By: Trina Gomez
Star Studio Magazine, September 2003
How much of Bea Alonzo is living inside Katrina Argos, her popular alter ego in the TV soap Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay? Let’s just say the only difference between them are names and age. The young actress is 15; the character she plays, that of a strong-willed neophyte lawyer, is 21. The real name of Bea is Phylbert Angellie Ranollo but to her friends she is “Tisay”.
Now the similarities. In Kay Tagal, Katrina lost her parents when she was just a child; it was the challenges of being an orphan with siblings that performed her into the feisty young attorney she is in the soap.
In reality, Bea has had her share of growing pains. Her parents separated when she was only four years old, and she hasn’t heard from her British father ever since. There was a time, she reveals, when she couldn’t help asking herself why it had to happen to her.
“May pain sa loob na hindi ko mailabas,” she says about that chapter of her life. “Nandu’n talaga ako sa age na nagkukwestyon na bakit ako (product of a broken family) ganito eh hindi naman kailangan. Bakit hindi ninyo ginawan ng paraan for me?”
In Kay Tagal, Katrina is a devoted sister to Helaena (Rica Peralejo) and Nikos (Alwyn Uytingco). In real life, Bea is very close to a younger half-brother, James Armel, whose studies she finances from her show biz earnings. She spends most breaks from her busy schedule bonding with 11-yar-old James.
Katrina, as a lawyer, is always determined to fight for what she believes in and will do anything to get her man (the Yuri Orbida character played by John Lloyd Cruz).
The young actress Bea also had to fight for her strongest passion: performing. As far back as her grade school days, Bea always loved to join school plays and personality contests—even without her mother’s knowledge. Her mom, Mary Anne Escalante, never really condoned such extra-curricular activities. “Nalaman niya na lang nanalo ako kasi ipapakita ko sa kanya ‘yung medal or trophy,” Bea shares.
When she was 14, Bea even dared to compete with 20-year-old women for the “Mutya ng Pasig” title. She was only a runner-up, but it was there that she was spotted by a fashion designer who introduced Bea to her current talent manager.
Mommy Mary Ann didn’t even have a clue that her daughter had auditioned—and passed—as one of ABS-CBN’s Star Circle Batch 10; that is, until Bea asked her to sign a letter of consent.
“Sila ng lola niya ang lagging magkasama, kaya wala akong kaalam-alam. Alam niya din na ayaw kong pumasok siya sa show biz. Dadalawa lang kasi ang anak ko at ayoko silang masasaktan,” says Bea’s mom.
She refused to sign the letter. Bea staged a hunger strike. “Pumapasok ako sa school pero hindi ako kumakain, hanggang sa naawa siya sa akin,” relates Bea. Her mom had no choice but to give her blessings.
Drama is one of the thing that define the real Bea. “Very emotional ako na tao. Konting problema lang, nag-o-OA ako. At saka kapag galit ako, hindi ako nagsasalita. Papasok na lang ako sa kwarto at doon ako iiyak. Iyakin talaga ko”. No wonder it’s so easy for her to shed buckets of tears in her daily soap. “Yung mga sobrang dark memories ko noon, yun ang mga nagagamit ko ngayon sa acting.”
The only problem now is that the real-life experience and emotions that help her internalize Katrina’s character are stuff she’d rather not draw out anymore. “Minsan matutulog na lang ako, nage-echo pa lahat ng memories sa akin. Kasi imbis na sobrang lalim na siya before, andyan na naman.”
But it is the portrayal of the role as Yuri’s girlfriend in Kay Tagal that earns her the highest degree of respect from viewers and co-stars. The on-cam romance that sparked between Katrina and Yuri is said to be the reason Kay Tagal was extended for three months from it’s original farewell schedule last July.
In fact, Bea convincingly portays her lovestruck character in the soap despite the fact that she has zero experience to draw from. Her first real-and reel-life kiss was the much-talked-about kissing scene she shared with John Lloyd/Yuri in one of the soap’s recent episodes.
Bea has been linked with her leading man and blamed for the supposed temporary “break-up” of John Lloyd and girlfriend Ciara Sotto. “ I can’t even say we’re close, kasi hindi pa naman kami nagsasabihan ng mga bagay na sobrang personal,” Bea claims. “I believe that there’s a certain situation that will really make us close pero hindi pa lang nangyayari.’
At her young age, Bea is already allowed to have a boyfriend. But despite her mom’s prodding, she refuses to get into a romantic relationship. “Hindi ko kayang mag-handle ng isa pang attachment sa buhay ko. Ni hindi ko nga kayang pagsabayin ang trabaho koang studies ko.
For now,Bea’s foremost priorities are still her family, her work and her studies. She is now in third year high school under the DECS Home Study Program. She’d like to go back to a normal school when she enters college and if her show biz schedule would allow it.
Meanwhile, her showbiz career is at its prime and more promising projects are in the pipeline. By the time Kay Tagal wraps up in October, Bea will be busy promoting her first film, where she also stars opposite John Lloyd. My First Romance, under Star Cenima, is twinbill movie that also features John Prats and Heart Evangelista.
The John Lloyd-Bea part is being directed by Don Cuaresma and, in it, John Lloyd plays a heart recipient whose path stumbles into Bea two years after her boyfriend, an organ donor, passes away. Bea is unaware heart but that doesn’t stop her from falling in love with him.
Away from the cameras, however, Bea is still trying to see how all her real-and reel-life experiences will shape her as an adult-to-be. “Naniniwala ako that everything in this world has its reasons,” she says. “kaya wala akong gustong itapon sa buhay ko. Lahat ‘yun binigay sa akin ni God para marating ko ‘yung kinalalagyan ko ngayon.