LINO CAYETANO, APRIL 2007

The things you could tell just by looking at him
By Jerome Gomez

IT’S a bit cheesy to say it but when Lino Cayetano arrives at the al fresco area of ABS-CBN’s The Loop, the afternoon sun casting a calm warm light on his natural auburn hair, it seems as if a halo follows him as he approaches. In photographs and now, up close, he does appear saintly, even Christ-like. “Bakit ka late?” screenwriter and close friend Mel del Rosario greeted him the first time they met. “Nagpo-promote ka ba ng Passion of the Christ?” It’s that long, unkempt hair, the meek eyes, the gentle manner, that whole hippie thing going enhanced only by the tattered jeans, slippers and the natural tan—a product of staying for hours under the sun. From afar, you might imagine him ideal to play JC in that famous rock musical. And then he comes closer and you could tell he’s not at all rock. Just by looking at him, he’s not capable of screaming his lungs out, much less trashing a temple.

Because as soon as you sit down with him for an interview, you are convinced that all the talk about how good he is—how kind and gentlemanly, and generous of spirit—it’s authentic. “He’s a very good guy,” KC Concepcion, who Lino is reported to be currently wooing, tells me in January. “Sobrang bait niya,” says a member of the staff who’s worked with the guy in two teleseryes. “From what I’ve heard he’s always nice with his actors. He’s always nice even during meetings. He would bring with him healthy food for all because he’s a vegetarian.” Mel del Rosario remembers these: “S’ya yung tipong nung nabangga ako sa Marikina, and he was in Alabang, he asked, ‘Ate, ‘asan ka, pupuntahan kita? Kahit na ba alam nya na (it would take) ten years before he gets to Marikina. Pag may problema ‘ko lagi nya sinasabi, ‘Ate, ‘pagdadasal ko,’ Pati yung pastor nila bubulabugin nya para ipagdasal (ka).”

He is also childlike when he speaks, idealistic and, despite having worked in the dog-eat-dog world of local television for the past three years, unbelievably positive. And intensely private. Today, he had just come from a guest stint at Dyan Castillejo’s show over at ANC, together with sister Pia, the senator. “Maraming nagtataka bakit ayoko mag-guest sa isang show na maraming nanonood, pero magpapa-interview ako sa isang show na konti lang ang nanonood.” In today’s program, he spoke about Bike For Hope, a foundation he put up with his siblings after their father Rene Cayetano died in 2005. The staff of the show couldn’t understand why he wanted to stay only for one segment of the hour-long program. “I’ve said enough about the foundation and besides my sister is already there so she can take care of the rest. What could they possibly need me there for?”

He has been extra wary of getting interviewed lately, because since late December, he’s found himself the stuff of show biz news, having been spotted with KC in a couple of occasions. He doesn’t like talking about his personal life, especially when it involves the women he is currently or was seeing. “I value talaga my private life, and the life of whoever I’m dating. Hindi lang naman ngayon, kahit dati pa. Madami naman interesting na buhay diyan, wag na yung sa’kin (ang pag-usupan).”

He was convinced to say yes to pose for the cover of this magazine because some guys from Star Cinema, with whom Lino is currently developing his first movie project with, told him it might be a good venue to introduce himself to people and to talk about his causes. And besides, we won’t be talking about his personal life, would we? He says talking about it steals the attention away from his work.

The name Lino Cayetano first caught public attention when he agreed to donate his own liver to his father who was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 2004. The transplant was done in the US and gave his father two more months to live—until he developed cancer of the stomach and eventually passed away. Months before the entire family flew to the States for the senator’s treatment, Lino has already broken into television, as director of the GMA 7 reality talent show StarStruck. When ABS-CBN’s Maalaala Mo Kaya was thinking of producing an episode out of Lino’s life story, they decided Lino would be the best person to direct it (Lino was played by John Lloyd Cruz).

