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YEHLEN CATRAL interviewed by Andrew Leavold, February 2017 [published in full in Andrew’s 2017 book The Search For Weng Weng]
Of all of Weng Weng’s female co-stars, Yehlen Catral proved to be one of the most elusive. And believe me, I spent more than a decade attempting to track her down, as I suspected her story would be a colourful and revealing one. Born Mary Yehlen Antonette Palabrica Catral in Mindanao in March 1964, her affluent family soon moved back to Manila, where she became a model and teen beauty queen. Yehlen (the unusual moniker a playful mash-up of “Nelly”, her mother’s name) was discovered by Dolphy and launched into super-stardom in Dolphy’s Angels (1980). Her brief show business career included action films with Tony Ferrer, Ramon Revilla Sr, Tito, Vic and Joey, and three films starring Weng Weng – Da Best In Da West, For Y’ur Height Only (both 1981), and D’Wild Wild Weng (1982) – before graduating college and emigrating to the United States to pursue a law career. Notoriously private even amongst her closest friends, Yehlen rarely gives interviews, and so it was a small miracle that she agreed to talk about her life for this book. That ten year-plus wait was, in my humble estimation, more than worth it: hers is such an extraordinary story, I decided to publish our interview, via Skype from her home in Stockton, California, in its entirety. Ladies and gentlemen, Dolphy’s Angel herself, Ms Yehlen Catral!
YEHLEN: If you call growing up with four older brothers, and then after me THREE more brothers, and having them come with me wherever I went, even on filming, and if you call that fun, well, I guess I had the most fun! I went to Catholic School, I was with the nuns, I know what it’s like to be bopped on the fingers with a ruler. I grew up with brothers, then brothers, so that’s pretty much my interaction. Unless I’m at school, then I’m with my good friends. When I was six I did the Junior Broadcasting. They actually required nine years old into fourteen to do Junior Broadcasting, but the producer Jose “Pepe” Pimentel… That’s how I got started on TV, doing broadcasting and anchoring for a while. Then at fourteen I started modelling, before I even joined Miss Philippines. I modeled at the top of the Hyatt, the venue for all the haute couture collections. They had in-house models like Bessie Padilla, those were Gary Flores trained models, and that’s how I started modelling.
ANDREW: When you were a child, did you dream of being a performer?
Actually, until the night of the [Mutya Ng Pilipinas/“Muse Of The Philippines”] coronation, I was telling everybody that I was going to be a doctor like my granddad, my father’s father, because that was a deathbed promise. In fact, after I graduated from Law School, my great uncle – the brother of my granddad – was like, “Oh my God, you’re going to get haunted by your grandfather, watch out!” I come from a family of doctors more than lawyers, and so my grandfather had always wanted his sons to be doctors. My uncle is an eye surgeon, and my grandpa was a neurosurgeon, and so he wanted his eldest, who was my father, to also be a doctor. Of course my father didn’t do it, he rebelled, and so when my father had his first granddaughter he was like, “OK, you’re going to save face for your father.” And so, until the coronation night when I was interviewed on stage, “What are you going to be”, “I’m going to be a neurosurgeon like my grandpa!” I went to Law School instead.
I guess your life changed forever on the night of Mutya Ng Pilipinas?
It did. You know, it’s funny, everybody asks me the same thing - “Were you nervous? Were you expecting to win?” It’s never been written about how it actually happened, and you’re going to be the first one to know… It was a big joke! I was fourteen at that time and already five foot five (I never grew). But there was a bet amongst my close friends. They told me, “Hey, they’re going to be choosing the semi-finalists for the Miss Philippines today. Oh, I bet you could pass for an eighteen-year-old!” Because that was the minimum [age]. So what we did was, we cut classes, we got a cab, there were five of us. We went to the Philippine Village Hotel – Leandro “Biboy” Enriquez also owned the Mutya organization, and owns the Philippine Village Hotel and some other hotels in the Philippines. So we went, I signed up. Of course I put I was eighteen. And at that time, because they were only choosing the candidates for the semi-finals, they did not ask for a birth certificate. That was good – I got in! So we went in, I went through the semi-finals. The ones who sit there as judges are the sponsors, like Johnson and Johnson, Colgate, Palmolive. After the interview I changed back into my school uniform and then we were already out the door. But before we reached the door, Biboy was like, “Excuse me, Yehlen, where are you going?” “Uh, we’re going back to school.” And his eyes grew, because everybody in the Philippines knows what St Paul College’s uniform is, a VERY prominent Catholic school! “Wait a minute… Why are you wearing that high school uniform? You got into the semi-finals! You have to go back!” I said, “I know, but I’m not eighteen, I’m only fourteen.” “What are you talking about?” It was August at that time, so I was not even going to be fifteen until the following March. I said, “I’m sorry, it was a joke, it was a bet and I lost it, my friends won...Bye!” “Wait a minute, maybe we can do something about this, I can talk to the sponsors and see – wait for me.” The moment he went in, my classmates and I went, “Let’s go! Let’s sprint out of here!” We grabbed the first cab we saw, went back to St Paul, and by that time it was already dismissal time, so it was time for the driver to pick me up. I get home and my father was waiting for me – he was not supposed to be home at that time. “Did you have a good day at school?” “Oh yeah, I did.” “Really? Where did you go? What did you guys do?” I couldn’t even talk about the classes because we dropped class! “Who is this Biboy Enriquez? WHAT DID YOU DO?” “I did something...”
