The secret life of Miss Tapia

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

The love-starved, ill-tempered professor and the current resident 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 called Miss Tapia! Here she is on her way to teach her rowdy freshman students! Worst movie. Best Actress. Best Mom. Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy!”

“Mommy” is Miss Tapia, the love-starved, ill-tempered professor at the fictional Wanbol University on the TV sitcom “Iskul Bukol.” 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.