INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 85 • JULY 1 - 2, 2012

EDGEDAVAOFEATURE

By Edward C. Lactaoen

It is not uncom-mon for members of middle-class Filipino families to wake up to breakfast on the table, a clean house and fresh laundry hung out to dry in the morning sun. More often than not, all these are accom-plished courtesy of what has come t be somewhat a staple in the average Fili-pino home: the yaya. These all around helping hands have come to constantly provide care for the ever-changing Fili-pino household that continues to get bus-ier with the passing of time. Yayas are no stranger to the Filipino culture. The portrayal of them in the media range from comedic tones such as Michael V.’s performance in the Yaya and Angelina skits to more serious ones including yayas as an integral part of the families they work for. Emily Rose Ng (not her real name) grew up with yayas around the house and cited her expe-riences with them as part of their household, par-ticularly, her experiences with “Marcing.” “Di ko alam kung gaano na talaga siya katagal sa amin pero

more than three years na ata kasi nagwork naman siya sa amin nung nasa Magallanes pa kami na-katira. Anyway, sa tagal na niya, siya na ginautu-san lately kung saan mag-punta around Davao. Siya pa gani nag-enroll sa amin tatlong magkapatid sa col-lege. So without her, hind siguro nakagraduate mga kuya ko and hindi siguro ako nakatapak ng fourth year. Siya pa gani nagabuy ng mga books namin. Kilala na rin siya mostly ng classmates naming magka-kapatid kay present talaga siya every enrollment.” Others also shared their happy experiences with their yayas. “Yung first yaya ko noon very car-ing. Siya yung tumayong mother ko noon kasi busy siya sa work niya. Isa siya sa mga unang teacher ko (she was smart by the way) tsaka pinakamabait ko siya na yaya. But she had to leave kasi parang pinauwi na siya ng mother niya sa province nila, kaya ayun. Naghanap ng bagong yaya ang mother ko pero wala gyu’y makapantay sa kabuutan ug kacaring sa akong first yaya. Si yaya Grace.” But not all experiences with yayas are good. When Andrea (not her real name) shared the story about their family’s most recent yaya she said, “Nagclaim (siya) na girape daw siya at

our house tapos nalaman namin after a few weeks nagnakaw pala siya.” Ng also shared the story of one of their yayas who due to certain circum-stances, had to leave them. “Si “Diday” kasi, mata-gal na rin siya sa amin. trained well ni mama. Magaling na magluto, swi-to na sa Davao. Pinaschool pa ni mama ng HRM sa UM. Then sadly, nainlove man yan siya. Then dun na siya nagchange. Di na masyado focused sa work then di na masyado ma utusan. Yung nahuli siya ni mama na nag uyab-uyab, nagdrama siya na nahira-pan na daw siya kaya yun. Pinaalis na lang ni mama kay gahi’g ulo na daw. Say-ang yun siya ba. Siya gud pinakabright sa kanila.” Despite all the varying experiences with yayas, Ng has learned a lot from hav-ing them around. “With those experiences with them, I guess they’re the primary reason why it’s a lot easier at home. First, you have somebody to clean your room, wash and iron your clothes, prepare your food, do your chores, etc. and sometimes, you also have a friend to talk to. Since we interact with them every day, we de-velop this kind of bond. Though andiyan parin yung gap na amo kami and helper sila, we still treat them as a family. But

The yaya:An icon of the Filipino household

it doesn’t work that easy. It takes time, usually years before we can really trust them. And so far, they’re doing great. We also trea-sure them for staying with us through the good and bad. I can honestly see their loyalty though they have the freedom to leave anytime they want. So to sum everything up, I’m thankful for having them here. It’s a mutual rela-tionship din kasi. We help them, and they help us. It’s a two way process. Since they work hard and are very good to us, we reward them with bonuses and we also are good to them,” Ng said of having yayas. “Hon-estly, mahirap din kasi maghanap ng helpers na magstay sa inyo ng mata-gal. Yung iba kasi, maarte, tamad, kawatan din. Lucky lang kami na mababait sila and matrust namin. So far ha, wala naman nagging problema dito. So I guess we’re blessed to have them, same way they’re blessed to have us.” She added. Ng’s experiences have proven that living with yayas may have their ups and downs, but their dedi-cation to the families they serve is undeniable. From the encounters with them in their portrayal in the media to personal experi-ences shared with them, they yaya has truly become a cultural icon for the Fili-pino household.

