva. You must know that the Racal-Jennings Netflix Philippines movie Sosyal Climber has been leading in viewership, and their Incognito TV series is also No. 1 in ranking (though they share lead roles with Daniel Padilla, Richard Gutierrez, Ian Veneracion, Baron Geisler and Kayla Estrada).

Surely, there are women in Pinoy showbiz and elsewhere who need and deserve empowerment. They have to work on it and pray for it in equal measure.