Biboy apparently had spoken to the sponsors, and they’d decided that they were able to lower the age minimum, but at the same time it would be understood that the highest that I could go would be the Mutya Ng Pilipinas Tourism, because going to Miss Asia and Miss World, they will not let me, I was WAY under-age, four years younger. So at that time the Minister for Tourism, [Jose] Aspiras, and the Minister for Trade, they were there amongst the judges for the semi-finals, and apparently Minister Aspiras said, “No, we’ll lower,” because the Mutya Ng Pilipinas Tourism is also going to be the Ambassadors of Goodwill to South-East Asia. And he apparently picked ME. But I was told this by Biboy only after the coronation was done. Minister Aspiras went up to me and said, “Young lady, your lies were good for me and my Ministry!” At that time we thought it was so funny, because apparently that night the judges that night were told that I was sixteen. Because everybody knew that Biboy Enriquez owned the Miss Asia Quest and the Mutya Ng Pilipinas Quest Inc, he could do something about Miss Asia lowering the minimum age, because they wanted me to represent the Philippines there. The judges said, “No, she’s too young. A fourteen year old can no way go to an international pageant – no, it’s just not right.” So Minister Aspiras said, “OK, fine, give her the Tourism crown, and she can be an Ambassador of Goodwill.” It was supposedly a year contract with the Ministry of Tourism, but Minister Aspiras extended my Ambassador’s status for another year. I believe I was the last Mutya for Tourism, because Minister Aspiras did not want to sponsor that particular crown any more.
What was the experience like, traveling around South-East Asia?
It was fun! In the middle of all these diplomatic conferences, everybody was over forty and here I was, only fifteen years old! In fact there was one time, everybody was already there and I was running late. I finally made it to the ballroom, and everybody was looking around. And I thought, “Why are we so late in starting the conference?” The program director went on the microphone and said, “We’re just missing one Ambassador from the Philippines.” I go, “No, hello, I’m here…!” The Ambassador from Singapore was on my left, and he looked at me, “Are you crazy?” At that time the Philippines was one of the powerhouses of South-East Asia. That was around Marcos’ time and Imelda’s face-lifting of the Philippines, reclamation of the whole Roxas Boulevard, the Philippine International Conference Center and Folk Arts Theater, so Marcos was very prominent. It was really a good time for the Philippines. And there was this fifteen-year-old giving a speech for the Philippines! The fashion tours of course were fun. I love clothes and shoes – typical Filipina, and typical female! I got to meet a lot of designers, but by that time I haven’t grown from five foot five, and the other models were like five foot ten, so at fourteen I learned to wear six-inch heels – I had to! Because I was short compared to them. And that’s why until now it’s odd – I prefer to wear at least an inch or two, I walk awkwardly in flats. I just got used to it. It was actually fun.
I assume that combination of model looks and frightening brain would have been intimidating to most Filipino males?
Yes. Especially because a lot of times I don’t have filters with them. Some of them [are] very prominent men but they could not talk about something, or they would not speak grammatically correctly – that’s my pet beef! One time my daughter’s Christmas gift to me was a T-shirt: “Grammar Police. To correct and to serve.”
Do you remember the moment you caught Dolphy’s eye?
