SWEET, romantic, funny, sensitive, loyal, dependable—and with a body like Adonis. Who wouldn’t fall for a guy with all those qualities? In the real world, does he exist?
For the past two years, theater lovers have been charmed, cajoled, tickled by and enamored with Tolits, the lovable male lead character in the Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) smash hit “Rak of Aegis,” which started its fifth run last night and is running for 82 performances at the Peta Theater Center.
Honest living
Tolits is the suitor of lead character Aileen, the damsel in distress living in an economically-challenged, perennially flooded village called Barangay Venizia. Earning an honest living as a “gondolier,” Tolits paddles an outrigger boat-for-hire on the waist-deep murky water. Aileen, meanwhile, works as an underpaid “promodizer” who hopes to make it big as a singer.
Their intertwined lives on the ersatz canals of Villa Venizia constitute most of the heart and hilarity of “Rak of Aegis.”
In more than 200 shows that “Rak of Aegis” has had since its first run in January 2014, Tolits has been portrayed by three actors: Jerald Napoles, Pepe Herrera and Benj Manalo.
Each has his own way of interpreting Tolits. Napoles plays him as a muscled hunk with the suave, cheesy moves; Herrera’s is more poker-faced, a reedy jologs guy with a bewitching voice (Herrera is a Voice major graduate from the University of Santo Tomas); while the long-haired Manalo, who came on board in 2015, brings comic chops and a rock-star appeal to the role.
Because of the popularity of Tolits, the three actors have since danced and sung their ways to roles in films and TV shows, becoming dependable funny sidekicks to the likes of Coco Martin, Derek Ramsay, Alden Richards and other show-biz heartthrobs.
Real person
But what not many people know is that Tolits was based on a real person—Feliciano Velasco Magtoto Jr., or simply called Mang Jun, the father of “Rak’s” award-winning playwright, Liza Magtoto.
“My dad is the original Tolits,” she wrote in a heartwarming Facebook note she posted on Father’s Day last year. It was then the sixth death anniversary of Feliciano, who succumbed to brain tumor on June 20, 2009.
“It was also a day before Father’s Day,” Liza said in a recent interview. Her dad, a certified public accountant, worked for a multinational gasoline company as a marketing and sales officer.
He was born on August 5, 1930, in Manila. Though he stayed in Pampanga, the hometown of the Magtotos, during World War II, he grew up in Manila. He married Amelia Cuevas of Pasay City.
“From her side, our ancestors were Katipuneros,” said Liza. Amelia passed away in 2012.
Liza has only one sibling, her elder sister Agnes.
“My Ate Agnes (otherwise known as Bing) is actually the actress and comedian in the family, the one who brought me to Peta. She got rave reviews in Peta’s productions of ‘Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo’ (the stage version) and ‘Lutong Bahay.’”
“Bing is now based in New York, an adjunct professor at New York University and an award-winning educator teaching elementary Filipino to Fil-Ams, or whoever cares to enroll, using creative methods.”
Physically active
Mang Jun was physically active, engaging in light sports like jogging, badminton and bowling. “He had this bowling uniform shirt that had a name of a team, Takutsa, an acronym for ‘takot sa asawa’ (afraid of the wife),” recalled Liza.
He loved watching movies with her mom, “almost every day especially when senior citizens got free passes.” They loved to eat out like most couples do. An ideal husband and father, Mang Jun also found time with friends.
“Every Saturday night, he had drinking sessions with his buddies,” said Liza.
Because he always had time for his loved ones, for Liza every day was like Father’s Day.
“I can’t recall if it was Father’s Day when we went to my uncle’s wake, or another relative’s wake. He kept cracking jokes about the names of people we read at the wake, and I had to suppress my laughter every time he did.”
Liza actually thought of the name Tolits, a reverse pronunciation of the common name Lito, because she got her dad’s habit of calling people’s name that way.
Before Mang Jun passed on, Liza recalled seeing him staring wistfully at old photos on their piano. At the time, he was wheelchair-bound.
“I asked him what he was thinking. He said he was thinking of what picture to display when he goes, too. Then he recalled a time he became a model of some photographer’s studio. He was holding a cigarette. It was a typical pose for men at the time.”
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find that photo when Mang Jun died.
When Feliciano passed away seven years ago, Liza recalled it was also a Saturday, a day before Father’s Day.
“I based Tolits partly on dad’s thoughtfulness, his mushy and cute lines. Just that Tolits is more on the jologs side.”
where Momwas and silently wait for her.” PHOTO FROM LIZA MAGTOTO’S FACEBOOKPAGE
Sweet, cheesy, loving
As a tribute, Liza made a list of the ways her father is the original Tolits.
Number one was her dad’s sensitivity. “While inside the car, listening to music on his car stereo, whenever I’d start telling him the latest story or my opinion of anything, he’d lower the volume of the radio/cassette player. It made me feel that whatever I said was important. It’s these little things that make one feel valued.”
On her choices in life, he never asked her why she remained single, or pressured her about having a child—“even if I knew in my heart that he longed to have a grandchild and that he was so good with kids,” said Liza.
Second was her dad’s cheesiness. “Mom would nudge or nag Dad to do his walking exercises with his walker. One of Dad’s delaying tactics was to talk to his caregiver/driver in the middle of the exercise. Mom noticed it one time and said, ‘O, ba’t ka tumigil? (why did you stop?)’ Dad looked at her and said, ‘Teka muna. Pinagmamasdan pa kita (Hold on, I’m still looking at you).’”
Number three—his sweetness, especially when he was hospitalized. “Every night, when Mom would leave, she’d ask him what he needed from home. One time, as we were about to leave, Mom kissed him sweetly and told him, ‘Alis na kami, Dad,’ and asked, ‘O, anong gusto mo?’ Dad replied, ‘Ikaw,’ sabay smile and grin.”
Number four, Liza said he was a “mapangarap na daddy.” She pointed out a scene in “Rak” where “Sinta” was being sung and “Tolits pointed to a dream house for him and his love.”
“Not originally in the script, it was improvised by the cast and director,” she recalled. “But it jibed well with the character, and in a way, it reminded me of Daddy. When I was a kid, every Sunday after attending mass, we’d hop in our yellow Renault and drive around Forbes Park.”
“Dad would say, ‘Inspeksyunin lang natin yung bahay natin doon. (Let’s just look at our house there).’ It’s aspirational. ‘Libre lang mangarap (It’s free to dream),’ he’d always say.”
Incomparable
Her father’s love for her mother was incomparable. “Every meal time, when Mom would not be at the dining table yet, he’d look toward the place where Mom was and silently wait for her.”
This affection would last until his most difficult days.
“When he had his brain tumor, and he couldn’t open his eyes or talk anymore, I knew he was doing the same. He’d turn his head toward Mom’s direction. He had probably heard her footsteps, which were loud and distinct, as if waiting for his love to sit beside him,” Liza said.
“He really was in love with Mom till the day he died. And he loved and accepted us—his daughters—no matter our decisions in life.”
“I guess Tolits is a hit because we all long for a romantic and sensitive guy who can make us swoon and tingly all over. Yung may kilig moment ba. Tolits is fictional—uy, ayaw ko mambasag ng trip—but in my book, he lived once. He wasn’t perfect, he was real, and he (and Mom) made me see what love was.”