RUFFA Gutierrez is back in college to get a bachelor’s degree in communication arts at the Philippine Women’s University.

“One is never too old to chase your dreams,” she says. “I am both humbled and excited to share with you that I am currently enrolled in The Philippine Women’s University to pursue a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Communication Arts under their Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program. Not only do I want to fulfill a long-held dream and take control of the next chapter of my life, I also want to set a good example for my children.”

This comes at a time when her eldest daughter Lorin Gutierrez is officially joining showbiz. Viva Entertainment hosted a welcome zoom presscon for Lorin and everyone is simply amazed at how articulate she is in English, answering all questions thrown her way like a very smart beauty queen.

Her mom Ruffa Gutierrez butts in at this point through presscon moderator Jun Lalin: “Nagmana sa nanay, magaling sumagot.”

So why join showbiz now? “It just feels the right time, I’m more mature and everything is at my own pace,” says Lorin. “I feel I’m ready and I’m excited to start this new chapter in my life and see wherever it will take me.”

She’s now actually active in social media with more than half a million followers on Instagram and 140,000 subscribers on Youtube, making her an influencer. Will she still go to college?

“Yes, I still plan to pursue my college studies. In high school, I joined plays in school as I always have this passion for acting. Because of the pandemic, I realized I’m capable of doing so many things and I can do multiple passions and multiple options while doing my studies and acting at the same time. As long as I’m disciplined, kaya ko namang i-balance lahat.”

Lorin is turning 18 on August 3. Will she have a debut? “I had a big 16th birthday celebration, so parang na-experience ko na ang debut. With the pandemic now and so many people suffering, I don’t want to be insensitive and have a lavish celebration. I’d rather have a small intimate celebration with my family and closest friends.”

Any restrictions from her mom or lola? “No boyfriend daw muna, just focus on my career and my studies, focus on myself rather than another person. My mom wants the best for me but she trusts my judgment and she lets me follow my own path. My mommy is more strict kasi my lola is naubos na ang pagiging strict niya sa mommy ko so now, pagod na siya. Overall, my family is not really strict. They give me a lot of freedom to make my own decisions. It’s different growing up in the public eye but I’m thankful for the unconditional love and support of my family. They will always be my rock and my safe place.”

Would she like to be a beauty queen like her mom? “I haven’t thought about joining a beauty pageant, but my mind can change next year or in three years, so we never really know. But I’m only 5’4”. My mom is 5’10”, so ewan ko kung anong nangyari sa akin. As of now, I just want to focus on my showbiz career. Aside from acting, I’d also like to try being a TV host and to focus on modeling for brands and see where that will take me.”

Who are the young actors she wants to be paired with? “I’ll just trust Viva to find someone who’d best fit for me. But I want to work with my friends and people I look up to like, Tita Anne Curtis, also Kathryn Bernardo as I love all her films. It’ll also be fun to later work with members of my own family.”

How close is she to her mom? “My mom and I are so close as she raised us as a single mother. Like my mom, I’m also kikay and I also love beauty and fashion, but my mom is more fierce than me. I’ve seen many of her films and TV shows and she’s so entertaining when she’s a contravida like in ‘Betty La Fea’”.

What kind of films would she like to do? “I’m a hopeless romantic so one day, I want to do a romantic drama. It’s my favorite genre, like ‘The Notebook’ and the other works of Nicholas Sparks.” What about sexy roles? “I won’t be comfortable doing them, so just let others do such roles.”

Did she have to ask the permission of her Papa Yilmaz? “I didn’t necessarily get permission from my dad, but there’s an open line of communication between my mom and dad and my mom has informed him about it. We respect his opinion, but my decision to join showbiz is fully on my own. But definitely, he’s aware. There’s never been a time when our communication has stopped. My mom never tried to stop me and my sister from talking or reaching out to him. Me and Venice have a really good relationship with our dad.”

Would Venice also join showbiz? “I have no idea. She’s younger than me so she still has time to figure out what she wants to do. She’s a very talented girl, specially in singing. We just have to wait and see.”

How does she feel that her mom is now also going to college? “It’s great. She always says education is very important. And it’s nakakatuwa that as I’m starting college, she’s also starting college, and we can study together. I’m so proud of her. She shows that no matter how old you are, it’s never too late to discover new things that you want to do.”

What are the benefits of belonging to the Gutierrez family? “It’s an advantage to be in an accomplished showbiz family. I have a great family and I’m proud of being a Gutierrez as I get a first hand perspective on what’s it gonna be like and good advice on a lot of things, like to be respectful to everyone. But there’s also some pressure kasi people might have high expectations. I just hope they’ll realize that I’m my own person and I aim to prove myself in this industry.”

She’s very fluent in English, but how about in Tagalog? “I do speak Tagalog. Kaya lang nahihiya ako mag-Tagalog kasi ‘yung accent ko can be very obvious. Wala naman akong class in Pilipino in our school. I just learned it from watching teleseryes, like ‘Darna’, ‘Betty La Fea’ and ‘Got to Believe’.”

How does she handle bashers? “When we were doing ‘It Takes Gutz to be a Gutierrez’, I read all the criticisms about us but so many just bash you for the sake of bashing, so I learned not to just read them because they can get to you and make you feel bad.”

But recently, she was bashed again for her bikini photos and this is what she replied to her bashers: “My body doesn’t belong to anyone else but me. That means if I want to show it off, as long as my family is OK with it (which they are,) then I will. Girls should be able to choose whether they want to be more conservative or showy depending on what they feel comfortable with.”

Pinoys’ obsession with beauty pageants

PINOYS are so obsessed with beauty pageants and our country’s representative, Rabiya Mateo’s loss in the Miss Universe pageant, is a big deal and a big blow for them. Some folks insinuate that it’s “lutong Macau” since most of those in the top 5 are Latinas from Brazil, Peru, Dominican Republic and the winner, Miss Mexico.

The only Asian who made it to the top 5 is Miss India. Someone said this should not be surprising as the pageant was held in Miami, which is Latino territory, and the broadcast is carried by the Hispanic TV station, Telemundo.

In local social media, everyone is asking why Mexico won. Even local celebs like Kim Chiu expressed her disgust in her own account, asking: “Ano raw nangyari? Bakit naging ganun? Please enlighten me.”

Some Pinoys lambasted 2012 Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo, for her lack of energy in hosting the show. Vice Ganda twitted: “Naku ha. Wala sa sarili si Olivia. Balisa! Bukas ba 3rd eye mo ‘te?” Other Pinoys made fun of the fact that Janine Tugonon, Olivia’s first runner up in the 2012 Miss Universe, was in the audience.

Someone even quipped: “Olivia cannot concentrate as Janine is in the audience. Janine, palitan mo na yan, kasi if for any reason, the Miss Universe cannot perform her duties well, the first runner up should take over. Miss Olivia, kaya pa ba o you need back up?”

Others say Olivia is not in the mood because 2017 Miss Universe Demi Leigh Nel Peters, the woman her ex-boyfriend, athlete Tim Tebow, chose to marry last year after dumping her, was also present in the event. Trust Pinoys to come up with all stories and all sorts of angles in scrutinizing events like this.

So now, they’re looking forward to the next beauty pageant to bring their hopes up once again. Pinoys are so beauty pageants conscious that they follow even small newly organized beauty contests in obscure countries.

So onward, Filipino beauty pageant fanatics! Don’t worry about the pandemic or the onslaught of Chinese warships at the West Philippine Sea or the rampant corruption committed by our public officials. Let’s just be more overly concerned on how we fare in beauty pageants.