Last year, he moved to GMA-7. Why? “For a change,” he says. “I’d like to thank ABS-CBN for the break they gave me but I felt it’s time to move on.” He’s been with GMA-7 for sometime but he has yet to have a regular soap. “Nasama naman ako sa ‘Rhodora X’ and ‘My Destiny’. Happy naman ako kasi hindi ako nawawalan ng assignment. I appeared twice sa ‘Magpakailanman’. I also did ‘Tunay na Buhay’, ‘Wish Ko Lang’, ‘Celebrity Bluff’, ‘Imbestigador’, ‘Karelasyon’ and now, kasali na ako sa ‘Pari ‘Koy’. Soon, bibigyan daw uli ako ng isang bagong soap with Kylie Padilla.”
His performance as Mylene Dizon’s gay son who had an affair with his own mom’s lover, Mark Herras, in ‘Karelasyon’ got a lot of raves. In ‘Pari ‘Koy’, he plays the lover of Hiro Peralta, the closet queen brother of Dingdong Dantes in the story. Isn’t he worried he might be typecast in gay roles? “No. Yung show ko with Kylie, hindi naman ako gay. Also, iba-ibang level at klase ng pagka-gay ang ginagawa ko. In ‘The Kevin Balot Story’, transgender talaga ako. Sa movie na ‘Dagitab’, I played a young man who’s not sure about his sexual identity. Suggested lang yung relationship namin ni Sandino Martin. Sa ‘Karelasyon’, straight acting gay ako. In ‘Pari ‘Koy’, mahirap ako na kinaibigan ni Hiro who’s gay, binibigyan niya ko ng pera, but hindi ko siya ine-exploit, hindi ko inaabuso ang kabaitan niya. Mabait pa rin yung character ko kasi sandalan niya ko pag may problems siya.”
How’s it working with Dingdong Dantes in ‘Pari ‘Koy’? “Okay. Ang bait niya. When he saw me, he even congratulated me for my performance in ‘Karelasyon’.” Is he affected by rumors that he’s gay in real life? “Ako, hindi, kasi I know myself. But yung family ko, ang parents ko, siempre, naaapektuhan sila.”
Does he have a girlfriend? “My last was noong last year pa. Non-showbiz. Eight months kami. We broke up in July dahil sa mga selos-selos. Since then, wala akong girlfriend. Date-date lang.”
This week in “Pari ‘Koy”, Dingdong visits his brother Hiro Peralta as Sam who nearly died of drowning while he was drunk. Their father, Spanky Manikan, comes and he and Hiro had a heated argument. Hiro also blames Dingdong for leaving him as a child when he entered the seminary to be a priest. When Dingdong returns to Barangay Pinagpala, he discovers that the boy he wants to adopt, David Remo as Pinggoy, is being taken away from him by Chanda Romero as Martha, to be given under the care of the DSWD. But naturally, Pinggoy refuses to go with the DWSD people.
