Regine Velasquez is in a celebratory mood as she begins her fourth year as a Kapamilya.
ABS-CBN did not just renew her contract, she got red carpet treatment during her contract signing last Wednesday, February 23, 2022, with all the network's top executives present.
Overwhelmed, Regine quipped, “Hindi ko alam, big deal na big deal pala ito, muntik na ako mag-jeans! Buti na lang, nag-dress ako!”
Interviewed by host Robi Domingo, she said about her new contract, “I’m very happy and very excited and very proud.
“That’s how I feel, I mean after the things that the network has been through.
“All of us, after we’ve all been through, parang I just feel happy to be called a Kapamilya.”
Is she now a Kapamiya for good?
Regine said, “Bakit mo hindi pipiliin iyon if you have the same vision?”
Is there more she wants now that she's activey singing again?
She says, “I’m hoping na someday, mabigyan din nila ako ng pagkakataong maging sexy star.
“It’s my dream to be a sexy star! Hahaha!”
ASIA'S SONGBIRD at ABS-CBN
As much as she is grateful to ABS-CBN for making her feel most at home, for the greater part it is because she is singing again.
Regine said, “I just love music. I love singing...
“Thank you to ABS-CBN for giving me this opportunity to be able to sing again and do the thing that I love the most.
“Dito kasi sa ABS, napakalaki ng importansiyang ibinibigay nila sa mga kagaya kong singers.
“Kasi nga because I wanted so much to sing and alam ko dito, pakakantahin ka talaga nila, at talagang pinakanta nila ako almost every day!
“At saka mga three, four hours akong kumakanta sa kumu, go lang nang go, ‘By Request,’ go!”
By Request is ABS-CBN’s special online show on kumu and YouTube where singers collaborate and sing to earn donations from the victims of Typhoon Odette.
For this Asia's Songbird, it all feels like she's being given a new lease on life because there was a time in her career when she was hardly doing any singing at all.
Recall that in her last years with GMA-7, she was not doing any more musical performances after the network's Sunday musical noontime show, Sunday All-Stars, went off-air in 2015.
Instead, Regine focused on hosting her cooking show, Sarap Diva, and acting in some shows.
She recounted, “For a little while, parang medyo nalihis ako nang kaunti because I was doing other things. I was given the chance to be an actor, to be a host.
“Not that I forgot that I’m a singer, but when I moved back here, iyon lang talaga iyong gusto kong gawin.”
Regine also remembered that at some point after giving birth, she had to be goaded by her sister Cacai Velasquez and her husband Ogie Alcasid to go back to singing.
She said, “Ten years ago, when I got pregnant, after giving birth, that’s all I wanted to do.
“I don’t want to do anything else I just wanted to sing and my sister, who’s also my manager and also my husband, they just kept encouraging me to go back to music.
“I had a hard time singing, it was very difficult for me because as you all know, kapag babae, ang daming changes sa katawan, apektado pati iyong boses.”
music heals
Regine returned to ABS-CBN in 2018, and became part of ASAP Natin ‘To.
She said, “When I moved back here, for some reason, parang wala akong choice kasi every Sunday, kailangan akong kumanta. Hahaha!
“So wala siyang choice, ready siya lagi. I’m happy kasi I still have a hard time singing, but it’s not as hard anymore, like mga four years back.
“How passionate I am? Hindi ko siguro maka-quantify kung gaano ako ka-passionate with my music, but it has been my life, it has changed my family’s lives and it has changed mine.
“I’ll be forever grateful to this wonderful gift of God to me, so sabi nila kapag binigyan ka ng gift ni God, you’re supposed to share it, you’re not supposed to rest.”
Regine beieves in the healing power of music, especially during this time of the pandemic.
“Kasi gusto ko iyong nakikita nila sa singers, e. Iyong akala natin, maliit na bagay lang iyon sa atin, iyong pagku-kumu, but we actually help a lot of people doing that.
“Also, di ba, sinasabi nila na music heals the soul, talagang iyon talaga iyong nangyari sa akin noong pandemic na ito.
“Kung hindi ako kumanta, kung wala akong ASAP na I actually look forward to every Sunday noong nag-o-online pa tayo, siguro nalugmok na ako sa depression.
"Kasi, di ba, gano’n naman iyong nae-experience natin lahat. But yeah, naalala ko na iyon nga pala iyong purpose ko.
"Mag-entertain ng tao, magpasaya, and that’s what I did.”