"I love my father very much," says Marvin, one of the stars of the Star Cinema youth-oriented twinbill Flames, the Movie (with Jolina Magdangal in the Tameme episode), "and I want him to know that. I always pray for him."
Marvin has been in showbiz for one year and a half, trying to hone his acting talent in ABS-CBN shows just like the rest of the Star Circle members (around 40 so far) before they are given the green light to venture into the big screen. He's a regular guest of SLNS and A.S.A.P., and a bona fide member of the cast of Gimik and the soap opera Esperanza (as Bembol Roco's son), with Jolina Magdangal who's also his leading lady in Flames, the Movie (as the jolly Jolina's soft-spoken, timid admirer).
"Flames is my first movie," adds Marvin (who, according to showbiz-watchers, looks like a carbon-copy of Rina Reyes), "and I think may karapatan na akong lumabas sa pelikula."
Besides learning more about human relationships and acting skills, these past year and a half, Marvin has also been investing his earnings wisely, unlike most young stars who squander their money as though there were no tomorrows. Barely out of his teens, Marvin has already bought a townhouse (at the San Antonio subdivision in Quezon City) where he now lives with his mother (estranged from Marvin's father) and his older sister who's in school. His other sister (they're three children in the brood) is working in Singapore.
"What sort of childhood did I have? I'd say, okay lang. Hindi kami mayaman," revealed Marvin without any trace of embarassment.
So early on, Marvin learned to strike out for himself, working while studying.
"At 16, I was aready working at ACA Video in Alabang where our family used to live. I was in high school that time. And then I moved to Tia Maria's (also in Alabang) where I took a summer job as waiter. Maganda naman 'yung trabaho so when school opened, hindi muna ako pumasok at itinuluy-tuloy ko 'yung Tia Maria's ko. Before long, na-promote ako as cashier. Hindi nga kami mayaman but my mother brought us up properly, teaching us the right values. Nakapag-isip kaming magkapatid ng maayos."
It was while plugging Tia Maria's promo offer on an ABS-CBN show that Marvin was discovered for showbiz, launched in April last year with a dozen other discoveries as Star Circle Batch 2.
"It's really fate," Marvin now realizes. "I could have turned rebel when I was younger. But why give my Mom more problems when she had more than enough of her own?"
Marvin pays his father a visit everytime he gets the chance and hopes to see his father free again.
"That's my wish," he says, "to see my family as one again. Tell me, sino ba namang anak ang ayaw makapiling ang kanyang ama?"