YEARS FROM NOW?

THIs Is INA RAyMuNDO’s gIfT TO HERsELf As sHE TuRNs 40 NExT MONTH. yOu HAvE TO sTOP AND CONsIDER THE sHEER PHysICAL IMPOssIbILITy Of THIs gIfT.

How is it that five children were born out of this body, practically one after another, yet its form has been preserved, as though she were made not out of bone and flesh but of some gelatinous substance?

Even more fascinating, this process of childbirth occurred naturally. No doctor ever axed her open and pulled out all those little tykes then sewed her back shut. The laws of nature shouldn’t have allowed. Something in her should have collapsed or shriveled up. And yet here she is, looking at 40 like she did at 20.

We are not making this up. If you care to dig up that classic beer TV commercial of 20 years ago on YouTube, you’d know what we mean. Watch her strut her stuff there and you’d think some sort of rock and roll voodoo was at work. Ina could still pass for the Sabado Nights girl every Pinoy guy fantasized about in 1995.

Ina was a bona fide pop culture phenomenon then. No one knew who she was when that TV commercial came out, and immediately right after the first airing every guy was asking, “Who is that girl?” This was preInternet, pre-cellphone—the buzz was purely word-of-mouth. Overnight, she became the national crush.

So it was already set in stone that when FHM Philippines debuted in 2000, Ina Raymundo would be one of the pioneer cover girls. The story of why it didn’t happen is right here. This officially makes the November 2015 issue the longest we’ve ever had to wait for a cover.

If you were born in 1995, you’re staring at a fantasy.

If you were the guy asking who she was back in 1995, you’re staring at a fantasy that took 20 years to come true.

Ina has bridged the years and put you under her spell.

Consider the sheer impossibility of that…

The back story of this cover is that this should have happened 15 years ago. Can you tell us how that came to be?

Okay we’ll have to go back to 2000, I had short hair then, and I had just finished…that movie [she asked that we not talk about it because she did not want her kids to do some “research”]. I remember shooting ko na the following the day and then biglang nagkahika ako—asthmatic ako, yun ang problema. So hindi natuloy; I was very, very sick. Hindi na siya naulit because shortly after that I got pregnant. Ang feeling ko it was not meant to happen then.

You said in our pre-production meeting that you wanted this cover as a gift to yourself on your 40th birthday.

Yes, I’m turning 40 on December 9th. In my mid-30s I knew that I wanted to do something big on my 40th birthday; ang original plan ko was to do a shoot with Mark Nicdao for my personal portfolio lang. And then suddenly your offer came up—thank you very much! I’m very flattered, but I feel bad at the same time because for the past several years I had always declined your offer. I finally decided that if Mark was going to be the photographer, I’d do it.

Why did you always say no?

Eh kasi naman lagi akong buntis! Ha ha! I have five kids! So every, what, two years pregnant ako, from 2001 hanggang 2013. So walang chance di ba? I mean after giving birth I would spend about a year breastfeeding— wow, ang sexy ng topic natin ha ha! So there was no chance. And also during that time I felt that I was so motherly na kalokohan na’ng mag-pose for a men’s magazine. Ngayon ko lang siguro nakuha ulit yung confidence that I can still do it.

It’s strange that you’re having the confidence of a woman in her 20s now that you’re 40.

You know, bata pa lang ako I had always kept to heart what they say that life begins at 40. For the last 14 years I had dedicated myself to my kids, so now I’m doing this for myself.

So do you feel younger now?

Yes, I do. I think this is what you call a mid-life crisis!

Others go through their mid-life crisis down and depressed, but here you are very excited.

Ganon ba yon? Basta ako ang feeling ko lang I want to do something different. Di ba FHM means For Him Magazine, pero I think yung cover na to means For Her Magazine, kasi I want to encourage women to be fit and healthy after having kids, or even without having kids.

Which brings us to the big question we’ve always wanted to ask, seeing how you aced this shoot: How were five children born out of that body? Parang wala namang nangyari!