Yaya Em has been with our family a lot longer than than I have. She started when my older brother was born and our whole family, relatives and even friends have grown to love her since.

She began taking care of us and then watched us everyday until we were old enough to do stuff on our own. She spoiled us with her baked chocolate cakes and macaroons. This is why my brother and I have such a sweet tooth! She’s not just good with fixing our meals but with others tasks too. You name it, she does it! She goes out with us, comments on our outfit, makes friends with our friends, even prays for us and listens to our joys and heartaches. She knows our good and not so good side but doesn’t judge us for it either way.

We will never be able to repay her for all she has done for us but we can only hope that she knows how much she is appreciated and loved. We love her dearly and thank God for her every day. –Diane Tan

Many of us grew up with our yayas. And having a yaya is not even a status symbol; it’s just how things are here in the Phil-ippines.

For the past 23 years of my life, I always had my yaya or Ate Inday by my side. Every morning when I wake up she would ask me what I’d like for break-fast, or if I’d go home late, she’ll wait up for me and be the one to make sure that my dinner is hot.

But she’s more than that, so much more.

All throughout my school life, she was there for me, making sure that I actually did my home-work, my shoes are shiny, my hair in place, and being the asthmatic me, my in-haler is always within my reach.

When I started my pro-fessional career, she was always there ready to give me a helping hand with whatever I needed.

And it doesn’t stop there.More than all the things

that she does for me she is one of the few persons who know me best, one of those who understand me. My yaya is not a maid. She is more of a confidant, a friend.

She knows when I am sad, frustrated, angry, and just out of this world, and she listened through it all. She also knows when I am happy, in love, and ecstatic

about something. She knows all my

friends, and would give her unsolicited advice when there are person-alities in my life that she doesn’t approve of. She even loved my dogs and helps me in taking care of them.

There is a certain way that I like my corned beef cooked, or how I want cer-tain dishes and she is the only one who can cook it that way.

I remember when I was younger she’d save up her one month salary just to buy me the present I want most during my birthday and Christmas. She’d even buy me chocolates for the simple triumphs that I ex-perienced in my life.

We usually celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, teacher’s Day, and many more tributes to the heroes in our lives, but why don’t we celebrate a Yaya’s Day in a country where most kids grow up with a yaya – who dedicate their whole lives to looking after these children?

Make it happen today. Say thank you to your yaya or to the yaya of your children. They are not just maids that do household chores day in and day out. For being a yaya is so much more than being a maid as it involves love, care, and dedication.

to Ate Inday, thank you. –Carlo P. Mallo

My yaya is not a maid!

FoR Tom Cruise, ap-parently, the third time was ultimately not quite the charm. With the news on Friday that the Hollywood top gun and actress Katie Holmes were calling it quits after a little more than five years of marriage, we thought we’d look back at their brief but exciting time together... April 2005: Cruise and Hol-mes begin dating and make their first public appearance as a couple in Rome. May 2005: Cruise enthusi-astically declares his love for Holmes by famously jump-ing on a couch on The oprah Winfrey Show. October 2005: Cruise and Holmes happily announce they are expecting their first child together. April 2006: The couple welcomes a daughter. They name her Suri. October 2006: Cruise and Holmes give the world its first glimpse of Suri by proudly posing with her on the cover of Vanity Fair. Nov. 18, 2006: Cruise and Holmes tie the knot in a lav-ish ceremony at the 15th-century odescalchi Castle in Italy. Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and 7-month-old Suri are among those in attendance.

AT first this split may seem like a Katie vs. Goliath story, given that Tom Cruise is known for being a shark in the courtroom with tens of millions of yearly earnings at his disposal. But dig deeper, children. or, wait—I’ve already done it for you. And from the looks of things, Katie Holmes just may have a shot at getting everything she may want, including (if she so desires) her adorable daughter/side-kick Suri:According to several high-powered celebrity divorce attorneys who have been following the split. If you buy some of the tabloid re-ports, Katie may or may not be seeking sole custody of Suri, and she may have filed in New York. (Her attorney, Jonathan Wolfe, appears to be based on the East Coast.) If she did file in the Big Ap-ple, that’s a very telling fact, I am told. “It’s the public policy of New York state to recognize pre-nuptial agreements,” says Paul Talbert, partner at Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert LLP. California, by contrast, is known for being friendlier to people hoping to fight a prenup. Now, it’s pretty much a

