‘Demonizing’ Angel Locsin

Angels and demons are supposed to be exact opposites, but Angel Locsin's detractors don't think so. In fact, ever since the actress left GMA-7 for ABS-CBN, some of them have been "demonizing" her. They depict her as an ingrate, because she left the TV channel that invested heavily in her and made her a big star.

In addition, Angel has been accused of "starring" in a sex video—a charge which recently was proven false. To find some space and peace to mull things over, Angel took a quickie fashion course abroad.

Big plans

She's back now, and ABS-CBN has big plans for her. Tit for tat, GMA-7 is now building up Marian Rivera, the new Marimar, and it looks like the comely actress is on her way to bigtime stardom in her own right.

Now that the dust has settled, we can view the "Angel-demon" controversy with greater equanimity and objectivity, to wit: First off, we perfectly understand why GMA-7 reacted so strongly against Angel when she decided to leave for the proverbial greener pastures (and bigger bucks).

After all, the network did invest heavily in her, and showcased her in numerous TV series and films, which effectively made her one of the country's most popular and bankable young-adult actresses. Come contract-renegotiation time, it was right for the network to expect Angel to be grateful.

On the other hand, popular stars expect to get a raise when they renegotiate their contracts, and that too is understandable. Now, we don't know what the figures are in Angel's case, but the usual practice is for producers who build up talents to pay them only a modest amount.

They explain this by citing the huge investment they make in the new star's build-up campaign. And, in Angel's case, her former "mother network" adds that it also enabled the actress to make additional multi-millions in product endorsements, which should have compensated for her relatively modest contract earnings.

Additional factors

Apparently, however, this wasn't enough for Angel and her handlers, so she chose to leave. Additional factors could have been an inordinately hectic work schedule, lack of time left to develop her other talents and interests, etc. Well, now that Angel has "changed channels" careerwise, her mother studio should be expected to make up for this slack, and not just in terms of money—otherwise, what was all the pain and anger for?

GMA-7 is quite right to build up Marian or another new talent to replace Angel as its "signature" young star. As for ABS-CBN, the viewing public expects it to do even better in showcasing its hot, new property than her former network did.

But, the biggest expectations are of Angel herself. After putting everyone empathetically through the wringer these past weeks, her ABS-CBN and Star Cinema projects should be a decided improvement over her GMA-7 and GMA Films portrayals. If they don't pass muster, she'll have a lot of explaining to do.

Image

Postscript: Now that the Angel Locsin controversy has ebbed, one image remains in our mind: At the height of the sturm und drang, the hosts of a show biz talk show were commenting on Angel's "changing channels" move—and they confessed that they had all done the same thing at one time or other in their careers!

So, when all is said and done, what Angel did—like it or hate it—was pretty much par for the show biz course. Except, in her case, she was bigger than most and owed GMA-7 a lot because it had made her such a hot property. —But, aside from that, it was really (show) business as usual.

So, what price gratitude? These days, other factors intrude—like attitude, and plenitude— dude!