Biography

Mother of Eat Bulaga host Toni Rose Gayda.

The model of the highly-coveted FAMAS statuette, the Philippines' equivalent of an Oscar.

She was a Business Administration student at the now-defunct Cosmopolitan College (where the late Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas was a classmate) when she was recruited to join the movies. She finished her college education by attending night classes.

Conferred the degree of Doctor of Humanities honoris causa by the Far Eastern University in 2005.

Through her personal money, she sponsored several poor but deserving students to college. At the moment, she takes in about 10 students a year. She raised funds by solicitation from generous friends and establishments. She even wrote Oprah Winfrey once to ask for donations. There was no response from the talk show host.