given that Tom and Katie’s prenup—and by all indica-tions, there is one—likely favors the Rock of Ages actor in the cash department. So if Katie filed in NYC, she might desire something else in-stead, something she really thinks she can get. And that would be her daughter. “It’s very interesting if she filed there,” Talbert tells me. “If she filed in New York, as opposed to Colorado or California, that would lead me to believe that there is a significant purpose to that filing, and my best guess is that this is where she wants to live with Suri.” Another salient point: Suri reportedly attends a Scientology-influenced school in California. The logi-

cal takeaway if Katie filed in New York? She may want her daughter out of that school, too. But will Katie succeed? After all, Cruise doesn’t go to court unless he aims to win. “He didn’t ask for this law-suit,” Talbert points out. “I don’t think that, as Katie Hol-mes, you need to be scared of Tom Cruise just because of who he is. I think she will do just fine, especially in terms of child support.” Either way, there could be some serious acrimony between these two. Most celebrity couples agree to some form of joint custody when they split; that’s what Marc Anthony sought when he agreed to divorce Jen-nifer Lopez, and what Da-vid Arquette also asked for when he separated from wife Courteney Cox. Even Tom’s other two kids, Connor and Isabella—adopted while he was mar-ried to Nicole Kidman—fall under a joint custody agree-ment. If Katie really is seeking sole custody of Suri, that’s definitely “is sending a mes-sage,” divorce attorney Stephanie Blum tells me. “It’s not the kindest, gentlest way she could have done things.” Let’s just hope the former couple keeps any arguments away from their 6-year-old

ENTERTAINMENTSTYLE

Anatomy of a splitWhat will happen to Suri?E! Online takes a look at the past 6 years

TomKat split!Katie Holmes files for divorce

A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 85 • JULY 1 - 2, 2012EDGEDAVAO

tOM Cruise and Ka-tie Holmes are calling it quits. Five years after Cruise pro-claimed his unfettered love for the former Dawson’s Creek denizen from the top of Oprah Winfrey’s couch to a worldwide audience, Holmes has moved to end their marriage. “Kate has filed for divorce and tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children,” Cruise publi-cist Amanda Lundberg tells E! News. “Please allow them their privacy.” This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her fam-ily,” Holmes’ divorce attorney, Jonathan Wolfe, says in a state-ment. “Katie’s primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter’s best interest.” Suri Cruise, 6, is the couple’s only child.

The sad news, first reported by People, comes just four days shy of Cruise’s 50th birthday.

There had been no indica-tion of trouble in the marriage, but Holmes, 33, was largely

absent while Cruise has been making the media rounds in recent weeks promoting Rock

FoR Tom Cruise, ap-parently, the third time was ultimately not quite the charm. With the news on Friday that the Hollywood top gun and actress Katie Holmes were calling it quits after a little more than five years of marriage, we thought we’d look back at their brief but exciting time together... April 2005: Cruise and Hol-mes begin dating and make their first public appearance as a couple in Rome. May 2005: Cruise enthusi-astically declares his love for Holmes by famously jump-ing on a couch on The oprah Winfrey Show. October 2005: Cruise and Holmes happily announce they are expecting their first child together. April 2006: The couple welcomes a daughter. They name her Suri. October 2006: Cruise and Holmes give the world its first glimpse of Suri by proudly posing with her on the cover of Vanity Fair. Nov. 18, 2006: Cruise and Holmes tie the knot in a lav-ish ceremony at the 15th-century odescalchi Castle in Italy. Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and 7-month-old Suri are among those in attendance.

November 2007: Cruise cheers on Holmes as she runs in the New York City mara-thon. January 2009: Holmes ac-companies Cruise to the Lon-don premiere of Valkyrie. February 2009: Cruise and Holmes enjoy a family vacation to Disney World. June 2011: Cruise, Holm-es and Suri celebrate Father’s Day on a yacht in Miami. August 2011: Cruise sup-ports Holmes at the New York premiere of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. March 2012: Cruise and Holmes playfully ham it up in a photo booth at the Vanity Fair oscar party. April 2012: Holmes shoots down rumors that she is pregnant with her second child. June 8, 2012: Cruise at-tends the Hollywood pre-miere of Rock of Ages sans Holmes. June 14, 2012: Cruise, who, in addition to Suri, has two kids with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, reveals to People he is “happy with three” chil-dren. June 18, 2012: Cruise and Holmes spotted strolling to-gether in Reykjavik, Iceland, where Cruise is filming the movie oblivion. June 28, 2012: Holmes files for divorce from Cruise.

