For all the long hours, acting is still a glamorous profession. But with the glamor comes a corresponding fabulous lifestyle.

 Rogelio de la Rosa had a beautiful home — complete with a revolving closet and a Roman bath. He also had a Baguio house.

Yes, it was also de rigueur for movie stars to have a vacation home in the summer capital of the Philippines. Among those who had vacation houses in Baguio were Dolphy, Nida Blanca, Eddie Gutierrez, Caridad Sanchez and Joey Marquez.

Maybe it was the influence of these celebrities that got me obsessed about owning a house in Baguio. As a youngster, I tried to convince my father to set up a family home in the City of Pines. He said no and offered the following reasons: 1) We would have to hire a caretaker and only heaven knows what he is going to do with the property while we’re away. 2) Friends would borrow the vacation house and we’d have to accommodate every request. 3) Those friends would be using our personal belongings, including beds, pillows and blankets.

When I joined television and got a decent enough salary, I bought a Baguio house anyway. It didn’t take long for me to realize that parents are always right.

Everything my father said turned out to be true. Having that house was a huge headache. Its purchase was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

After banging my head on the wall for making the wrong decision, I had a talk with Dolphy who said that he, too, regretted buying his Baguio home. He rarely got to use it. His only consolation was the fact that his children and their friends enjoyed the property from time to time. 

Another one of Dolphy’s regrets was buying a house in Las Vegas. He said that they had to clean it upon arrival — and before they leave. 

In time, his party found it more practical to simply book a hotel room where they can leave their mess when it’s time to return to the Philippines. The Las Vegas home eventually stayed idle. 

Dolphy’s Baguio house, incidentally, was later gutted by fire due to faulty electrical wiring. Even with a full-time caretaker, a vacation home still requires personal supervision from the owner, who has to oversee its maintenance. 

Young celebrities today no longer pine for the City of Pines. Baguio has already lost its charm — no thanks to pollution and congestion.

For a time, actors opted for Boracay. Iza Calzado got herself a unit in one of the condominium buildings there when she was still single. 

In the past decade or so, it also became fashionable for celebrities to maintain farms. The list of celebrities who own farms is long and I cannot enumerate them all in this space. But among them are Zsa Zsa Padilla (in Lucban, Quezon), Dimples Romana (in Batangas), Senator Kiko Pangilinan (in Tagaytay), Kuh Ledesma (in Indang, Cavite) and Angel Locsin (in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan).

Before even before owning a farm became a trend among celebrities, Vilma Santos already had a three-hectare land in Tanay that had 52 mango trees. The Tanay farm though was not for recreational purposes. It was an investment. 

Unfortunately, it was one of those properties repossessed by the bank during those years Vilma was having a financial crisis. That was such a pity because those mango trees were already fruit-bearing. Vilma could have sold mangoes for profit.

Even Susan Roces had a coffee farm in Batangas. Like Vilma, she also acquired the coffee plantation for business purposes.

The most successful actress who turned to farming though is Isabel Rivas. Raised in Zambales by spinster aunts, Isabel decided to start a farm in her home province early in her showbiz career. It was her brother Dennis Roldan, however, who got into farming first — an interest that eventually petered out.  

In stark contrast, Isabel put farming to heart. She was so serious about her farm business that she even diversified crops. Isabel obviously knows the ins and outs of farming.

 There was even a time she had part of her property dug up so that she could put up a fish pond. For a while, she raised tilapia that she sold retail. Everyone called it “Tilapia ni Isabel.”

Running a farm is no walk in the park, according to Isabel. Her biggest problem is thievery — committed by the very same people who are supposed to be protecting her property.

It is also a lot of hard work. When she was having her fish pond dug up, she had to be there — assisting the tractor operator to make sure he finished the job. She had to be on standby for whatever he needed. Was he thirsty? She’d be there to hand him cold water.

In the past few years, pests from the mountains of Zambales started swarming down her mango orchard. The last time we talked, she was considering changing crops — no thanks to infestation. Her option was to plant ylang-ylang, which could be exported to France to make perfume.

Near Isabel’s Zambales property is the farm of Bea Alonzo. It was Isabel, in fact, who helped Bea purchase the mango plantation some 15 years ago. Bea bought the property for P10 million. Bea, incidentally, also has a condo unit in Madrid, which serves as a vacation home.

Another actress who also went into farming is Lorna Tolentino. She has farmland in General Emilio Aguinaldo in Cavite. That farm isn’t exactly heaven, if you ask Lorna. 

Sure, she had a supply of dragon fruit that she gave away to friends. But her place doesn’t have connectivity and staying in the farm is counterproductive as far as showbiz work is concerned.  

Lorna got her farm when husband Rudy Fernandez was still alive. Rudy was against the idea because he knew that Lorna was not familiar with the farming business. But she went ahead anyway and even put up a poultry.

When Lorna was able to accept the fact that farming was not for her, she put up the property for lease. Her problems persisted though. Only two weeks ago, the poultry caught fire and so there went the structure that she put up years ago. She and the lessee are still settling the fire issue with the barangay.

Given Lorna’s headaches, the question I now want to ask is — are these celebrities genuinely happy running their respective farms? A lot of them started farming during the pandemic because that gave them freedom of movement.

Today, there’s a chance these celebrities buy farms just for Instagram. Or maybe just to be in tune with a fad. Do they actually make money selling their produce? Or do they even sell?

I asked Isabel Rivas once if she got rich farming. Her quick answer was: “No.” To think that she’s even hands-on running her farm.

In this oppressive summer, a lot of us are most likely dreaming of having a vacation house or farm in some cooler climes. Maybe these celebrities who share photos and videos of their farms on social media should paint a true picture of the realities of farming. After all, as they say in the folk song — “planting rice is never fun.”

If all they show are their harvests of plump fruits and fresh vegetables, a lot of their fans and followers may get the impression that having a farm is like owning a piece of paradise. Some may be inspired to start saving up for a plot of land, begin farming then — bam! — reality kicks in. 

Yes, we should encourage everyone to sing to the good earth, but only if they are so inclined ... if they are serious about it and going into it full-time. But not because they saw some misleading videos posted online by celebrities, who — if truth be told — will not even stay under the sun since that’s bad for their skin.

Their dream farm — or even dream vacation home — may turn into a nightmare because, in the end, they may just get stuck with a white elephant.