Long ago, Kapamilya star Pokwang was a hardworking girl named Marietta Subong. With her siblings, she was a diyaryo-bote girl pushing a kariton in Antipolo subdivision and she was also a sampaguita vendor in front of Antipolo Church. She was extremely poor and showbiz fame was the farthest thing from her mind. At the age of 17, Marietta was already eking out a living for her big family as an entertainer in Japan. According to Filipino Musica's website, she also worked in Abu Dhabi as a dancer and cheoregrapher. It was at that time that she experienced her "greatest tragedy," she said. In an interview with a broadsheet and in later television features on her life, she related that when her six-year-old son was dying of a brain tumor, she was not allowed to end her six-month contract in Abu Dhabi. She also had no personal money to fly home to his side. When she returned home for good, she worked as a singer/stand up comedienne at the comedy bar, Music Box (now closed), on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. “I experienced of not getting paid because we didn’t have enough customers. Is it our fault if they don’t have customers? Then I have to ride a bus at dawn until I fell asleep in the bus. The driver will wake me up if the bus has reached the station. My money was just enough. I owed at the eating places near the Music Box. But I already paid them. And if Pokwang did not become the comedienne she is today, she says, still laughing, "Maybe I’m a carpenter now or a canteen cook.” (www.pep.ph) picture from abs-cbn
