A SONG FOR SARAH

Sarah Geronimo has come a long way. Starting her career out performing in shopping malls and college campuses, she has since enjoyed a meteoric rise to superstardom. At 23, the possibilities seem endless for this down-to-earth singing sensation

- DANIEL MABANTA

SARAH GERONIMO ARRIVES ON TIME. “She’s here,” says an inanimate voice as a car pulls in. We meet at Warehouse 17, a spacious boutique with modern Asian furniture and an ambient soundtrack located somewhere in the outer reaches of Makati. Sarah walks in unassumingly, clad in a crisp white shirt and jeans. Her bodyguard, an intimidating, expressionless figure in a barong, follows a few steps behind. She smiles disarmingly when I am introduced to her, shakes my hand, and unabashedly refers to me as ‘sir’— a rather odd sense of propriety, somewhat unexpected from a national pop icon.

The hoopla commences. Sarah sits in a high chair in front of a lit-up mirror. She is for the most part quiet but grinning broadly and occasionally singing under her breath. It is an endearing sight. Her wardrobe for the shoot, a rack of finely-detailed gowns by some of the most influential Filipino designers, flown in from as far away as Dubai, is carefully scrutinized by stylists and Sarah’s doting mother, Divina. Two separate camera crews for ABS-CBN and Sarah’s TV show aptly titled Sarah G. Live! enter and begin filming; art directors rearrange furniture while hungry staff members pinch some of the complimentary food. Her artist Lala Flores, a former ramp model herself, meticulously applies top-of-the-line cosmetics to Sarah’s now noticeably stoic face.