He actually got a hold, the manager at the time of Rio Locsin, Rey dela Cruz. Because Ray dela Cruz comes from the same town in Cagayan Valley North as my father. And Rey dela Cruz knew of my grandfather because my grandparents were prominent in their area of the province. He said, “You know, this Yehlen Catral, I think the father’s Ilocano.” Rey dela Cruz contacted me; he managed the first part of my career, the first year, and then Franklin Cabaluna, the editor of People’s Journal, he took over. Of course it was Dolphy, so it was fun! Oh, I was a brat too. Because they said, “You know he’s going to do a spin-off of Charlie’s Angels, but instead there are going to be four instead of just three.” My father said, “I’d rather you don’t do that, I don’t like you to go to the movies.” Of course my mother was all for it. “You decide,” that’s what my father said. At the time I believe I was fifteen and a half when Dolphy offered that, or had just turned fifteen, so I told my dad, “Even just for one movie, because I REALLY want to do this Dolphy’s Angels thing!” After that Dolphy invited me over for dinner together with Rey dela Cruz, who at the time was really managing stars in the Philippines, and I said, “OK, which of the four Angels is the lead?” I mean one of them is the lead for Dolphy, and the other three for Panchito and the others. He said, “Obviously you’ll be the leading lady for me.” And I said, “Well, no, I don’t care about being the leading lady for YOU, I want Farrah’s role!” (laughs) Because I was fifteen! And he said, “Well, that’s the role - that’s the one that’s playing opposite me.” I said, “OK then, I’ll be your leading lady.” That’s how it started. After that I wasn’t even sure if I would continue. I just wanted to be with Dolphy – I mean, Dolphy is Dolphy, right?
What was it about Dolphy that kept him the Philippines’ King of Comedy for so long?
I think... he was a very good person. He really was. He’s always helping out people, and he made sure that everybody, the stuntmen, the crew, got a personal bonus. And his comedy was his own. Not slapstick, not corny stuff. It was a cute, family kind of comedy – I think that’s it. But mostly I really think he earned the respect of a lot of people, because he came from nothing and he never forgot that. He always helped people in need. Some of his staff would say something about a poor child who’s sick in hospital, a child of a very poor family who needed an operation, he would personally go. There was one that he helped in the middle of filming Dolphy’s Angels, he personally went, then paid for everything. He went to meet the parents of the boy, he survived, but told the parents, “Please don’t tell anybody, I just wanted to come because the boy was a fan. I don’t like publicity about these things.” He’s been like that, he’s a very good person. Or was.
I know! I was in the Philippines when Dolphy passed away and got to witness the country’s outpouring of grief.
He touched everyone’s life. They did call me, his partner Zsa Zsa informed me, and asked if there was any way that I could go. Liz [Alindogan] also asked me, but I was in the middle of a trial for one of my cases. There were two reporters and one talk show that wanted to [talk] like this, so I could give my condolences to the family, but I declined that, because I don’t really give interviews, I never really did even when I was in the movies I rarely gave interviews. I called the family directly.
Can we talk about the other three Angels – Carmi Martin, Liz Alindogan, and Anna Marie Gutierrez?
They were nice, all three of them. I remember being very good friends with them. I’ve always been very private, so during breaks from the shoot I would go to my corner, sit and read. Carmi, in fact, was the prom date of my younger brother. He was quite popular! Liz, as you can see from my Facebook, we’re still very good friends. Anna Marie, we were friends too at the time, but I really lost touch with her. Besides I was only in the movies for less than three years, and then I left. Carmi is also a friend on Facebook but it’s Liz that I’m more in touch with.
How did the public reaction to Dolphy’s Angels change your life?
It was crazy! It’s one of Dolphy’s most successful movies, that and Da Best In Da West. The way it affected me was, I kinda withdrew, because it was amazing, when you go to a gathering and you hear the fans literally screaming and trying to get hold of you, touch you, even pull your hair and climb the cars when you get there. Not that it startled me, but it got to a point where at times I felt scared - “Oh, what’s going on?!” I could not go anywhere without being recognized - even in the middle of having a personal dinner with my parents, people would ask for an autograph or pull a chair and sit tight next to you. I guess when you become a public figure and quite well known, there’s a lot of sacrifice involved. That’s why I think I tended to not go to a lot of live TV talk shows or I chose which journalist that I spoke with. And that’s not because I don’t have respect for everybody; it’s just that I chose who I was comfortable in speaking with. A lot of the stories [when] they put me on the cover of magazines, it was always third-hand information. Except the ones that Franklin Cabaluna of Peoples Journal and Manila Bulletin, and Cris Belen, when they wrote about me they literally talked to me.
