MARICEL SORIANO SHARES LESSONS ON CHERISHING FAMILY IN NEW FILM

IT WAS AN EASY "YES" FOR MARICEL SORIANO to accept the expected tearjerker, "Meet, Greet & Bye."

- By NATHALIE TOMADA

In the ABS-CBN Star Cinema film, which opens in cinemas today, the Diamond Star plays Baby Facundo, a mother battling cancer whose children will do everything to make her dream of meeting her Korean drama idol, Park Seo Joon, come true — on the condition that she gets her treatment. Her children are played by Piolo Pascual, Joshua Garcia, Juan Karlos Labajo and Belle Mariano. This is Cathy Garcia-Sampana's directorial comeback a year after "Hello, Love, Again," the highest grossing Filipino film of all time.

"I could relate to the role, being a mother myself. She has three sons, and I have two sons, so I immediately connected with her experiences of motherhood," Maricel said in an exclusive interview.

"Also, yung parang sa tingin ng mga anak ko na dalawa (in film), kay Papa P (Piolo), parang paborito ni Mama yan. Of course, na-hi-hurt ang nanay pero hindi mo papakita kasi hindi ganyan anak. Ipaliwanag mo, na gusto mong umiyak na huwag niyo naman akong pag-isipan na ganyan kasi pare-pareho kayong mga anak ako."

Though Maricel has yet to be bitten by the K-drama bug in real life, she knows what it feels like to be a fangirl.

"Nakakatawa na fan girl ako sa film. I couldn't relate on that aspect (K-drama fan) but I know what it's like to be a fan. Back in the day... we started at Regal, right? We used to have fans' day. Alam ko yung feeling na may hinahangaan ka."

Has she ever been a hardcore fan herself of any local celebrity?

"Di masyado eh, kasi hindi ako nagkaroon ng chance manood ng ganon, ng TV," Maricel, who started out as a child star, said.