Ha ha! You know, lahat ng anak ko malalaki—they weighed, like, eight pounds when I gave birth to them, the youngest weighed in at almost nine pounds. At lahat sila through natural childbirth.

That’s exactly what we mean! As far as we know, the rules say that shouldn’t happen.

Sabi ng OB-Gyne ko, it’s amazing that my hips somehow open up when I give birth. So it’s really a gift, buti na lang.

Did you plan to have five kids or were you and the hubby just so into each other that you ditched family planning?

The plan was to have three kids, so yung dalawa bonus na lang. Pero hanggang lima na lang—promise! Sure na sure! Final answer!

But you have not been, you know, ligated?

No.

Which leaves a 50 percent chance that you will break your word. We have to tell you that FHM has a history of women who posed for us getting pregnant shortly after.

Oo nga, you mentioned that nung preproduction meeting natin. Sinu-sino yung mga ‘yon?

No names, but they’re a handful.

I’m scared! Siguro after this, I will wear really conservative clothes, ha ha!

Do your kids have any idea who you are?

Actually, yes. Kasi ang daming nagpapa-selfie with me. They say, “Everyone knows you, mommy.”

We mean being a sexy celebrity?

Wala pa. But I think my eldest already has an idea. She’s 13 and she thinks that I’m not cool. She doesn’t like it if I like their songs. When I sing one of their songs they go, “Why are you singing that song?!” so parang wala akong karapatang kantahin yon kasi kanta niya yon, ha ha!

Years later she’ll bloom into a young woman—and FHM being FHM we’re always looking for beautiful women to be on the cover. When the time comes, would you allow your daughter to do the same?

Ask the dad, not me. She used to be interested in the celebrity life, I would take her to some shoots and she would watch these soap operas. But now she’s very different, she’s at that stage of being a typical teenager.

What are the things you like about this generation?

I like the music. Yung twerking, grabe pwede ko yang pagkakitaan! Kasi nung isang araw may ginawa akong fitness video na I was twerking, and a company paid me for it! Nung party ng anak ko lang nagkatuwaan lang kami nung brother-in-law ko na magtwerk, biglang, wow, ang daming may gustong mag-twerk ako.

Okay, we’ll leave motherhood problems because we’re beginning to sound like Good Housekeeping. Stalking your social media accounts, we find that you seem like a workout addict—you get into all sorts of programs! We’re not complaining, though, you look good doing it.

I just like to try new things. I’m interested to try any workout that takes less than an hour to do, kasi gusto ko yung mabilis lang pero intense, effective, yung tipong pawisan. I love Zumba, I recently started doing electric cycling. I do TRX [suspension training], boxing, weights. Hindi naman ako mabilis ma-bore— yung TRX and Zumba I’ve been doing them for three years and hindi pa rin ako nagsasawa.

So you’re all for intensity and doing it fast?

Right now, I’m all for intensity and doing it fast. But someday, it’ll be “nice and slow.” I’m talking about my workout, okay?! Ha ha!

Since your kids shouldn’t be reading this because they’re underage, we’ll leave it at that to protect them. How do you divide your time being a wife, a mother, a celebrity, a workout addict, and now a FHM babe?

As a wife I make sure that I give time for my husband. Like earlier we had breakfast together kahit na sobrang busy ko. I’m super malambing. And then with the kids, like yesterday I accompanied them to their voice lessons. I have to do it myself and I have to keep to the a routine or else things will turn out chaotic. Time management is really very important that’s why you need to keep fit para di ka nauubusan ng energy.

But then you’re asthmatic.

I know! Pag hinika ako ibig sabihin sobrang busy ko and sobrang pagod and kulang na sa tulog.

And then there’s Sabado Nights, the beer commercial that made you every guy’s fantasy overnight. That was 20 years ago—looking back at it now, how do you feel about that bit of Pinoy pop culture phenomenon?