It seems that all four of you Angels experienced instant stardom. It seems that Dolphy’s deliberate ploy of creating four new superstars worked. Why do you think he did that?
I don’t know. At the time he was telling us that he wanted fresh, wholesome girls, because it was the time of everybody going bold, and everybody was getting popular by stripping their clothes off. He told us, “I want wholesome new stars and build them up.” It was his magic, I think, that made us big stars. It was because of him. And then after that movie, of course, we went on our separate types of acting. I started going towards the action ones.
Everyone was doing action films at the time – it’s the period of Goon films, of Ramon Revilla, Tony Ferrer and Lito Lapid – and you co-starred with all of them! Were producers deliberately building you up to be an action star?
Ramon, I call him Kuya Ramon – I think they wrote about me being his protégé. And yeah, there was that time, the last two years of my movie career, he did tell the producers that if they wanted to get him, it was like a package, he wanted me there. He did action movies based on true stories – he was very good, and he directed a lot of the movies I made with him. I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him why he chose me! But Tony Ferrer, of course, he did too. I think a lot of it too was because I did not want to join the bold wagon, so I guess when I got offered the movie contracts, I had very specific clauses there – no nudity, no this or that. They tended to treat me like their daughter!
You made at least six films with Ramon Revilla, that’s a great working relationship.
Yes, really. They didn’t become superstars for nothing. Yes, just like I said, there was a period of time where if it’s a Ramon Revilla movie, you know that the leading lady would be me. And I really had fun, because I was playing roles like the female leader of the New People’s Army. Most of my action movies really were because of Ramon Sr.
Do you remember much about the film you made with Tony Ferrer, Pagbabalik Ng Mga Tigre (1980)?
Who were the Tigers?
Robin Aristorenas, Jess Lapid Jr, Tony Ferrer… there were five of them. [also Val Iglesias and Rod Navarro Jr]
Was it a western?
Kind of. Spaghetti western! The very first time we filmed my scene, there was an attempted rape. My tendency was to fight back. “Cut! You are supposed to be HELPLESS!” It took me at least five takes before that sank in. It was quite difficult to get into the mindset of a helpless damsel.
Then of course the Angels are brought back several times – I remember in Dancing Master 2: The Macao Connection (1982), all four Angels suddenly appear during the final fight scenes!
Yes, whenever Tito Dolphy was in trouble, there we were! Even if it didn’t have anything to do with the story – who cares?
Let’s talk about Da Best In Da West, one of the biggest box office successes of the year, with old faces next to new ones as everyone sends up the Pinoy Western. And you play Dolphy’s love interest.
Yeah, I always played that (laughs) for some odd reason. When we were discussing that, when it was still on the drawing board, Tito Dolphy was telling me, and he was talking to the director, “OK, I want her character to be some sort of Calamity Jane.” So they worked around that, because I did my own stunts - when I was riding horses I did not have a double, and I was able to do that because I was a competitive equestrian in high school, in college. And that helped a lot with the plot. The other action films that I did, because I got to a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, that’s why I did all my stunts. It was really neat because I think Dolphy gathered the whole stuntman population, it was a huge production, with Lito Lapid there – he was at that time at the peak of his superstardom. Everybody, we were like family, even the stuntmen. It was so nice because I worked with a lot of them during Dolphy’s Angels, and so when I got there they used to call me their baby! (laughs) And it was really neat, because they would just be there when there were rowdy fans, some people that would just mob us, they’d be there, they’d replace my brothers. They’d go, “OK, time to go inside! They’re coming!” And Tito Dolphy was very protective. He monitored my career. At times I would ask him about the kinds of movies and all that. He kept in touch – I’m sure he did too with the other three [Angels]. But he was very nice, he acted more like a Godfather.
In Da Best In Da West, Lito had his own fight director in Eddie Nicart, Dolphy’s usual fight instructors Jay Grama and Fred Esplana were there, and all those guys were SOS Daredevils. So SOS was really like an extended family – and these guys are your chaperones?
Oh yes, I know! In the beginning it used to be my four older brothers. And it was funny because every time they knew when I would be already on the set, because you’ve got these four – my eldest brother was six foot one, the second eldest was six foot two, the third eldest was six feet, and the shortest of them was the fourth one at five foot ten, not too short either! So they would come down first from the car. “Ah there are the Catral brothers, Yehlen will be following soon!” After that the SOS, they were so neat. They protected me, yes, they were the ones that looked after me. It was really a beautiful experience, working with Dolphy. So were the other superstars, Ramon and Tony.
