Planet Philippines

Alice Dixson is putting her showbiz career in Manila temporarily on hold and returning to Vancouver to be with her husband Ronnie Miranda, a systems analyst. Two years ago, she came back to Manila to accept an offer from GMA 7 to star in a soap. Reports then said Alice missed acting so much that she decided to temporarily leave her husband in Vancouver. When I sat down with her recently at a coffee shop, she told me that the primary reason for accepting GMA-7’s offer was monetary. “We had already depleted our savings,” says the actress. “Ronnie’s earnings (then) were not enough and I had no source of income. The easiest way to make money was to go back to the Philippines and accept acting jobs.”

Alice signed up for a year-long contract to star in “Ang Iibigan Ay Ikaw” where she co-starred with Christopher de Leon and Richard Gomez, two of her former leading men in the movies. Although her husband would sometimes come over to visit her, the long-distance relationship was a difficult one for the couple. Thus, when the series did very well in the ratings and GMA offered Alice an extension of her contract, she had to think long and hard before saying yes. “Ronnie more or less gave me the freedom to decide. After some sleepless nights I decided to do the extension,” she tells Planet Philippines . When she said “more or less” I can see that Ronnie wasn’t 100% behind her decision.

Come September when her second contract expires, she plans to fly back to Vancouver and resume her life with Ronnie. Even if Alice receives a tempting offer, she is decided to resume her life in Canada. She talks about a business venture involving computers that she and Ronnie will jointly manage. She will, however, not turn her back on acting because she still has an agent in Canada. She hopes to audition for projects closer to her home.

When I ask if these plans are definite, she confounds me with her reply: “Nothing’s definite but those are my plans. Ronnie might come back to the Philippines if he finds a business opportunity here or somewhere in Asia. If that happens, we’ll have to leave Canada.”

How did she get to Canada in the first place?

At the tender age of 15, she joined “Eat Bulaga’s” “Reyna ng Santacruzan” contest. This was during her third summer in the Philippines. Although she didn’t win, Alice caught the eye of talent manager Jojo Veloso who convinced her to join the Bb. Pilipinas beauty tilt. Jojo brought her to the screening without telling her dad. “My dad had no choice but to say yes when Jojo told him later that I was one of 35 candidates who made it to the contest,” Alice recalls.

Before the actual pageant, Alice was an early favorite (she was chosen “Miss Photogenic” by the media photographers) so she was confident about winning one of the three beauty titles that were at stake. She won the Bb Pilipinas International title and represented the country in the 1986 Miss International pageant held in Nagasaki, Japan. She made it to the semifinals because, according to her, this was the year of People Power and the Philippines was very much in the news. I chided her for underselling herself, explaining that she placed in the top 15 on her own merits. She did not protest.

On her return, she signed up with Regal Films where she made a spoof of “Robocop” called “Bobocop” with Joey Marquez in the title role. Then, she was chosen by a beauty soap company to promote its product. Her “I can feel it!” commercial was a big hit and her popularity grew. She got more exposure when she starred in the sitcom “Ok Ka Fairy Ko’ which got very high ratings during its run.

Her busiest year was 1991 when she made 15 movies with the industry’s leading actors — Dolphy, Christopher de Leon, Richard Gomez, Rudy Fernandez, Aga Muhlach. Later, she would even star with Fernando Poe Jr. in a movie called “Walang Matigas na Tinapay sa Mainit na Kape.”

Alice was so busy that the staff of “OK Ka Fairy Ko” could not squeeze time in her schedule to tape her sitcom. They had to wait for cancellations in Alice’s movie commitments to do this. She confided that she would call in sick even if she wasn’t so she could rest. Despite the hectic schedule, she got real sick only once – during the shooting of “Dyesebel,” one of her more popular pictures.

She admits she was not very choosy about her projects. She was also under contract to Regal Films so it was Mother Lily who chose her assignments. Of her many projects, she is best remembered for movies like “The Jessica Alfaro Story,” “Isang Araw Walang Diyos,” “To Saudi With Love” (which got her a nomination for Best Actress in the 1997 Manila Film Festival) and “Sambahin Ang Ngalan Mo” where she won the Best Actress award in the 1998 Manila Film Festival.

In 1995, after close to 10 years in the business, Alice felt that she had already reached her saturation point. “I wanted to learn new things. I wanted to grown in another direction,” she says. Then an opportunity arose which would enable her to study in the US, where she grew up.

It was at this point that love intervened in her plans. She met Ronnie in 1996 while she was still in Manila. Ronnie pursued the actress and proposed marriage. She said no at first because she had other plans. Alice went to the US to follow her dream. Ronnie was persistent and followed her. Again, he proposed marriage. She said no for the second time.

Ronnie decided to find work in Canada. Later, Alice realized she really loved Ronnie and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. So she moved to Canada to be with him. They got married on May 28, 1999.

In Canada, she enjoyed being anonymous, moving around Vancouver without anyone fussing over her. Of course, once in a while, newly arrived Pinoys would recognize her and ask for her autograph. She especially loved going to the libraries where she could read all kinds of books.

I ask Alice if her married life is what she expected it to be. Her nadid reply: “I didn’t know you had to work real hard at your marriage for it to work. I knew this, of course, in theory but when it comes to the actual thing, it’s hard pala . An important area is communication. The husband wants to do one thing. The wife wants to do something else. You have to find a common ground.”

Her advice to single couples contemplating marriage: “Know your spouse real well before you get married. Go for a long engagement. If you get married right away and you haven’t really been dating long enough, lalabas ang quirk s ng partner mo that you may not like.”

So is she in favor of live-in arrangements? She says she is as long as the couple don’t have sex. When I tell her this is almost impossible, she says “That’s why it’s better to just have a long engagement.”

Alice is against premarital sex because she believes “a part of you stays with your sexual partner and if you have sex with several partners before marriage, there’s very little left for your husband. So it’s better to save your virginity for your husband.”

Despite the long distance relationship, she says she and Ronnie are still together, debunking rumors that the two have split up. When she rejoins him in September, having a baby is a possibility but she says this is not a priority. “Children will not make or break a relationship.” The actress, who turns 35 this year doesn’t want to be pressured by people who say her biological clock is ticking.