Inspired by the successes that StarStruck jumpstarted over at the rival station, ABS-CBN convinced the young director to officially jump ship. He joined ABS-CBN in 2005 and started working on shows such as StarDance and the teleserye Mga Anghel Na Walang Langit where he shared directorial credits with veteran Maryo J. delos Reyes. The success of the teleserye would be followed by the afternoon drama Calla Lily in 2006, the talent search Little Big Star and more Maalaala Mo Kaya episodes.

Again, it may be cheesy to say it but what really attracts the guy to the projects he ends up doing is it’s inherent possibility of changing people’s lives—his or his viewers’. Yes, most of his projects are about young people, but the real common denominator among them, says Lino, is that they’re all about hopes and aspirations.

He’s all about sending the message. He shifted into a film course from his philosophy studies in UP because he wanted to do something creative, and making movies might just be it. And his father was then doing the legal advice radio show Companero y Companera, and Lino was so amused by the dramatization part of it. He originally wanted to be in radio. Hence, don’t expect Lino to talk about being inspired by this or that film, or this or that director. Yes, he likes Manila By Night, he thinks it’s innovative and entertaining but is it the movie that made him want to make films? No. He likes The Godfather because more than anything, he says, it’s about family.

And that’s where most of Lino’s inspiration comes from: his family and the life he grew up in. The son of a statesman and an American pre-school teacher, Lino was the youngest in a brood of four. Rene Cayetano was a disciplinarian to his kids and he led by example: no drinking, no drugs and no smoking. He was a self-made man and taught his kids the value of working hard for the things they want. Lino doesn’t remember rebelling against his dad except for a couple of nights where he went out with friends as a teenager to have a couple of drinks.

What he remembers is being fetched from school in the middle of class when he was seven years old and being brought to an unidentified house together with his family. “’Yun pala (the) EDSA (protests) was starting na, and my dad was the first member of parliament aligned with Marcos to withdraw support from (the government). (My dad) wanted to make sure we were safe, so we went to a house ng kaibigan niya siguro, the next day when they thought marcos left, we went to EDSA. Naalala ko pa naglalakad sa EDSA. It’s so clear in my head, naalala ko ‘yung mga vendors sa kalye, mga taong nakatayo, naglalatag ng banig…I knew what was happening, I knew that the issue was cheating in the elections, I knew that the issue was corruption. Siguro in a way that’s a big reason why kaming magkakapatid were interested in good government and what’s going on in our country.”

At one point in the interview, he pauses, sips from his bottle of mineral water and realizes he’s been talking too much. “Daldal ko rin, no? When I’m in class nga (he teaches film directing at the UP), minsan feeling ko ginagawa ko rin ‘yun (teaching) for my personal satisfaction kasi daldal ako nang daldal.” And he can talk endlessly, like a child dreaming and thinking aloud, about his work, about his passion for directing and how he believes in each project that he does. About his causes, top of which is organ donation awareness which is what Bike For Hope is largely about. A week earlier, for the third anniversary of the foundation, he and sister Pia led around 300 bikers for a three-hour bike ride from Sta. Rosa to Pagsanjan. The foundation gives out scholarships and educates people about how safe organ donation can be. From Lino’s end, he talks about how exercise was a big factor in his recovery after the liver transplant operation in 2004.

Lino’s been passionately following a healthy lifestyle since training for triathlon a year before that operation. He was able to be the donor to his father because at that time, thanks to his intensive training, he was at the best of health. He’s still very much into biking these days, even spending his 29th birthday last January just biking to Tagaytay with his sister and a friend. “It was the best way of celebrating my birthday. It’s simple and parang I love seeing the ricefields and the mountains.”

He owns a bar with a few of his industry friends, loves to hang out there if he has the time though he very rarely drinks. Doesn’t he feel like he’s missing out on something? I ask. “People who say you missed out on something have to understand that people who do drugs or who spend part of their lives partying every night, they also miss out on a lot of things. I may have missed out on certain things but I didn’t miss out on the joy of sports, bonding with my volleyball team. They’re missing out on the opportunity to achieve a natural high. For me that’s so amazing—when you’re directing, or that moment at night when you’re writing and then everything just comes together. Or just lying down the grass watching the sky.”

Story appeared in Metro hiM.