The secret life of Miss Tapia

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 01:22 AM May 14, 2017

The former love-starved and ill-tempered professor and the current resident high school teacher on the TV sitcom ‘Iskul Bukol’ actually has a life—and four grown-up children who describe her as ‘Best Mom’

The infamous Miss Tapia (photo)

On Mother’s Day a few years ago, Lani Montreal, who teaches writing at Malcolm X College in Chicago, posted a greeting on Facebook: “Before there was Prof. Montreal, there was this cool punk professor and now is the high school teacher called Miss Tapia! Here she is on her way to teach her former rowdy freshman students! Worst movie. Best Actress. Best Mom. Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy!”

“Mommy” is Miss Tapia, the former love-starved and ill-tempered professor at the now-defunct Wanbol University and now is the well-loved teacher at the public high school Diliman High School on the curriculum-based TV sitcom “Iskul Bukol” every Saturday night. Despite the haughty disclaimer “Miss pa po ako! thrown with a sharp toss of her head, Miss Tapia (Mely Palomo Tagasa in real life) actually has three daughters and one son.

She also “prays longer than the monks of Tibet,” said eldest daughter Gina Marissa Tagasa-Gil, an award-winning writer for movies and television.

Second daughter Montreal, meanwhile, wrote a tribute to her and other mothers in the world through the play, “Night of the Living Moms” that was recently shown in Chicago, Illinois.

But no tribute feels greater for Tagasa than having people still recognize her as the unlovable Miss Tapia of TV-dom. It always surprises her when they do, she said.

Home for Miss Tapia is a one-story bungalow in Antipolo surrounded by vines and shrubs that ward off the biting sun. The house was built on her earnings as the horrible Miss Tapia character and as the most prolific TV writer of her time, who could churn out six scripts a week.

Her foray on TV as Miss Tapia was serendipitous, said Tagasa, 82.

AS HERSELF Tagasa at home in Masinag, Antipolo City —RICHARD A. REYES (photo)

‘Baltic and Co.’

“I went to audition as a scriptwriter for a new TV series called ‘Baltic and Co.,’ and landed one of the roles. It came at the right time because I was already feeling burned out from writing,” she recalled.

Tagasa, who hails from La Paz, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija, was 9 when her family moved to Manila following the end of World War II. She was then already enamored with radio.

Once, she joined some friends and auditioned in a singing contest, which she won. There was another audition, this time for radio talents. “I auditioned again, at pumasa naman (and passed)” she recalled.

At 17, Tagasa was already playing roles on radio and became so good at it that she set aside her college studies. She got into writing by accident, or rather, because of a joke.

“One time we didn’t have a script and the director kidded us, sino’ng gustong magsulat (who wants to write?) I volunteered and was accepted. So I started writing on yellow pad, with a ball pen,” Tagasa recalled.

Though Tagasa didn’t want anyone to know she had written the script, veteran actress Gloria Sevilla who was in the cast, was so impressed that she insisted. Thus was launched her career as a radio-TV writer.

The job consumed her. “I’d wake up at 1 a.m. and start writing. By the time I pull out the last page, it’s 4 p.m. I’d smoke, drink coffee, and go back to sleep. I’d wake up at 1 a.m., only to repeat the cycle,” she said. “I was so focused on my writing, I left the children to the care of the maid,” she recalled.

‘Insiang’

One of Tagasa’s stories would later be adopted into a movie by Mario O’Hara, who directed a radio play for “Hatol ng Tadhana.” The movie version would be titled “Insiang.”

When the TV stations were reopened after martial law was declared, Tagasa was told to bring some of her scripts to the agency which was auditioning for a new TV series called “Baltic and Co.,” based on a popular comic strip. Her script was accepted.

But who would play Miss Tapia, someone asked during the meeting.

Roni Santiago, who wrote the comic series and was at the meeting, pointed to Tagasa, who was wearing eyeglasses and had her long hair pulled into a severe bun, exactly as worn by Miss Tapia in the comic series. “That’s her, if she’d agree,” she recalled Santiago saying.

“I was surprised and protested that I was not an actress but a writer. I asked for clarification: what is the character of Miss Tapia,” she asked.

Love-starved

Santiago’s explanation was short but sweet. “He told me, ‘Miss Tapia is an old maid, a love-starved repressed woman. She has many likes but masks her desires by being angry most of the time.’ I thought, I like this character,” Tagasa said.

