ea Salonga gushes about her husband-to-be, the kids they'll have, and the life they're going to share.

When asked to spell my name, I usually say, "Lea as in Lea Salonga," and instantly I get a knowing nod. I've found that that's easier than actually spelling it. After headlining Miss Saigon in 1989, Lea Salonga became a household name in the Philippines and around the world. Suddenly everybody was interested in her. For a time, most young girls wanted to be like her, and almost all grown guys wanted to introduce her to their mom. When she won a Tony Award in 1991 for outstanding performance by an actress in a musical and in her acceptance speech spoke about growing up in Manila, it seemed that every Filipino's heart was just about to burst with pride.

But in my home Lea Salonga became a household name way before that. I grew up listening to her powerful 10-year-old chords singing, "I am but a small voice." Years later Lea's mom, Ligaya, whom Lea her-self describes as "strong-willed and matigas," is telling me matter-of-factly from across a restaurant booth how cute she thought that album was. I fondly remember its bright yellow label and the many times I spent singing along to it and I could only smile in agreement.

The formidable Mommy Ligaya then proceeds to tell me, not without a tinge of pride of course, that at three years old, her daughter was already very articulate. "We'd go to the park and she'd ask me all the names of the animals," she recalls. Now if my own mother were there, it would surely be her turn to agree. Back in Angeles City, Pampanga, circa the early 80's, where Lea and her brother spent their early years, Mommy Ligaya always brought Lea to the bank where my mom worked as a teller. My mom recalls people naturally gravitating toward a very young Lea, and never failing to impress them with her smarts. "Hindi pa siya sikat noon ha," Mommy Ligaya had to add.

Stars in her eyes
Now at 32, Lea obviously is still smart and articulate. When she talks, in facts, he reveals her theater roots-every word is a sharp enunciation. But there is something quite different about her. You look at her and it's something you can't quite place. Then it dawns on me: She's blushing! The entire time we are in conversation, she glows with a pretty flush. When she walks into the room, her eyes twinkle in thrilled anticipation. When she talk about her coming wedding on January 10 or about her fiancé, Robert Chien, also 32, her words come out as either excited exclamations or giddy proclamations. All with the biggest smile.

Lea met Rob, a manager for a technology-based outsource company on customer care, at a time when she wasn't sure there was really someone for her. Of that period, she says, "Nadidisilusion na ako sa pag-ibig. I was in L.A. alone, I was thinking, sige, concentrate na muna ako sa trabaho ko, bahala na ano ang mangyari. Nagdasal ako sa Diyos siyempre. Sabi ko sa Kanya, "Hindi koa alam kung ano ang plamo Mo para sa akin. Nandito ako kinaikangang kong matutong magmaneho at maglakbay nang ganito kalayo para magtrabaho, ano ang plano Mo para sa akin?'I didn't have to wait very long for an answer. A few months later I started dating Rob. Sinagot ng Diyos ang dasal ko."

When they were introduced, Rob didn't know about the Lea Salonga who has starred in several Broadway shows, has won awards, has made musical records, was named one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people, and has performed for Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, and former US President George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton. "He knew Aladdin but that was it," Lea says, but she welcomed the fact that he didn't know much about her. "It made me less wary and less stressed out. I didn't have to worry, Ano kaya iniisip nito? We were a very normal couple. We go to the movies, we go out to dinner, and we eat a lot. We love stay home to watch DVDs."

The One
The couple has been dating for two years. They had only been seeing each other several months when they decided to get engaged. That's how confident Lea is that this guy is The One. "Not to knock my previous boyfriends dahil lahat sila mababait at gwapo. Secret kung gaano kadami iyon. I think all of them were attractive in their own way. There was something in each of them that drew me to them, be it sense of humor, personality, or intelligence. With Rob, I thought long and hard with what made him different," she says. Her conclusion: "He's like an amalgamation of every trait that I loved in every man I dated."

Obviously very much in love, she offers to enumerate everything she adores about her man. "He's really good-looking, very family-oriented, very Christian, and very God-fearing. As in we pray together, we feel comfortable praying together. He's mabait, matalino, hardworking, extremely affectionate. He's not stingy with his feelings. Very open, very demonstrative, not to the point naman na PDA na sa mall na nakakasuka na. Hindi naman ganoon. Always with propriety, always with respect. And he's the only guy that really showed respect for my mom."

Meeting Ligaya
Oh yes, her mom. There is that very important issue. Lea describes herself to be a person who values harmony and balance in her world, so it matters a lot to her that the people she loves are all in sync with each other.

Apparently, when it came to dating, Mommy Ligaya always played the disapproving mother. "As sad as it is to say, she never really approved of anyone. Ngayon lang kasi mabait yung lalaki," says Lea. Maybe it helped that Rob asked her mom first before he actually knelt on one knee with lots of candles and flowers to propose to her. "Every day my mom would call me, asking if he asked me yet. Kunwari calm yan pero excited yan," Gerard likes him. "Kahit ang kapatid ko, na napakataray to many of my boyfriends, found a lot of common ground with him because they play a lot of golf. Hay salamat, they have something in common na hindi ako kasali!"

The big day
Clearly Lea is equally excited with the details of her wedding. She says she and Rob are very hands-on with all the fine points, from the ceremony to the reception, down to the transportation. And so are their friends. "Everyone who is involved in the wedding, including my photographer, has all been part of my life security forces. So it's really a production put together by a group of friends. It has a very personal touch."

