Fit to be Royalty

Carla Humphries talks to Leah Nemil-San Jose about growing up in a colonial home.

Star Studio Magazine June 2007
Photographs by Cyrus Panganiban
Hairstyle and makeup by Jomel Razon

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In a lime green shirtdress that gave her milky white skin a luminous glow, Carla Humphries was definitely the big splash of color in her family's ancestral home in Batangas. The house, with its Spanish colonial style that includes century-old galineras and electricity-converted gas lamps, doesn't seem to be a place that a 19-year-old teenager would enjoy, especially a former Parisian girl. But maybe it was the French in her that made Carla fall in love with the rural lifestyle.

"I loved playing outdoors with the other kids especially sa tubuhan (sugarcane field) and then eating tubo afterwards," Carla says chuckling at the memory of her eight-year old self chewing on sugarcane.

We are having lunch in the town proper of Nasugbu at a quaint restaurant called Kainan sa Dalampasigan, a family favorite, Carla's mom, Tonette, informed us. As a little girl, Carla would come here, hoping her maternal grandmother Rosario would buy her favorites, halo-halo and leche flan -- "Iniisip ko pa lang tumutulo na laway ko" -- which the crew actually had for merienda that day.

"I played hide-and-seek a lot here," Carla tells us as she gave a tour of the restaurant's grounds that included a beautiful chapel set in a lush tropical garden. "I call the owners lolas because I've known them for so long that they're almost like relatives."

Before her family moved to the Philippines for good in 1995, Carla had already spent many of her summer vacations in Batangas. Tsokolate, tuyo, and rice were her favorite fare for breakfast; she would also excitedly await the sorbetero for her queso ice cream. She barely knew Tagalog or English then, but it didn't stop her from playing with the local kids and exploring her surroundings. If she wasn't at the sugarcane plantation, she would be at one of the beaches, smearing her body with the black sand. "No matter how long I stayed in the sun, I would never get tan. So I'd put on the sand and say, 'Look I'm black!'"

Of course, Carla's main playground was her family's estate with its expansive front and back yards and a house interior that consists of at least four spacious reception areas. The sprawling one-storey abode looked like it was designed to receive and to accommodate as many people as possible (in fact, the front yard is occupied by a small cottage that can easily seat 20 people, and the same goes for the pergola before the entrance door), and as it turned out it was the case.

Carla's mom is an Apacible, a family with a rich political history that began with Calicano Apacible, a doctor by profession and a patriot at heart. A bit of historical trivia: the Apacibles are related to Jose Rizal and Calicano was once under the care of the national hero, living with him in Intramuros during his college days and even going with him to France along with Antonio Luna and T.H. Pardo de Tavera. Following in their ancestor's footsteps, many of the Apacibles have gone into public service, especially in their native Batangas, including Tonette's grandfather and parents. The family's calling has obviously dictated the house's design.



"It's very open. It allows for a lot of sitting, eating, and receiving," Tonette says. "The material used for the house was really heavy duty -- it can take a lot of wear and tear. And that is important with all the people coming in and out of the house. The floor actually has gotten better as it got older. Age gave it more character, texture."

Even as a child, Carla never had a problem with strangers in her grandparents' house. She actually enjoyed interacting with them and always indulged their requests for her to sing. She loved hanging out with her Lola Rosario and as a result, she learned to play, of all things, tong-its. Just how good is she in the local card game?



After a quick pause and a grin on her face, Carla answers. "I am a mediocre player." Then, as if she couldn't help herself, she sweetly blurts out, "I beat drivers."

After the laughter dies down, Carla continues, "When I play, I know they [the men] always think I am such a delicate lady. And I'd deceive them even further because I'd go, 'Kuya, ano po itong...' like I don't know the game. Hindi nila alam Bantangueño [kalaban nila]."

It wasn't all tomboy games, of course. Carla earned the nickname Chichay from her relatives for her kikay ways. She would often be found trying out her lola's hats in her grandparents' specious walk-in closet (she's become a hat collector now), playing dress up. That's why when she saw her first Santacruzan - replete with voluminous gowns, sparkling crowns, and dashing escorts - Carla was instantly awed by the parade's pageantry. She wanted to be Reyna Elena.

"So my mother gave her a Santacruzan parade, in December!" Tonette exclaims. "Can you imagine? And it was the whole deal - she was Reyna Elena in a beautiful gown with an escort an an arko over her. And they paraded in the grounds. Her lola really spoiled her.

Well, it's hard to say no to someone whose beauty emits such radiance and warmth. But Carla's mom says that people's generosity with her daughter is not all about good looks. "She's a people person, and it's genuine and sincere."