'MANILA'S FINEST' CHECKS ALL THE BOXES FOR COMEBACKING ACTRESS RICA PERALEJO

For years, Rica Peralejo’s supporters kept asking when she would return to acting.

- By NATHALIE TOMADA

The former teen star had put her showbiz career on hold to focus on family life. Now, she is finally back, joining MQuest Ventures’ period drama “Manila’s Finest.”“To be honest, in the last six years — six years old na anak ko — I've gotten so many offers,” she shared with The STAR.

“I’m not making yabang or anything, but there were really offers. Some of them, alam mo yung, will ‘put you back on the map,’ like a relaunch and all.”

But for a long time, the answer was always no. “Many times I wanted to go for it, thinking maybe it’s time. But I would have a list of things and say, ‘pag na-check ko lang to lahat saka ako babalik.”

Sharing her checklist, she said, “One is, good project. Second is gusto ko yung mga kasama ko. Third is yung bayad (laughs), hindi pwedeng hindi okay ang bayad. Fourth, and this is the most important actually, that it would not ruin or destroy my time with my kids because they’re still young. Sa four (requirements) na yun, laging may missing, so hindi 100 percent.”

But with “Manila’s Finest,” everything somehow aligned.

“This year, when they offered this to me: Maganda yung project, gusto ko yung mga kasama ko, OK yung bayad. And my kids are older, they don’t need me as much anymore unlike before. I actually kind of got sad because I said, they can actually handle this without me anymore — not naman completely without me but to be away for a few days is not anymore a huge thing in their lives.