“I will have a lighter crown custom-made,” Joyce Penas Pilarsky
remarked as her solution to wearing the heavy fifth crown she received as Mrs. Global Ecotourism 2017 for a parade.
Recently arrived from Davao City, the ever-youthful Pilarsky was also honored as Asia’s Top Fashion and Jewelry Designer and Outstanding Lady Entrepreneur. The dinner-awards show took place at the 30th Global Excellence and Global Achiever 2017 Awards at the Pinnacle Hotel.
As Reyna Emperatriz of the Santacruzan of the 60th anniversary celebration of Sta. Rita de Cascia Parish, Pilarsky will have to walk through Philamlife Homes in Quezon City, and she described the crown as “top heavy.” The practical lady that she is, Pilarsky found a solution that would make the long walk easier.
Pilarsky is the statuesque and people-oriented Jocelyn Javellana Penas, who studied Education and majored in English at the St. Paul’s College Manila in 1976. Her batchmates are Mass Communication graduates Rosario “Charo” Santos and Jean Saburit.
Except in Practice Teaching at St. Paul’s Pasig with a student who became actress Cherie Gil, Jocelyn never got to be a professional teacher as the local fashion world claimed her as model before Philippine Airlines and then Saudia Airlines took her as flight stewardess.
HARD WORK DAYS. Living reality? It is more impression than intimacy. Her status is wrongly perceived as “a bed of roses,” and Pilarsky corrects this gross misimpression:
“My younger years were not easy as people know it. I faced so many challenges and trials when Dad passed on at 52. I am where I am now because I worked hard. It was not given to me. When everybody had a good time, I worked and studied from morning until night. I took care of everybody especially my family. I am a very loving and caring person; I give a lot of love and passion in all that I do.”
Joyce later married German national Gunter Pilarsky. By then, she had been able to improve her finances and accumulate properties through sheer hard work. She even turned visual artist and sold her oil paintings to multinational passengers to augment her regular earnings.
Pilarsky, like every woman, loves to feel beautiful. With her impeccable taste for clothes and accessories, she does not go out unless she is well-dressed. But before she was a Best Dressed Awardee, she was first a woman for others who supported orphanages, built schools for street children, donated libraries for ethnic minorities and many other unpublicized charitable undertakings.
Still, it took her more than two decades before taking the circuitous path to be a virtual teacher. In fact, she could not exercise her profession as a teacher because she had to work for her family’s sake. She is the only star teacher with a total of five beauty pageant crowns to her name. She won Mrs. Philippines Germany 2000, Mrs. Philippines for Mrs. Asia International 2014, Mrs. Asia International Global 2014, and now as Mrs. Ecotourism International 2017. And that’s not counting the no-crown victory at the Miss MBA Ateneo Graduate School for Business 1982.
Now she is a Renaissance Woman of sorts as a philanthropist, couture designer, wellness guru, book author, beauty queen with five crowns, Doctor of Humanities Honoris Causa, Doctor of Alternative Medicine, Best Dressed awardee and, surprise of surprises, full-length feature actress! She even consented to adapt the screen name of Star Javellana.
VENTURING INTO FILMMAKING. Why did she change her brand after working so hard to earn the global fame as Joyce Penas Pilarsky? Dreaming of Hollywood, Pilarsky knows she must penetrate the glamour field somehow in her ambition. She found an entry point as Star Javellana.
A feng shui specialist had advised her that her current name would not be auspicious so she decided to adapt what she wanted to be — a star plus the maiden name of her beloved mother from Iloilo.
The role in director Anthony Hernandez’s new advocacy film, New Generation Heroes, came by sheer right timing. She lost no effort to grab the role that finally made her teacher, which is set to screen on September 26.
Javellana plays widowed model public school Science teacher in Tarlac, the mother of a cerebral palsy sufferer and a teenager with gay orientation. Besides her desire to be a film actress, Joyce took a series of acting workshops to prepare for the challenging role.
Her closing scene shows her dysfunctional family on a trip, navigating the picturesque, limestone-walled river of Minalungao National Park in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija, on a long bamboo raft with a thatched roof. This is a happy family despite their underprivileged situation.
The drama feature tackles the lives of three other teachers and dramatizes the highs and lows of mentorship, making it life’s most generous profession.
Aiko Melendez plays a teacher in South Korea that required immersion in different universities there and actual photography. Javellana plays a cameo role in the sequence.
Jao Mapa, on the other hand, plays a teacher who pushes a kariton full of donated books and teaches children how to read, write and count. Shades of CNN Hero Efren Penaflorida.
And the venerable Anita Linda, who dedicated her life to mentoring, is granted a lifetime achievement award upon her retirement.
Produced by Tiger Films with Ryan Tibay as co-writer and Alvin Viola as cinematographer, the film is directed by Hernandez. He is also the helmer of A Passion of Journey with Mateo Guidicelli, No Read No Write with Precious Lara Quigaman, Buhay Nanay D’Filipino Chapter with Bianca Manalo, and Tell Me Your Dreams with Aiko Melendez.
Javellana recalls her initial foray into filmmaking as a “wonderful experience.” “I like Anthony’s patience, understanding and consideration. He’s very supportive, showing it by not shouting. That makes him easy to work with,” she shares.
Pilarsky/Javellana finally realized her dream to be an actress. Next destination: Hollywood!
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Star Javellana: Living reality
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