Angeline Quinto recalls how ‘Star Power’ helped her reclaim control of her Sampaloc home

July 30 ------ If there's one story Angeline Quinto never gets tired of telling, it's how much her life changed after she won Star Power. But for her, that victory was never really about the success she is enjoying today – it was about how it saved her mother and the home they were once forced to give up.

At the press conference for her concert Aquinse, Angeline looked back on the months leading up to her win, when her Mama Bob needed heart surgery, and their family home in the Sampaloc district of Manila was on the line.

According to Angeline, she almost walked away from the competition at the time. She pushed through, she said, not for herself but for her Mama Bob, who needed a permanent pacemaker. "Alam mo, isa 'yan sa lagi kong shini-share nang paulit-ulit sa mga kakilala ko. Ang hindi ko pagsasawaang ikuwento, siguro, 'yung time na bago po ako manalo ng Star Power, dahil 'yan yung mga panahon na muntik na po akong mag-quit doon sa contest," she said. "Dahil kailangan po talagang operahan ang Mama Bob sa puso at lagyan ng permanent pacemaker, at wala po akong pambayad sa ospital," she added.

One of the many things she had to give up back then was the house she grew up in. To raise money for the operation, Angeline said they had to pawn their property in Sampaloc. "So kinailangan kong isangla ang lupa at bahay namin sa Sampaloc, Manila, kung saan ako lumaki at kung saan kami nakatira ng Mama ko," she said.

Even as she was ready to quit the competition, Angeline said she believes certain people were sending her way to keep her going. "At siguro may mga tao talagang ginamit si Lord para kumbinsihin ako na 'wag iwanan ang Star Power at magpatuloy. Kaya siguro hindi rin ako nawalan ng pag-asa na 'wag iwanan talaga 'yung Star Power," she said.

The singer explained that the biggest reason she wanted to stop was the thought of leaving her mother alone in the hospital with no one to look after her. "Kasi nung mga panahon na 'yun, talaga ang nasa isip ko, walang magbabantay sa nanay ko sa ospital. Ayoko na pagbalik ko ng hospital, wala na ang Mama Bob," she said.

Angeline described that chapter as the hardest thing she has ever gone through, but also the one that led to the biggest blessing of her life. "So 'yun ang pinakamahirap na nangyari sa buhay ko. Pero sobra-sobra, alam mo 'yun, sa napakalaking problema na 'yun, after ilang buwan, napakalaking regalo naman 'yung ibinigay sa akin ng Panginoon, at sobra-sobra pa," she said. Winning the competition, she said, allowed her to settle all their debts, pay the doctors who operated on her mother, and take back the home they had pawned.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com