One never really knows where life would lead you. It isn’t unlike Forrest Gump picking a piece of chocolate from a white box, not knowing exactly what it will taste like.

Only a few years back, Abby Viduya didn’t have the slightest hint of an idea that she would one day find herself filing a certificate of candidacy for public office, a council post at that.

She just did it on Oct. 7 at the Paranaque City Hall.

Abby had been living a comfortable life in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, with her own small family when a chance encounter online led to a renewed relationship with her youthful love, Jomari Yllana. One thing led to another until she flew back to Manila in 2019 to resume an interrupted acting career and more importantly, get back together again with her first love. Their rekindled friendship led to a wedding in 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  

Abby then found herself assisting Jomari in his capacity as a three-termer councilor in Paranaque. The task exposed her to the rudiments of crafting city laws and the essentials of public service. Being an actor used to being with people, she loved the experience, not fully aware that she would one day aspire for a public post herself.

It happened quite naturally, according to Jomari.

“Abby’s at the right place at the right time,” he says. She’s running under Team Bagong Paranaque with Edwin Olivarez as mayoralty candidate.

When Abby, now 47, gave up her showbiz career in the early 2000s to move back to Canada, she focused on self-improvement courses. She found work as an admin assistant, then later progressed as a leisure and entertainment director in a homecare facility.

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PASSERBY:

Vice Ganda has shown off his new acquisition, a Tesla Cybertruck, described as a "futuristic" vehicle worth at least 18.5 million pesos.

Reminds me of a recent event I covered wherein Manila mayoralty aspirant Sam Versoza unveiled 10 super cars that he was selling to raise funds to build dialysis centers in the city. The fleet of cars was easily worth 200 million pesos, according to David Celdran.

By the way, Vice echoed Dolphy’s famous statement when the late comedy king declined offers to run for public office. Vice said that like Dolphy, he wouldn’t know what to when elected.    

The Man without Guilt from Slovenia jumpstarts this year’s edition of Cine Europa at Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong this October.

Set in Trieste, Ivan Gergolet’s debut feature explores human imperfections, personal revenge and redemption.