With a carpenter for a father and a plain housewife for a mother, the challenges of living through the stench and filth of poverty were overwhelming. More so as I was the eldest in a brood of seven. 

An option to earn my own keep came when an elementary classmate introduced me to selling newspapers after graduation. That was in 1981, and my route started from our place near Rafael Palma Elementary School, my alma mater. I would wake up at 4 a.m. and was already on the streets of San Antonio Village in Makati at 5 a.m. Final destination was BuendiA Avenue corner Ayala Street.

Celebrity sighting 

While selling newspapers, I experienced gushing over celebrities I accidentally met. One of my idols, Rosanna Ortiz, bought a broadsheet while at the backseat of her black Mercedes Benz. Also saw Marissa Delgado during traffic while she was driving a yellow Mitsubishi Mirage.

Then, I saw Pepsi Paloma and Myrna Castillo gracing a marathon for newspaper boys, which I joined at the Quirino Grandstand.

In our street, Agata, I saw Imelda Papin and Bernard Bonin on separate occasions while inside an optical shop one house away from us. Watching the shooting of Basta Driver, Sweet Lover, I saw George Estregan and Barbara Luna. I also saw Joel Torre when he visited a neighbor.

Least favorite

Growing up, I realized that my parents played favorites. 

In high school, they allowed my twin brother to attend the JS Prom and I was promised I’d be the one attending the year after. But I had chickenpox and my brother ended up attending the prom again. They also enrolled my twin brother in college first and I was left to wait for another year to enroll.

Career highlights

I went to the state university, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), where I took up Journalism. While studying, I formed a gay organization called GUILD (Gays United in Interest for Liberty and Democracy).

My first work was a writer for Bibsy Carballo, a talent manager of the stars — Gretchen Barretto, Dawn Zulueta, Sharmaine.Arnaiz, Boots Anson Roa, Michael de Mesa, among others.

Coming full circle as a writer, I was twice entertainment editor for two tabloids, was a columnist for Mr. & Ms. magazine; and contributor for Manila Times, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer and now DAILY TRIBUNE.

Hardened

Life’s hardships made me a steel. It fortified me. I became unapologetically fierce. I don’t cry because crying is a sign of defeat. Not even deaths in the family made me shed a tear. My relationships, all 18 of them, were failures. But I came out unscathed, standing still.

That’s what life has taught me -- how to wade through challenges and wiggle out from the clutches of frustration. I’ve achieved it through grit and walked away triumphantly growing.