“Oh, that’s hard,” ang bulalas ni Tommy Esguerra nang tanungin kung sino ang idolo niyang male star sa local showbiz.
“Because there’s so many amazing actors.”
May nagbanggit ng pangalan ni John Lloyd Cruz.
“He’s amazing! Come on, who doesn’t like John Lloyd?”
Matapos mag-isip ni Tommy ay binanggit niya ang pangalan ni Gerald Anderson na tulad niya ay isa ring Filipino-American.
“Pareho kami ng situation, and look at him now, grabe!
“Like, he has amazing Tagalog, amazing acting, amazing presence in the industry.”
GETTING BETTER AT TAGALOG. Ano ang ginagawa ni Tommy para mas humusay siyang mag-Tagalog?
“Tagalog class, speaking with me in Tagalog lang.
“English, I help her with English, she helps me with Tagalog,” pagtukoy ni Tommy kay Miho Nishida, ang girlfriend at dating ka-love team sa Pinoy Big Brother 737.
“I read Tagalog books, I try to sing Tagalog songs, I try to watch TV.
“I don’t watch TV so much, pero I’m trying to watch TV na so I can get a better ear to it.”
Na-interview ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) si Tommy sa taping ng Funny Ka, Pare Ko sa studio ng ABS-CBN nitong Lunes, July 25.
Sina Tommy at Miho ang latest addition sa cast ng Funny Ka, Pare Ko na pinagbibidahan nina Karla Estrada at Bayani Agbayani.
Umeere ito tuwing Linggo sa Cine Mo! channel ng ABS-CBN TV Plus.
LANGUAGE BARRIER IN RELATIONSHIP? Hindi naman daw problema sa relasyon nila ni Miho ang language barrier.
Si Miho kasi ay bihasa sa Tagalog at Japanese. Sa PBB dati ay hindi sila nag-uusap dahil hindi sila nagkakaintindihan.
Ayon kay Miho, may interpreter pa raw dati para sa kanilang dalawa.
Ang alam lang daw na English ni Miho dati ay “yes,” “no,” at “thank you.”
Si Tommy naman noon ay walang alam kahit konting Tagalog.
“Now I understand Tagalog better and then she understands English better.”
Paano sila mag-away?
Pag-amin niya, “We have misunderstandings. It happens.
“It’s one of those things that we fight about something that there’s no fight. It’s just misunderstanding lang.”
Pero nag-aaway ba sila in Tagalog or English?
Tumawa muna si Tommy bago sumagot.
“Like three months ago, we would need a friend to help translate if we fight.
“Okay, okay, wait, siguro like, parang pangit yung [word na] fight.
“Okay wait, pag hindi naiintindihan tayo,” na ang ibig sabihin ni Tommy ay kapag meron lang silang hindi pagkakaunawan ni Miho.
So may interpreter pa talaga kapag meron silang misunderstanding?
Aniya, “Dati kailangan, ngayon hindi na. Pero we can understand each other more.”
At mas mahal daw nila ang isa’t isa ngayon.
Hindi pa naman raw nila pinaplano ang tungkol sa kasal, pero nais ni Tommy na balang araw ay dumating sila ni Miho sa puntong iyon.
SEVENTH MONTHSARY CELEBRATION. Paano sila nag-celebrate ng seventh monthsary nila?
“Nasa Hawaii ako,” sagot ni Tommy.
“We just talked sa Viber.
“I came back last night, like super late. So I came back and we went to eat.
“Nag-dinner kami. Yun lang. I mean, walang oras.”
Nagbakasyon ng isang linggo si Tommy sa Hawaii kasama ang kanyang pamilya.
“I was with my family the whole time and since I don’t see them really ever, when I’m with them I spend 24/7.”
Unang regular show ng ToMiho ang Funny Ka, Pare Ko matapos ang PBB.
OPTIMISTIC ABOUT FUTURE PROJECTS WITH MIHO. Ano ang mararamdaman ni Tommy kapag sa susunod na proyekto nila ay hindi sila ni Miho ang magkapareha?
“Oh, that’s sad,” bulalas ni Tommy.
“I mean, siyempre, trabaho 'yan, so you do what you have to do.
“But I hope that we can work together.
"I hope that we can win the crowd over and they'll love us.
“And that we’ll get more projects together, because that’s the big reason why I wanna do this, so we can be together.
“But if not, siyempre, it’s work, so we do what we have to do.”