Monday, February 12, 2007 The woman without a face By Jenara Regis Newman
PILAR Pilapil, in her autobiography, considers herself a “woman without a face”, she who used to be very much in the limelight, on television, in movies, in magazine covers. Through all the years of her being Miss Philippines and eventual stardom, her “dysfunctional” love affairs that fed gossip columns, there was in her searching for a deeper meaning, a search of who she really is, who she was lost in all that glamour and glitz and fame.
Through all those years, the Hound of Heaven hounded her, and she recalls the three times she felt strongly the Lord’s call. The first time was during a retreat in the '70s when the Lord gave her a flashback of her past through “dreams, visions” where He reminded her of her first calling (she was a college student taking up psychology when she was thrown into the limelight).
The second calling came in the '90s when she was in Matabungkay with friends. In her words: “I was waiting for somebody by the beach. White clouds passed by but there was one cloud that stopped and formed a hollow and the face of the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in that hollow. He looked at me with very kind eyes and I heard a voice say, “Pilar, don’t worry. Just don’t forget me.”
The third calling was in 1992. Pilar recalls. “I was watching TV and there was a foreign preacher on TV. I stayed to watch and later started to cry. Maybe for 30 minutes. I believe it was my cleansing. That was the start of my reading the Bible. I had two Bibles in my bookshelf, one from Fr. Ben Carreon and another from Jeanne Young. It was the Holy Spirit convincing me. I used to be quite hard-headed and I couldn’t be convinced by another human being. Once I understood my calling, I had to obey. My priorities have changed. Number one priority is to serve the Lord.
Forsaking the life she used to lead, and the man she was with when she watched that TV program that turned her life around, Pilar V. Pilapil has now become an evangelist. She has now found her true face, her true calling and has served the Lord for 12 years. She has made her Apas home a church, a school, a sanctuary for abused women and children, and she has set up the Pilar Pilapil Foundation to take care of all this, as well as the work of the foundation in Manila. She is still available for TV or movie work, provided the role is in consonance with her present life.
The Woman Without A Face is a candid, tell-all book which only Pilar’s renewed Christian spirit could have made possible. It tells of her rise to fame, her many loves, her failed marriage, her attempted suicide, her renewal as a Christian and eventual marriage to Pastor Leo Bernas (who is unlike any of the rich and/or famous, glamorous men-about-town she had before).
In her words: “I never thought the Lord looks at your heart, and that my fame was meant for a greater purpose. The Lord does not look at your mistakes, if you ask for forgiveness for all the sins you have committed in this life. He will always forgive you, purify, cleanse and restore you to achieve His original purpose for you.”
Read the book and, it is hoped, that it will also help you find your true face.
Woman Without A Face is available at National Book Store, or you could call the Pilar Pilapil Foundation at 231-6481.