Do you remember the first time you saw Weng Weng?
On Da Best In Da West, that was the first time I met him. You’d just die, he was so sweet! Very happy, very jovial person. And he had the biggest crush on Nina Sara, his co-leading lady paired with Lito. He’d go all shy whenever Nina was around. But he was a wonderful guy, I really enjoyed chatting with him. We’d usually just chat in the corner.
What kinds of things would you talk about?
He always made the comment, “I can’t believe you’re only fifteen!” And then when I made the movie For Y’ur Height Only with him, “I can’t believe you’re only sixteen!” He was just very sweet. I think that’s really an appropriate term.
Some say he was like a child, others say he was a complex little adult – what was your assessment?
Oh, I never considered him just a child. He had a very good grip of what was going on around him, and I even discussed politics with him. We discussed a lot about movie trends and why it’s happening. I think maybe they just had different topics of conversation. But whenever we talked – I wouldn’t say it was intellectual discourse or anything like that, but no, he was definitely not a child with me. I mean, we were discussing a lot of history of Philippine cinema! I don’t know what his relationship was with the others, but when we engaged in conversation, it was meaningful conversation. At the same time he has this really odd sense of humour, I don’t know if that’s what the other people were referring to? I had long and enjoyable conversations with Weng Weng, with Ernesto.
Would he ever talk about girls, or specifically about Nina?
Oh yes! “Oh my God, isn’t she so pretty?” I’d go, “Yeah, she’s really pretty… OK she’s there, go say hi Weng.” And he’d go, “Oh my God no, come with me...” So I’d go with him! We got close, because on For Y’ur Height Only, I think my part was shot in two and a half days, but they used me for all the posters! After that I did some other movies with him, and we were always close. He’d ask me, “Oh, what do you think of this actress?” He was just sweet. He would always tell me, “OK, OK, come with me, come with me.” And then I would go with him, say hi, hold his hand and introduce him to the other girls that he wanted to meet. But, unfortunately for me I guess, I never got that sense that he had the mind of a child. Not with me at least.
I suggest in this book that he was a blank canvas that people around him projected onto him what they wanted to see.
That’s the thing, I think that’s what happened. Some of the people never gave him the chance to have his own personality and character whenever they engaged him, probably. But I was never like that with him. I would ask him about the books he reads, and we’d discuss the classic old Filipino movies – that’s how we talked. A lot of people tend to do that anyhow. You have a presumption of how you want to project the person from your point of view. But I’ve never been like that, even when I was young. I don’t think it’s a wise thing to do, because you then don’t get to know the person.
What was it like working with Eddie Nicart?
There are directors who are quite rigid and go through it scientifically. It’s like, “This is how I want you to do it, this is how you say it at this point in your sentence, you raise your voice like this...” Eddie wasn’t like that, he gave us actors license as long as it doesn’t really stray far from the character. That was how he dealt with me, so it was fun. I could even suggest to him certain fight scenes, certain routines. I would say, “I don’t think this is right, a woman wouldn’t really do it that way, maybe this way?” And he allowed it. He was very good actually. And Weng was very… I wouldn’t say very close, but they got along well, as far as I can remember. I wasn’t that close to Eddie – again, it’s not him, it was me, I was a very private person so I tended not to be close with anyone.
The first time you were directed by Eddie was in For Y’ur Height Only. There’s one scene where you’re being shot at in a hotel car park…
(Laughs) I think we had to do a dozen takes, because either I would get startled or Weng Weng would, and we would end up laughing. “OK, cut! Take three...four...five...” before we’d stop laughing. Weng would say, “Ina [sister], stop getting startled! My concentration is lost!” Of course he was kidding. And then we’d all be serious, and HE’d get startled! That was my relationship with him, you know. That was so much fun, that movie. Only because, I think, we got to see how Weng Weng really was, and he really enjoyed that movie a lot. And he was very open about enjoying it and having fun with everybody on the set.
His co-star in Caliber .357 (1984), Nelson Anderson, told me Weng Weng was aware that he wasn’t being paid fairly. What is your feeling about this?
