Richard Gutierrez gets affected by issues of global warming

Here’s a confession of "Lupin" star Richard Gutierrez during the "Kapuso Fans Day" in Cebu last weekend.

"Recently I had this phase in my life when I was just in search of something from within myself. Then I saw the movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ I watched it three times and it really affected me in a way that I wanted to do my part. I wanted to help out. How can I do my part in the Philippines?"

After doing some research and doing some readings regarding global warming, he found Greenpeace, called them up and now he is one of the members.

"I’m part of Greenpeace and I’m going to help them promote awareness. Ako ang lumapit sa kanila. The purpose and objective of the movement is to give awareness especially to the youth. We’re going to have a series of events lined up," he shared.

Finding Greenpeace for him has been a fulfilling search. He is excited to do his own little thing for the planet or the Philippines for that matter. In fact within his family, he has already been advocating the Greenpeace movement.

"Simple lang talaga ang gagawin mo. I keep telling my family to join Greenpeace. I started teaching them the simple things they can do to help the environment like unplugging electrical sockets and turning off their computers," he said.

On a bigger scale, he is excited about the global activities people concerned with the environment are undertaking. Like what one of his heroes has done, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who was responsible for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." He assembled "Live Earth," a 24-hour concert, which was simultaneously presented July 7 in different parts of the world (New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney and Hamburg).

Richard teams up with Greenpeace to launch the Simple Lang campaign of the said organization. It was held last July 7 at the Conspiracy Bar with volunteer artists and musicians jamming through the night.

"It’s very exciting because they are targeting billions of people around the world to help global warming. It’s a global thing and Greenpeace to me means that you’re a global citizen and we have to do our part," Richard said.

Richard said here’s what you can do to also Pledge for the Planet. Go to http://www.greenpeace.org and choose the South East Asia link. Then register online with Simple Lang Pledge for Planet. Once registered, you will receive seven challenges a month.

With regards to work, the actor is very contented with the progress and good ratings "Lupin" has been receiving. The thousands of Cebuanos who have shown their utmost support to him and one of his co-stars Ehra Madrigal added proof to the series’ nationwide popularity.

After "Lupin" Richard will embark on another challenging action-dramaseries entitled "Kamandag" and a movie under GMA Films.

"Everything is still a secret. But my next movie, a horror film, will be a big one. I also won’t be able to rest after ‘Lupin’ because we’re starting ‘Kamandag’ immediately," explained Richard. Though there were offers for him to do a movie for this coming Metro Manila Film Festival, there is nothing concrete yet. "Ang dami ko pang gustong gawing mga projects. I want to do more movies with different roles. I enjoy acting talaga and every time I get a character that I can play with I really enjoy every minute of it. Any role basta maganda okay sa akin," he quipped.

His ultimate goal is to produce, direct and act in his own movie. "Marami pa akong dapat gawin before I can produce my own film. But I someday magawa ko siya and that would be a dream come true!"

One of his dreams too is to work with actresses from the other network. The likes of Bea Alonzo and Heart Evangelista came to mind when asked whom he would like to work with in a movie. "Sana there will come a time na walang wall, that artists can jump from one network to the other and work. I really want to work with the people there. I have friends there and every time na nakakasama ko sila I really treasure those moments kasi bihira kaming nagkakasama," the actor said.

For Richard Gutierrez fans, watch out too for his upcoming website. It won’t be called ricahrdgutierrez.com though. He is still looking for a more appropriate name. Once it’s up, his fans would get to see both sides of him as an actor and as a person. There will also be photos and video clips for downloading as well as blogs and the chat rooms according to him. "Aabangan nila ito kasi it is a nice venue para sa mga taong sumusuporta sa akin. Everything is about me and maganda siya talaga."

Walden Sahiri
Manila Bulletin