What's Your Fantasy?: Special Pinoy Edition! Part I

Yes, my friends: I'm starting an entire series of pictorial blog entries featuring hot Pinoy guys. And lest this becomes a droolfest, I also promise to write What's NOT Your Fantasy?, an entry dedicated to the ones that represent the skeevier elements of Pinoy guydom.

Let's begin by saying that some of the hotter guys in the Pinoy celebrity landscape - at least the ones I know from my generation - are now married. And not just married, but happily married.

Exhibit 1:

Here is Aga Muhlach with his wife, the lovely Charlene Gonzales, and their twins (twins!) Atasha and Andres. (Not pictured: Aga's son Luigi, who grew up during the guy's wild-bachelor years and is now in his teens, but is still very much his father's son.) Forget those "Aga Muhlach Is Dead" rumors, which come up as often as the President gets impeachment complaints. He was my first celebrity "boyfriend" when I was eight years old - I couldn't even look at his photos without screaming. Now, I giggle at his Globe Telecom commercials with the maid who insists that her husband looks like him. (My favorite line, translated from Tagalog: "Darling, there's somebody here who looks like you, but you still look like Aga." Cue funny look from Aga himself.) And now he's so famous that he even has an entry on Wikipedia, complete with filmography and brief mention of that time when he used to date Dayanara Torres. Not only that, he's the only person in the planet who can publicly endorse Quaker Oatmeal and, um, feminine hygiene products (with his wife!), and still maintain his dignity.

Exhibit 2:

Richard Gomez, now married to the very hot former Lucy Torres (no relation to Dayanara... or myself, for that matter). Together they have a cute daughter named Juliana. I've always found Goma to be attractive (see this not-too-safe for work photo) - even though there's something really "street" about him - but he is part of family lore at Hacienda de Meimei as the nice guy who used to work at Mickey D's with my cousin and almost got set up for a date with my sister. (Let's just say that he wasn't famous then, and we still elbow each other when we see him on TV.)

Exhibit 3:

Those of you who saw The Great Raid (and/or spent a lot of time at the Hawaii International Film Festival) may already be familiar with the hotness that is Cesar Montano. Yeah, I said it, hotness. I used to think he was just plain beefcake when he used to star in cheesy drama serials on TV, but on the big screen - with the right directors - he practically smolders. Now, not only do I have to elbow out maids and nurses to get to him (plus whichever hoochie ends up getting linked to him, since boyfriend's reportedly got a wandering eye), I also get to deal with the fact that he's married to a woman named Sunshine, who's the mother to his daughters. Note to Cesar: Do your kids a favor. Give their mom a break.

Exhibit 4:

For those of you who like Christian men - especially if they know how to sing, dance, and praise God with all their soul - well, Gary Valenciano is still a happily married father of three, God bless him. And yet, even as a crossover Christian artist, he's still very much the Gary V we all know and love. In fact, boyfriend might actually be aging backwards; I actually saw him on the cover of Men's Health (Pinoy edition) and he looked better than he used to in the '80s when he was rocking the acid wash jeans and the Michael-Jackson-of-the-Philippines schtick (without the crazy evil Michael Jackson-ness). Then again, I still think the shirt he's wearing in his new video was raided from his '80s-era closet -- which is funny to me, since I've seen contemporary Christian artists with snappier, un-stylist-dictated wardrobes. (Gary, if you're reading this, I love you, and I mean to affirm you, but it's just about that one Star Trek shirt bothering me. And, yes, Mac Powell did cut his hair.) Still as compelling as ever.