August 26, 2025 | 12:00am
Halos dalawang dekada na ang nakalilipas nang huling umarte si Rica Peralejo sa harap ng kamera. Ngayon ay muling sasabak ang aktres sa pag-arte.
Kabilang siya sa Manila’s Finest na pagbibidahan ni Piolo Pascual. Isa ito sa mga pelikulang kalahok sa nalalapit na Metro Manila Film Festival 2025.
Kahit aminadong naninibago sa trabaho ngayon ay hindi raw nagdalawang-isip si Rica na tanggapin ang naturang proyekto. “Actually, medyo nanganganay kasi it’s been a while. Well, it’s the project. Kasi ganito ‘yon nagsimula eh. When I was watching Gomburza, that was last, last year. When I was watching that, do’n ko lang ulit na-feel na gusto ko pang umarte. Prior to that, wala na. Pero I didn’t really want to come back or anything. Not because I don’t like or what. I just really focused on being a mom. I just really love my privacy and my private life. So akala ko, parang okay na ako do’n. But I guess, once you’re an actress, you’re always an actress. And you’ll feel that bugso, may spark. May gano’ng mga project na feeling mo may spark siya talaga,” pagbabahagi ni Rica.
Agad daw nagpadala ng mensahe ang aktres sa direktor ng Gomburza na si Pepe Diokno nang mapanood ang pelikula. “When I was watching it, I didn’t really thought na, okay, manonood lang ako ng pelikula. Paglabas na paglabas ko, I was texting Direk Pepe. I said, if you’re gonna make a film again that’s like this, kahit extra I will be willing,” kwento niya.
Halos hindi makapaniwala si Rica na makagagawang muli ng isang pelikula.
Gagampanan ng aktres ang karakter ni Yolly na siyang asawa ng karakter ni Piolo na isang pulis. “I didn’t really expect this. This came na wala talaga akong notion. I din’t even plan on like coming back on the big screen or kahit TV. Wala akong plan. We knew about the movie that will be part (of the MMFF). That’s also one of things na nagpa-yes sa akin. Kasi one, I know that when PJ (Piolo) make movies, it’s always quality film siya, magandang materyal ‘to. That was one of the things that made me say yes. And then secondly, because I’m coming back from like a long, long time of no acting, I needed to hold something familiar. And Piolo is very familiar. I mean we had a lot of projects together. Saka magkaibigan talaga kami. Kaya sabi ko, at least meron akong isang familiar thing sa set,” paliwanag ng aktres.
Kabilang din sa Manila’s Finest sina Enrique Gil, Ariel Rivera, Joey Marquez, Ashtine Olviga, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Romnick Sarmenta, Dylan Menor, Ethan David, Paulo Angeles, Joao Constancia, Inday Fatima, Pearl Gonzales, Soliman Cruz, Kiko Estrada at Cedrick Juan.
Magkahalong emosyon ang naramdaman ni Rica sa ginanap na script reading noong Sabado kasama ang buong cast ng pelikulang mula sa produksyon ng MQuest Ventures at Cignal. “I feel so welcomed, and I think that’s also kind of like one of the things that I was looking forward to. Parang how welcome would I be, di ba? Parang there are a lot of new faces. There are a lot of old faces. People that I’ve worked with from before. Siyempre may mga bago na, ‘Do they know me? Do they not know me?’ I don’t know how to… I used to be an actress before, ‘yung mga ganyan. So I’m so excited with this new thing in my life,” nakangiting pahayag ni Rica.
Magtutuluy-tuloy na nga bang muli sa paggawa ng mga proyekto ang aktres ngayon? “That is something that I can’t answer for now. I want to just focus on what I have now. And let’s see, if in the process, I will fall in love with it all over again, and I want to do something, or maybe not. Open ako sa pareho basta lagi ko namang sinasabi basta hindi masisira ang buhay pamilya ko. Maki-keep ko pa rin ‘yung meron ako sa private life ko,” pagtatapos ni Rica. — Reports from JCC