The Caballes were producers, I never really got to engage them in conversations, they were just my producers for the films that I did with Weng Weng. We just socialized during functions and the premieres of the movies. I know it’s been covered by a lot of the tabloids, but I don’t really have any personal knowledge about it. The Caballes were very nice to me, and whenever we filmed I felt they were very nice to everybody. Their personal relationship with Weng Weng I really didn’t know.
You didn’t witness any on-set interaction between them?
No, and also because of what I said, I tended to keep to myself. And whenever I I did movies with Weng, it was usually just he and I chatting.
Did you ever train with the SOS guys?
Yes! They were showing me the moves and stuff, not only for the movies. They’d go, “OK, this is what you do when you’re getting attacked by men,” and stuff like that. The one who leads the group, Ric Bustamante, said, “Even if these martial arts students, no matter how well you’re trained, even if you’re a blackbelter or whatever, if you really are not a natural fighter, then you tend to forget anyhow.” So he taught me things, like when you fight, you always back against the corner, so nobody else is behind you, and everybody would be coming at you and you’d be ready for them. And then things like where to hit, so you can literally immobilize the guy who’s probably twice your height, twice your size. It was fun, working with them.
Was this at the SOS headquarters on A. Mabini St? I believe the building is no longer there.
Yes, exactly. They had sponsors, but unfortunately they lost funding so they were not able to maintain the building. They had these ropes from the rafters, and I got to use them. They even taught me how to swing, which part of my body to put weight on so I would swing. The only thing that I could not do was a round kick. I always got dizzy. Then [Ric] even tried to teach me how to kick on the wall so that you tumble backwards. I was able to do it only twice, and then after that I always fell on my butt. I never got to do that in a movie, because they were afraid the next thing I would hit would be my head! (laughs) I got training like that from him. And it wasn’t because I was doing movies with them, it was because he approached me – I was a like a tomboy then. “D you want to learn this and that?” I said yeah… But then he started giving me training, I went regularly to that studio. That’s why I didn’t have to get doubles.
Do you remember shooting part of For Y’ur Height Only at the SOS compound? I think it’s the scene where you and Weng Weng are screaming “Where is Mr Kaiser? TALK!” at Nonong de Andres.
I think we may have. The night scene – I think that was it. That was on the lot.
No-one in the Philippines has bothered to record the stuntmen’s stories.
I know, and it’s really a pity. Those people led meaningful lives, the SOS. We’re talking about a very close fraternity of brothers. They helped each other out - if somebody was sick, “Fine, I’ll take care of your wife.” It felt so good and very reassuring when they extended to me their protection. I felt so special!
You were a sister! I know there was also a female branch of the SOS, which included your For Y’ur Height Only co-star Linda Castro.
Yes! We’re talking about a superstar stuntwoman. She led the group. She amazes me, up until now, whenever I remember her. SO fast. I remember myself in awe of her whenever I watched her do her scenes, the way she choreographed fight routines. She wouldn’t take crap from the men. She told me to do the same! (laughs) So I got to play the spoiled brat amongst the big brothers.
What was the reaction to For Y’ur Height Only going global during MIFF ‘82?
It was crazy! Because I think we almost were more popular in Europe than we were in the Philippines! It was one of those things where, if you Googled Weng or my name, the first thing that would pop up would be For Y’ur Height Only – not Dolphy’s Angels, not Da Best In Da West. He became a sensation more so in Europe than in the Philippines, I think.
I also believe that his popularity at home went through the roof precisely because he went global. All of a sudden, newspapers wanted to interview him, he was performing stunts on his tiny motorbike on TV shows… 1982 was the Year of Weng Weng!
Yeah. I remember we had to be [at MIFF] almost every day for close to a month, because the international producers were always asking for him. Ramon Revilla was there, Fernando Poe Jr, all these major veteran superstars of Philippine cinema, and all these international producers and directors were looking for Weng Weng! (laughs) Not THE superstars there. And it was really fun. I remember whenever some international press member would corner him and say, “Can we get just a few minutes,” he would look for me, literally wherever I was: “Someone is going to interview me, come with me!” Very, very sweet.
Your next film with Weng Weng is D’Wild Wild Weng (1982). I don’t remember seeing too many of your scenes, as I believe they may have been trimmed from the two-hour Tagalog version? And those scenes may relate to you being Max Laurel’s love interest, which are absent from the export version?
