Coco Martin’s new purpose after ‘Juan dela Cruz’

MANILA, Philippines – His just-concluded teleserye “Juan dela Cruz” has inspired Kapamilya leading man Coco Martin to embark on certain advocacies to help people – such as children needing school supplies.

“Yung 9 months na pagtrabaho namin [From those 9 months of work], I learned so much from my character, lalo sa pagtulong sa kapwa [especially about helping people],” said the 31-year-old Gawad Urian actor.

“Dito ako nagkaroon ng special advocacy project na [This is how the special advocacy project came about], ‘Juan Fun School Day.’ We are giving school supplies sa mga eskwelahan [to schools].

“Apat na ang natulungan namin [We’ve helped 4 schools], and we’re now in the process sa pagtatayo ng isang bagong school [of putting up a new school].

“I want to be an inspiration to young people na sa pang-araw-araw na buhay ko bilang artista at bilang tao [in my everyday life as an actor and as a person].”

Coco said he was also inspired by the veteran actors he has worked with in the show.

“I will never forget my experience working with Tito Eddie [Garcia] and Tito Albert [Martinez]. Ang dami kong natutunan sa kanila [I’ve learned a lot from them].”

Close team

Coco Martin was misty-eyed at the farewell party for “Juan dela Cruz.”

He felt sad, he said, because he will miss working with the whole cast and crew. After all, that was 9 months of working together.

“Nakakalungkot kasi naging close na kaming lahat. Kahit na anong mangyari sa taping, umulan man, bumagyo, tuloy ang taping.” (It’s sad because we all became close. No matter what happened in the taping, rain or storm, we carried on.)

“But I am happy at the same time kasi makakapagbakasyon na kaming lahat [because we can all take a vacation now]. Sobra ang naging pagod namin sa show [We became exhausted] and we deserve a break.

“We tape for 6 days a week, inaabot kami ng umaga parati [it would always take us until the morning].

Tapos the next day may taping ulit, pero masaya kami sa set kasi maganda bonding ng lahat.” (Then, the next day, it’s taping again, but we were happy on the set because we had this bonding.)

“I’m so proud of this project kasi halos lahat ng soaps ko, sinama na dito [because almost all my soaps were rolled into this production. It has] Action-drama ito, may comedy rin, love story, fantasy.” – Rappler.com