I know…it was fun. I just remember I was very cool about it when I became the Sabado Nights girl. I just enjoyed every minute of it, that wherever I go people would notice me, lahat sila nagpapa-autograph—yun pa yung uso no’n, wala pang pa-selfie. Tsaka syempre, I was a nobody and then overnight, I became famous. Ang daming nagkaka-crush sa akin, ha ha! And to think second choice lang ako no’n. I was told they had already chosen a girl, and the first day ng shoot, they realized they had gotten the wrong girl, kulang daw sa “landi,” yun yung term nila. So ako yung pinili nila…anong ibig sabihin no’n?! Ha ha! I remember that night I was out sa gimikan, and then suddenly my manager called to tell me I should go home na because I had a shoot that morning at 7 a.m. Nagklamo pa ko non kasi late notice. But I went to the shoot anyway. And the rest is history.

So the Sabado Nights girl image was really you.

Oo, ginagawa ko na yun kasi I was already 19 at the time, I was starting to have fun.

Twenty years later you can watch the commercial on YouTube and it’s still cool—your image, the song, they’re both classics.

Ang ganda talaga kasi nung song! One of my most favorite OPM songs, “Sabado Nights” by Rizal Underground.

Do you recall any of the wild tours you went to as the Sabado Nights girl?

I went everywhere—Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bicol, lahat yun pinuntahan ko— then we’d go to clubs to promote, grabe ang daming tao and nagsisigawan sila pag nakikita nila ko.

And the guys were…

Going wild! They would chant, “Ina! Ina! Ina!” ako naman sasayaw. It was a party mood, woo! Sobrang sarap talaga, ang saya nung time na yon. Hay, memories…

Now you’re active again. Do you consider this a comeback?

I would say so, yes. A lot of people thought I had lived abroad for time. They would ask me, ‘O, gaano ka katagal sa States?’ Bakit feeling nila nasa States ako the whole time? I never left. Nandito lang ako. Low-profile and…pregnant, walang katapusang pag-ire ng baby, ha ha!

Did you have a hard time reacquainting yourself with the business?

Napansin ko lang ngayon mas maaga na ang call time, 7 a.m. Dati 9 a.m. Ngayon may tent na, may portalet, ha ha! May sequence breakdown so you know what you’ll be doing for the day, mas may system definitely. I miss doing movies, though.

We don’t mean to sound patronizing, but looking at you, and at the younger stars you sometimes take selfies with, it doesn’t look like the age difference is apparent, but you’re more than a decade older than them!

Magaling yung makeup artist ko, ha ha! Thanks! Maybe it’s my genes. My dad is 68 and he looks good for his age. My mom is 61 and it’s the same for her, she looks young. I hope I could be the same just by being healthy, by working out five days a week. I recently saw on Instagram a picture of a 59-year-old French model, she was so sexy and beautiful and alam mong wala siyang pinagawa sa face niya. When I saw that I said to myself, “There’s hope,” na you don’t have to go under the knife. I used to think that I would probably need [cosmetic surgery] when I turned 50 despite the fact na ayokong gawin, but when I saw that French model—and she looks great!—I want to be like her.

Let’s do an advice section now to close this special cover: What golden bit of wisdom would you give young couples. There’s a couple fever right now gripping the country.

So I’ve been married for almost 13 years and we’ve been together 15 years, I guess I’m qualified to dish out advice: Be friends with your partner. You have to respect, admire, and be comfortable with each other. Lust and physical attraction are just not enough. Di ba may mga couples na grabe nila asarin ang isa’t isa? Na parang friends lang kayo, kung i-humiliate niyo ang isa’t isa ganon na lang—you shouldn’t be that way.

And young, single girls?

Hay, girls…really? Love yourself. I have four girls, right? So I’m really going to tell them this pag malalaki na sila: There are so many jerks out there, so you have to be very careful. You have to love yourself more.

That hurts.

No, seriously. Girls, you are worth more than you think. You don’t have to be conceited or mean, you have to be nice to people, but you have to think highly of yourself.

And guys, our young readers, who may or may not be jerks. We’re sure they’re all gentlemen out there.

I’m not saying everyone’s a jerk, but there are so many jerks out there, and it’s the truth, di ba? Pero I have a son, and I’m teaching him to be a gentleman, to never break a girl’s heart, to respect women because, come on, he has four sisters and an awesome mom! FHM