After 2-year hiatus, Diego Loyzaga is ready for his comeback | ABS-CBN

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After 2-year hiatus, Diego Loyzaga is ready for his comeback

After 2-year hiatus, Diego Loyzaga is ready for his comeback

Leah C. Salterio

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A post shared by Diego (@diegoloyzaga) on

MANILA -- For young actor Diego Loyzaga, the lyrics of Billy Eilish’s newest song, “My Future,” describe the state he is in now: “Better to love yourself before you go loving other people.”

Away from the limelight since 2018, Loyzaga is apparently ready to make a comeback and he is not waiting for the quarantine to be lifted, more so for the COVID-19 pandemic to taper off.

“I wanted to come back earlier,” Loyzaga told reporters on Wednesday. “Given all the circumstances that 2020 has brought us, if I will wait for the pandemic to end, baka puti na ang buhok ko or wala na akong buhok. Things out there are not getting better.

“If there’s a way to work and be productive, that’s the main goal of every person. What better time to do it and start than now. I realized I still want to be an actor. That’s my passion. That’s what I want to do.”

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Loyzaga was introduced as the newest contract artist of Viva Artists Agency and fans can expect more projects from him. “This time around, I really want to focus on the craft, my acting,” Loyzaga said. “I want to have a lot of movies under my belt. This time around, I want the public to watch me in a lot of movies.”

He has a couple of scripts on hand, although no casting has been decided yet for any of his projects. “Viva only sent me the scripts, although we have not yet talked about it,” Loyzaga allowed. “I’m ready to accept sexy or mature roles. Whatever the script calls for, I’m ready to do it.”

The idea of Loyzaga doing a boys' love (BL) series cropped up in the questions. “Funny, because I discussed that with my mom,” the actor shared his conversation with mom Teresa Loyzaga. “We talked about it.

“If I have a passion with a certain story, I got hooked, there’s good lesson and it has a good story, I’m game. It’s just another role or another character. It doesn’t reflect what I really like in life. I’m just doing a job as an artist to portray a role. I will be comfortable as long as it’s not that vulgar. We can work towards that. I think I’ll be comfortable doing that.”

The first name that instantly comes to mind as Loyzaga’s co-star in a BL series is Marco Gumabao, his erstwhile “Los Bastardos” co-star and fellow Viva contract artist.

“Whatever work comes, I’m ready for it and I’m excited,” Loyzaga maintained. “Marco is pro-love, hindi ako maiilang. He’s a friend, not a rival. I will not say I’m excited to do a boys' love project with Marco, but why not? It’s just a role. It’s a job requirement. That’s work for me. If that’s needed, that’s what we’ll do.”

Away from the limelight for nearly two years, Loyzaga is ready to work either with a love team again, like he was with Sofia Andres or as a solo actor. “I will take anything as a blessing,” he said. “I’d be happy. They’re giving importance to you. I take that as work. That’s a blessing. It’s just a role.”

Loyzaga is aware that Andres has also entered a new chapter in her personal life. She recently started a family and had just given birth. “I’m really happy for Sofia,” Loyzaga said. “I see in her posts that she’s happy. Someone’s well being, her mental health, that’s important. I cannot wish her anything more in the world but that [be happy].

“When the day comes that I bump into her or I see her, maybe we can talk again. I don’t want to message her. I might be misinterpreted. Pero walang masang tinapay for me. I just don’t want na makabastos in any way. I do wish her the best. I’m happy that she’s happy.”

Taking a break made Diego come into many realizations. “For the first time, I asked myself, ‘Is this really what you want to do? Are these the people you want to be associated with? Is the career path you want to do for the next five or 10 years?’

“I reflected on the next decision I will do in my life. Where will it take me in the next chapter in my life. Where I want to see myself. It took a little bit longer, but it was needed. Where I see myself in the next five, ten or 15 years.”

Admittedly, Loyzaga has been “ready and excited” to make his showbiz comeback even before he returned to Manila. “I have been ready for a while now. A lot of setbacks had happened. A lot has happened in the world. We’re all still in a situation where we cannot even go out of the house. I’m more than ready.”

He lamented, however, that he lost his much vaunted six-pack abs and needs to work out to flaunt them again. “I love to lose a few pounds and get really, really fit again,” Loyzaga said. “I cannot go to the gym because of the quarantine, but I work out even in the house. I will be more uncomfortable if I know I am not in the right shape. That’s why I started working out again.

“Every single part of me wants to go out there and work again. I’m not getting any younger. I want to make more movies identified with me. I’m just excited to really go back to work.”

Loyzaga credits his mom and dad Cesar Montano, for paving the way for his partnership with Viva to materialize. His parents have a “great relationship” with Viva boss Vic del Rosario and his daughter, Veronique del Rosario-Corpuz. “One day we had a meeting and we all agreed on what I should do,” Loyzaga said.

The young actor’s two-year break has been mainly beneficial and happy for him. “Not because I was away from the limelight, but I also think it’s important for people to have time also for themselves,” Loyzaga explained. “Finding yourself may be dramatic. People just need to reflect what they want to do in life.

“What they want to become. Where they are now. What happened in the past and get ready for the next chapter in life. I realized about the things I really want to do. I’m back here now with the next chapter in my life.”

Loyzaga, who was nominated as New Movie Actor of the Year in the 28th Star Awards for the Movies of the Philippine Movie Press Club in 2012, has appeared in a number of drama anthologies and teleseryes for ABS-CBN. He was seen in “Mirabella,” “Wansapanataym,” “Growing Up,” “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” “Pusong Ligaw,” “Mara Clara,” “Pangako sa ‘Yo,” “Ipaglaban Mo” and “Los Bastardos.”

Recently, Loyzaga met up with his three sisters who are all daughters of Montano with Sunshine Cruz. Their bonding was posted on Cruz’s Instagram. With two of his sisters also joining showbiz, Loyzaga did not hesitate to share a few tips and advice to his siblings.

“We know the world of showbiz, how it runs and the people in it,” Loyzaga pointed out. “How you’re put on a pedestal and the limelight is always on you. As much as I can, I’m always here for my sisters if they want to ask me about anything. As the older brother, I’m always concerned. But I only assert myself to a certain extent. I don’t go beyond my boundaries with my sisters.”

Loyzaga is also careful not to exaggerate his position as the older brother to his siblings. “Maybe how I am as an older brother, that might not be always good for them,” he explained. “They are living their own lives. There’s only so much you can advice to a person. You have to let that person also live her own life.

“A wrong and a wrong don’t make a right. I will not advice Tita Shine because I see what kind of advice she gives to my sisters. At the COD [Call of Duty] mobile, my sisters and I have communication through there. Who’s online or who wants to play. We also get to go on group chat. We started doing that at the start of quarantine.”

Meanwhile, the young actor is thankful for the kind of relationship he now has with his mom. “A better way to put it, my mom and I understand each other a lot more now,” Loyzaga said. “I’m not saying we weren’t close before. I understand where she’s coming from. She’s a mom, she’s protective, she’s nurturing me all the time.

“I’m also a man of my own already. I’m 25. I want to venture out into other things. My mom understands that. We’re still kind of in that dynamic where I’m the bird leaving the nest and she’s the mama bird saying, ‘No, no, no. Not yet.’ We understand each other a lot better now. Definitely.”

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