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A fresh-looking Vima Santos greeted us at the presscom of her movie, “Anak.” Full of energy after a three week vacation in the States, she answered our question about her film with zest and pride.

Favorite song

What is your memory of “Anak?” It was a favorite song of mine. I always ran to the radio whenever they played the song. When the project was offered to me, I responded favorably to it right away.

Do you still feel challenged by the dramatic situations of the story? Of course. The challenge is always there Kahit na nasa Hall of Fame ‘ko. We have lots of comfrontation scenes in this movie and they are all difficult. I remember doing a scene in which I had two pages of dialogue. After doing the blocking. I asked for time to concentrate because the director would take a continuous shot. The point is to never be over-confident and always turn to the director for help.

How significant is “Anak” to you? This is the first time I am portraying a domestic helper and our one week of shooting in Hong Kong enabled me to talk to some of them and understand them better.

Lonely

Most of them are sacrificing mothers and they’re lonely because they are far away from their families.

Was it easy for you to relate to your character in the movie? I internalized my being a mother is real life and the fact that I am also working, hindi nga lamang abroad. It helped me a lot remembering what Mama did to me when I was young.

As a mother, what are your particular about? The health of my children. If you want me to get upset, just tell me that one of my sons is sick!”

What kind of a mother are your to your teenage son Luis? I am quite liberal dahil iba naman ang henerasyon ngayon as compared doon sa kinagisnan ko. Curfew hour for me then was midnight. But now, ganung oras pa lamang nagsisimula ang kanilang mga happenings.

No communication gap

I have no communicatin gap with my son. We talk about everything under the sun, including sex. Also, I allow my son to reason out with me since the saying mother knows best is not applicable in all circumstances.

Has Luis given you a headache? Sa awa ng Diyos ay wala pa namang grabeng sakit ng ulo idinudulot sa akin. Mabait siyang bata and he knows his responsibilities. But I recall punishing him over a failure to deliver good grades. I am particular about his studies. When he showed me his low grades, he promised he would do something about it. The third grading period came and there was no improvement, so I reminded himd of his promise. He was grounded for one week and was not allowed to use the telephone.

Was ther a time when you neglected your motherly duties? It was campaign season and you know how busy candidates are. Hindi ko nabantayan si Luis because I was busy campaigning, and he stayed in somebody else’s house at nagtampo. Vilma says her greatest joy is being a mother to Christian who is only four and Luis who is already a handsome teenager. Her greatest fear is to “lose” them one day, when they move out to have their own families. She says 85 percent of her life is devoted to being a loving mother! – Remy M. Umerez Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 12 2000 (READ MORE)