A Bonggang Moment: Meeting Jon Santos

Some say it's best that you don't meet your childhood heroes. There are some exemptions. Here's how I met Jon Santos.

October 16, 2024

Some say it’s best that you don’t meet your childhood heroes. There are some exemptions.

The childhood buddies and I watched The Sandbox Collective’s adaptation of “Every Brilliant Thing” in June 2024. (“Bawat Bonggang Bagay” as a title is ssooo loving the alliteration!)

Jon Santos was the actor for this play, his second time.

He is one of my childhood heroes.

I missed the first run of the play. So I made sure to watch this year’s run.

When we found out that Jon Santos would pose for photos post-production, we all agreed to fall in line.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Me before the photo was taken: This could mean revealing all our ages, but you were our childhood.

Jon Santos let out an incredulous gasp, then said: I ruined all of you.

As he was signing our “bawat bonggang bagay” papers, I said: We were your last readers. (Sorry, you’d need to watch the play to understand what I mean. Also, sorry The Sandbox Collective. Dapat daw isosoli ang mga papel pero pinapirmahan namin.)

Jon Santos: Oh, so you were my last readers! And you’re all childhood friends?

All of us: Yes.

Jon Santos: You don’t need a lot (of childhood friends), ano?

All of us: we’re a total of 8.

Jon Santos: So how did you become childhood friends?

Kaming lahat: We lived on the same village.

Me: And so we watched you on TV. Name it: Sineskwela, Abangan Ang Susunod Na Kabanata. So we really grew up watching you.

Jon smiled. He was on those shows. He probably thought we’re not joking.

Jon Santos: What year were you born?

We all mentioned our birth years, to which I won’t reveal here, lest I lose friends.

Jon Santos: I graduated in high school in that year (pointing to one of us) and in that year, I graduated in college (again, pointing to one of us).