TV host Boy Abunda went to Los Angeles, California last January 2004 to interview Lea Salonga about her wedding. He also did a TV commercial for The Filipino Channel (TFC). But the trip wasn't all work. Boy took it as an opportunity to give his beloved mother, Nanay Lesing, a treat—a three-week vacation.
"This trip was really for her, " Boy tells us. "And she really enjoyed it. First time niya, e."
Kuya Boy—as everyone likes to call him—says the trip was a good way for him to know his 77-year-old mother more. "Ang dami ko pa palang hindi alam sa kanya. When you spend three weeks in the same room with one person, marami ka pa palang malalaman, e. For instance, I learned that she's actually funnier than I thought. Pag may nakitang Amerikano ‘yan, sasabihin niya, 'Nako, kung bata-bata lang ako, hindi makakaligtas sa akin yan.'"
The trip, Kuya Boy confesses, was also designed to discourage his mother from joining politics. Nanay Lesing, at the time this was published, was bent on running for vice-mayor for Borongan town in Eastern Samar.
"Ayoko talaga," says Kuya Boy. "Baka ‘kako pagbalik namin dito, sasabihin na lang niya na gusto niya uling mag-travel, makita ang Europe or pumunta kung saan man. But as it turned out, lalo siyang naging desidido. Wala na akong magagawa."