Anatomy of a splitE! Online takes a look at the past 6 years

TomKat split!Katie Holmes files for divorce

INdulge! A3VOL.5 ISSUE 85 • JULY 1 - 2, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

absent while Cruise has been making the media rounds in recent weeks promoting Rock

of Ages. However, Holmes and Cruise had been photographed together last week in Iceland, where he’s shooting his new film, Oblivion. The couple marked their fifth wedding anniversay in November. The entity other-wise known as tomKat got hitchedin 2006 in Italy’s 15th-century Odescalchi Castle, with a guest list that included Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and Church of Scientol-ogy leader David Miscavige, who served as tom’s best man. This will be Cruise’s third marriage to end in divorce; he was previously wed to Ni-cole Kidman—with whom he has two children, Isabella and Connor—and Mimi Rogers. This was the first union for Holmes.

World Today

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A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 85 • JULY 1 - 2, 2012EDGEDAVAO

YoUNG heartthrob Enrique Gil dances his way to SM City Davao on July 13, Friday, 4 PM. Twenty-year-old Gil started acting in the sum-mer of 2008. When he was 16, boredom led him to enrolling in model-ling and musical theater workshops conducted by Trumpets which opened doors of opportunities for him. He later earned spots in a number of TV commercials. The same year, Enrique auditioned for Star Magic where he got chosen for Star Magic Batch 16. His first television ap-pearance was in the ac-tion-drama series Pieta followed by a stint in the sitcom “George and Ce-cil”. In 2010, he co-starred in the indie war film Di-ego and His Brothers and later joined ASAP XV as part of the “Gigger Boys”. He then earned roles in ABSCBN TV shows and

was finally given a break in the teleserye “Budoy” where he acted along-side Gerard Anderson. Get a chance to meet and greet Enrique Gil at The Annex, July 13!

For more information, please call 297.6998 local 126. Like SM City Davao on Facebook or visit www.smcitydavao.blog-spot.com for event and promo updates.

DC began with a single idea—to build a better skate shoe. That one idea grew to create a brand that forever changed the face of action sports. This kind of drive and creativity is part or our DNA and de-fines who we are. As we continue to cre-ate, invent and redefine products and experi-ences, our foundation is still the mighty idea—pure and simple. We are an idea factory. As we’ve proven , ideas have tre-mendous power. They eventually grow to create a landslide. At DC, we will always be about ideas---seeding great concepts, scaling them up and taking them to the next level. Sometimes, our ideals will take on a life of their own that no one can pre-dict. They will spark new potential and opportuni-ties that can give life to an even better one. In fact, we’ve found that the best ideas are the ones that make room for others. So go ahead. Have an idea. Have ten. Build on someone else’s ideas.

Feed the idea machine. And then make it hap-pen. Pushing the boundar-ies. Defying and defining

the rules. Evolution is constant. The DC concept store is located at the second level of Abreeza Mall.

Calling all charming little boys and girls! It’s time to take cen-ter stage and em-brace the spotlight as the quest for the next SM Little Star begins. Now on its 6th year, the nationwide talent search will be giving away amaz-ing prizes, scholarship grants and a chance to visit China for the grand winners. Bright, charming and talented kids aging 4 to 7 years old are invited to join the SM Little Stars Pre-liminary Screening on July 7, 2012, 11 am at SM City Davao The Annex Event Center. To join, interested par-ties may register at www.smsupermalls.com/smlit-tlestars to get registration numbers. Registration forms are also available at the Mall Admin office lo-cated at the Second Floor of the Main Mall. Duly filled out forms must be submitted along with a

copies of the child’s birth certificate (original and photocopy), and 2 cop-ies of 4R size photos (one close-up, one full body) at the Marketing Depart-ment of SM City Davao. Registration runs until July 7, Saturday. Lucky contestants who pass the preliminary screening will get an op-portunity to undergo trainings and workshops prior to the regional and national finals. For more information, please call 297.6998 local 126. Like SM City Davao on Facebook or visit www.smcitydavao.blogspot.com for event and promo updates.

Enrique Gil at SM’s Teenvasion, July 13!

It started with an idea SM Little Stars now on 6th year!