DATELINE: 2015

Coco Martin flashed his signature smile and greeted mallgoers at the Power Plant in Rockwell, Makati. He did not discriminate. Men, women, and children—he greeted them all. He was affable and approachable.

From afar, he saw a familiar face. It was Kapamilya actress Angel Locsin, whom Coco had known since their younger days, when they were both auditioning as models for commercials. “Pababa siya ng escalator,” Coco recalls. “No’ng malapit na siya, tumalikod na ako.”

Coco was not being a snob. He was just flustered to see an old friend who by then had made a name in show business—while he himself was still working at the mall as a “promodizer” for a telecom company, giving away flyers, smiling for everyone.

“Si Angel, biglang sumikat na sa Click,” Coco explains, referring to the now-defunct GMA teen
show. “Honestly, bilang tao, parang meron ka pa ring ‘Ay, siya artista na.’ Kumbaga, may narating na. ’Tapos, ako, eto, namimigay ng flyers. Nahiya ako.”

Back then, Coco was not aiming to be a sikat na artista like Angel. He just wanted to make something of himself. He just wanted a job that would bring in regular income.

“Ang hinahanap ko naman, totoong buhay,” he says. “Whatever—artista, waiter… Kumbaga, kahit ano, basta pagkakakitaan. Kahit na anong raket.”

This was early 2000. Coco was not asking for much.

BATANG KALYE

For as long as he can remember, Rodel Pacheco Nacianceno—now better known by his screen name Coco Martin—was always looking for ways to make money. It was not surprising that he turned out to be this way. Enterprise was in his genes, after all. His paternal grandmother, Matilde Nacianceno, a housewife, got into all sorts of rakets, too, to augment the income that her husband, the late Popoy Nacianceno, was bringing in as a jeepney driver in Sampaloc, Manila.