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PHOTOGRAPHY: XANDER ANGELES
OF EDGE OF LIGHT
INTERVIEW: ALEX C. PAITA
STYLING: BEA CONSTANTINO
MAKEUP: OMAR ERMITA FOR SHU UEMURA
HAIR: FELICITY SUN
SHOT ON LOCATION AT MANOR, EASTWOOD CITY, LIBIS, Q.C.

You said you love the Filipino people?
Yes, they’re so nice. And the culture, everything is similar to my country. Pareho everywhere, pareho kayo sa amin. The language, it was easy for me to learn. People are so warm here. I was really welcome. That made me want to stay and know more about the Philippines.

Thanks! You started doing Eat Bulaga! in 2007. Why only pose for FHM now?
Actually, kasi dati kahit sasabihin n’yo sa akin, “Ah sexy ka,” hindi yun ang tingin ko sa sarili ko, na parang, “Kaya ko ba yon?” Alam mo yon? Pero I’ve been modeling, I’ve been doing medyo sexy roles but not really for FHM. This is the pinaka-sexy talaga. I think that’s, I don’t know, a consequence of what I’m living my life for right now? If people think that I’m sexy then, “O sige, go natin yun.”

One thing very amusing about you is that you talk near-perfect Filipino as if you were raised here. How do you do that?
Hindi ako nag-aaral. That’s a fine thing about me kasi even my English, I learned it here. So, like, I think when we like something. we’ll do anything to get there. So for me naman I had to learn the hard way. I was surrounded by Filipinos all the time, everybody’s talking in Tagalog. So I asked around, “How do say this in Tagalog?” It was really amazing, the fact that I learned two languages at the same time in the Philippines. Maybe this is also one of the reasons that I love the Philippines. You are so patient, you’d teach me and everything, and I give my best effort because I like this place. Right now, I still can’t congregate the verb and everything but I’m on my way. I wish one day, maybe two years from now, I’m gonna speak fluent Tagalog. That’s my goal.

What’s the newest Tagalog word you’ve learned?
Every day I’m learning something new. I want to learn everything about the language. I can understand you, but sometimes I just can’t express myself the same way as you guys do but I do it my own way.

Know a lot of cuss words already?
Mga mura? Oo naman no! Siyempre when you’re new in a country that’s the first thing they teach you—yung mga mura at yung mga bastos. Kaya lang hindi ko puwedeng sabihin dito.

How about Pinoy mannerisms—do you find yourself doing them too?
Yes. Sometimes I think maybe in my past life I was Pinay. I feel like I’m a Filipina right now, kaya lang Brazilian talaga ako. You can’t deny that when you look at me. But when I talk you think I’m a Filipino. I think I have these mannerisms that you have, and also how malambing you are, how you talk, how you care about everybody, ganun.

FOR DAIANA'S FULL INTERVIEW, GRAB THE SPECIAL MARCH 2010 ISSUE OF FHM