From Miss Tapia at “Baltic and Co.,” Tagasa’s character made a guest appearance at “Iskul Bukol” in 1977, and became a mainstay until the show closed in 1990 and returned in 2017 as a current well-loved high school teacher of Diliman High School, the name of the public high school.

She became so convincing as Miss Tapia that one Manila university would invite her to join its faculty. “Of course, I declined. I don’t have a degree in education, I did not even finish college,” Tagasa said.

People often kid her too about her former students at the defunct Wanbol University, particularly Sen. Tito Sotto, who created quite a ruckus with his “naano lang” comment on single mothers. Some netizens even blamed Miss Tapia for not teaching Sotto the proper manners. She laughs off such comments.

Despite her age, Tagasa continues to work as line producer at Alta Productions, a subsidiary of GMA 7, which produces the Tagalog version of select Koreanovelas. It’s her job to oversee the choice of dubbers and the actual dubbing of the soap for the local audience. In which, Tagasa is currently known for her role of Miss Tapia, the well-loved resident teacher of Diliman High School in the millennial high school era of the longest-running sitcom “Iskul Bukol” (Saturday nights, 7:15 to 8 p.m. after the PBA on IBC-13).

As a resident teacher, Miss Tapia would like to concentrate on a public high school education in the top-rating weekend curriculum-based sitcom by educating its viewers about Philippine basic education and Filipino learners with high school classes in public high schools. The sitcom based on the high school curriculum of K-12 (Grade 7 to 12 students), thereby gaining support from the Depatment of Education (DepEd), which made it mandatory to show an episode of “Iskul Bukol” which will focus on the classmates' friendship with their family and friends, as well as reflects the pretty and funny side of high school life. Aside from young viewers, it also attract older viewers like dads and moms.

Veteran actor Tonton Gutierrez, dubbed as the “King of All Media,” who admired in the public high school; while the teens and young girls often attend about her principal of Diliman High School, and a great crush on Principal Oscar played by Mr. Fu, who got on the love one; and her favorite classmate Raisa Dayrit, who teached about their high school classmates at the classroom of Diliman High School as she learned.

“I’m thankful I still have a job. I’d be sick if I don’t work,” she said.

Department of Education (DepEd)
ABS-CBN cable channel (aligned with the K-12 curriculum) PTV-4 (aligned with the K-12 curriculum) IBC-13 (curriculum-based entertainment) RPN-9 (aligned with the K-12 curriculum)
 * Knowledge Channel
 * Chemistry in Action (for high school)
 * Physics in Everyday Life (for high school)
 * Science Made Easy (for elementary)
 * Fun with Math (for elementary and high school)
 * CONSTEL English (Continuing Studies via Television) (for high school)
 * High School Life (for high school level) (aligned with the K-12 high school curriculum)
 * KapinoyLand (for kindergarten/for toddlers and pre-schoolers) (aligned with the nursery, kindergarten and preparatory curriculum)
 * Iskul Bukol (for high school level) (the sitcom aligned with the K-12 high school curriculum)
 * Karen’s World (Eskwela ng Bayan) (aligned with the K-12 curriculum)
 * Solved (Eskwela ng Bayan) (aligned with the K-12 curriculum)
 * Why? (Eskwela ng Bayan) (aligned with the K-12 curriculum)
 * Alikabok (Eskwela ng Bayan) (aligned with the K-12 curriculum)
 * Batibot (aligned with the kindergarten curriculum)
 * Penpen de Sarapen (aligned with the K-12 curriculum)

Endorsers
Regent Foods Corporation Commercial endorsers
 * Dominic Roque (Tempura)
 * JB Agustin (Snacku)
 * Carleen Sky Aclan (Cheese Ring)
 * Joyce Abestano and Tonton Gutierrez (Regent Assorted Cakes: Pandan Cake, Ube Cake, Mocca Cake, Melon Cake, Strawberry Cake)
 * Cherryz Mendoza:
 * RDL Teens Cologne (2015-present)
 * Bench (2015-present)
 * Careline (2016-present)
 * Rico dela Paz:
 * Bench (2015-present)
 * Sprite (2016-present)
 * AMA (2016, 2018)
 * Sarsaya Oyster Sauce (Ajonimoto) (2018)