Yes, that’s right. And I remember I also had to request to not do a lot of the scenes that were in the script because I had very strict clauses in my contract. So I ended up not being able to do certain scenes that they wanted me to do. I specifically said no, I won’t do that in a movie.
They wanted love scenes between you and Max?
Yes. And I never did those in my movies.
Do you have many memories of running around the high plains of Pampanga surrounded by goons in sombreros?
Yeah, it was fun! Whenever I was with the SOS guys it was always fun. We got to visit a lot of the watermelon farms, and Weng and I loved that, we could just eat that during the shoot. “Leave that to us and we’re fine, we don’t need food!”
I did the math – you’re one of three actresses who made the most films with Weng Weng. So did Nina Sara and Beth Sandoval.
Yes, Beth Sandoval. I believe the Caballes were building her up.
And I believe she passed away in the Eighties or Nineties, according to Eddie Nicart.
I didn’t know that. I only got to spend time with her whenever we had scenes together, and you would have observed that we really did not have many scenes together in the movies.
What about Nina Sara? It appears she went to ground soon after a very public rape case.
Yes, the daughter of the SM Malls owner, Henry Sy – the leader of the lesbian gang that raped her. When they finally let her go from a van, she was stripped naked, incoherent, and let go in the middle of wherever it was.
Do you know roughly when that happened?
I emigrated to the US in ‘86 so I was still there when it happened, it must have been early 80s. I did a lot of TV movies with Nina. She’s sweet, very soft-spoken. I know that she really enjoyed acting but I wasn’t sure that her heart was in it, in that I thought she mentioned that she wanted to do something else, go to college. That was really about it. She was very quiet – she almost kept more to herself than I did! She tended to clam up around people. And she was a very obedient child. Whatever the mother said, she’d do.
Her mother was her manager?
I believe she was. Remember the Filipino version of the Village People, Hagibis? One of them, I believe, became very close with Nina, and he knew a lot about her. But she was never the same after that unfortunate incident.
You could say that destroyed her career?
It destroyed HER. She was broken after that. I don’t see how anybody could have survived that, being gang raped by a group of lesbians. They were heartless, what they did to her. Dropping her on the highway naked, she was bleeding everywhere.
Would you say you were close to Nina?
No, I think we were a bit more than acquaintances. I was definitely not as close to her as I was with Weng. With Nina we were friends in the industry.
Your film career seems to end around the time you graduate?
I left the movies, then went to the University of the Philippines [in Quezon City] to take up Political Science and English. That was in ‘81, when I started university. I graduated in ‘85. I was already in my second year of Law School at Ateneo Loyola, the Jesuit College, then I took the LSAT, the Law School Admission Test, in Olongapo. Fortunately I scored really high, so I got all these offers of scholarships, and I chose Washburn University [in Kansas].
Did you always have your eye on a law career?
I think that was awakened in me when I enrolled at the University of the Philippines. I was going to major in English – not English Lit, English – and then I shifted majors when I was in second year. I made English my minor, and I got involved with Political Science because [of] the UP activists, and I got involved in that. And so Political Science to me became very interesting, history and lots of pork barrelling going on in the government! I thought I’ve got to understand how this thing goes (laughs). It was goodbye movies, and then after I graduated and got the Fulbright Scholarship offered, I was like, “Bye!” I wanted to be in a place where I could blow my nose without being conscious about it. Because people would say, “Oh my God, Yehlen Catral blew her nose in a restaurant!” Here I can do what I want and nobody cares.
So moving to the US allowed you to shed your unwanted celebrity?
Yes. And everybody keeps asking me, “Why would you want that?” I guess it’s because basically I’m a very private person. I remember that Weng Weng was one of the few ones that I contacted to say “Bye, I’m going to Law School.” Tito Dolphy of course was one.
Want to bring us up to date?
Gaily [Yehlen’s daughter, born 1992], I’m so proud of her. She’s my world, my only baby. She’s now second year in Medical School.
So her great-grandfather’s wish has finally been fulfilled?
Yes, I know! And guess what, she wants to be a neuro-psychiatrist. A double speciality. That’s all she does, study, play the video games. The one thing that I never forget to mention is that she’s a MENSA-certified genius, 167 IQ. It’s so funny because Mike [Yehlen’s then-partner], they kinda think the same, and he has mannerisms, the way he thinks, and the way Gaily thinks… I have always been very choosy with friends. It’s very difficult to get me engaged in conversation – before five minutes is up I’m usually bored or sleepy, and I have insomnia!
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