Lea gushingly illustrates her vision of the wedding: "We're definitely getting married in a church. Catholic. We learned in an engaged encounter na importante na sa bahay ng Diyos ang kasal. He has to be an element of the wedding. It's not just husband and wife, kasama rin ang Diyos. It's a triangle. It's going to be somewhere in California. I want to keep it as private as possible. We're estimating around 200 to 225 people. The colors will be ivory and cranberry. Deep, deep red. I love that color! The flowers are mga black beauty roses. It's very Western, but in terms of the clothing, the choices we made are leaning toward Asian influences."

Very independent, Lea has been living on her own since she was 28. "So sanay ako mag-isa. Mas sanay ako mag-isa kaysa may kasama sa bahay. I'm used tot aking care of myself, by myself." Is she daunted by the thought of sharing space with a husband? "Rob is very easy. Para siyang tubig. Madaling pakisamahan. Masarap siyang kasama. Sa kanya very tranquil. Ang sarap pala magmahal nang ganito. Ganito pala yung sinasabi ng mga matatanda na pagmamahal sa isa't-isa."

Baby talk
So is she or isn't she? "I got engaged daw because I was pregnant. That was a year and a half ago. Ang tagal namang buntis noon." Actually having lost a few pounds, she ends the discussion with, "Imposible yon. Papatayin ako ng nanay ko pag nabuntis ako! if I were, it wouldn't be a reason for me to get married."

Of course she wants children, but not within the first year of being Mrs. Robert Chien, she says. "I'd like a little time first. I'd like to enjoy being a newlywed for a year muna." After a year Lea would be thrilled to have two or three little tykes running around the house. If she had her way, she'd like a girls first. "Mas madali daw palakihin ang babae sa lalake. Just to get me started." Even Mommy Ligaya would like for her eldest to be girl. "Because she had a girl too," Lea says. "According to her it was much easier raising me when I was little. She'd leave me alone and I'd find something to entertain myself."

Lea would also like for the Salonga-Chien home to be a bilingual household. "I would like to speak to my kids in Filipino and for Rob to speak to them in English." She plans to expose them to a lot of things, including their Filipino roots. "There is like no way they will not know. They're going to end up looking Filipino. I already know this. Rob looks Pinoy, I am Pinoy, they are going to come back to the Philippines, hindi sila mapagkakamalang Intsik o hapon o anuman," she laughs.

In particular, Lea wants her brood to have that brand of family values unique to Filipinos. "I have to impart respect for parents, grandparents, and each other. You make a lot of friends, but these are the only siblings who will be with you your whole life." What she won't be passing on: "I don't like the chauvinistic stereotype that a lot of the men here tend to carry."

Lea foresees herself being the disciplinarian. "As a mom I think I'm going to be pretty strict. That's how I was brought up eh, with discipline and structure." Like her mom, she will also be strongly encouraging. "I'll probably push my kids if I see potential in them, because I don't ever want them to say that I wish you pushed me more. But I'd be every discerning on how hard I push my kids." Lea's positive that becoming mom is a role she will take on quite well. "I think I'll be pretty good."

Post-wedding plans
"Marriage first obviously," says Lea, well aware of how priorities will shift. "That's my life we're talking about. My career is important, it's also important to him. Both our career are important to each other. I'm happy that I'm going to marry someone who's extremely supportive of what I do and of how much I love what I do."

But career projects will have to wait for the meantime. "For the first quarter of next year, I just want to be married," Lea says with a laugh. "Hindi muna ako tatanggap ng projects. Depende kung may opportunity na kailangan talagang gawin then I have to make a decision. Now every decision that I make about work includes him. Kasi once you're married na, it's no longer just about you. It's with another person as a unit. If it affects the whole unit, it has to be discussed. Ngayon pa lang we're starting to practice already, and we're doing pretty good."

L.A. will be home base for Rob and Lea because that's where he works. She will be moving into the house that. She proudly shares, Rob purchased while only in his twenties. "Now it's just a matter of making it mine also. Naumpisahan ko na. I put a lot of pictures, prints na may flowers. He's welcoming the thought of my giving it a feminine touch. When we're married, his bachelor's pad is going to look very girly by the time I finish," she says with a grin.

She plans to hire a housekeeper once a week too. "I had one in New York. She came every two weeks, and the feeling after she left was sooo good! It was crisp and clean." Lea confesses that she can live in a house that may not be very tidy but what she cannot stand is disorganized laundry. "Pag laundry ko OC ako. I love doing laundry. I'm one of the very few. It's very Zen for me. I like folding it a certain way. I get very anal with my laundry. It has to be white, bleach strong soap, hot water. If it's warm, separate pa iyan. Hihiwalayin ko pa iyan."

Mutual respect and deveotion, says Lea, are prime ingredients that make her relationship with Rob work. It doesn't matter who gets the final say. "If there's a vital decision to be made, we just discussion it and go with whatever is the best option. It ends there." Even when it comes to money matters, Lea claims they're both adept. "Right now I just put all savings in the band. Everything now is a mutual discussion. It's not a much as, ay, I have money in the bank, I can afford this. It's more, Can we afford it? Isip mo tandem na hindi na individual."

Lea Salonga has reached the point in her life where she is very much ready to settle down. She has lived a full single life, has achieved a lot as an individual and is very much self-assured, and has no regrets. When asked about her outlook now in life, Lea Gladly answers: "One, alam ko na may Diyos. That I have no doubt about. Two, that I'm stronger than I think I am, so alam ko na whatever I take on in life I will be able to do. I also know what I can or cannot do. Three, my life is filled with a lot of love. I'm just extremely thankful that I've been blessed with some really, really great blessings in life. I'm getting married to the man of my dreams. My career is going pretty well and I have a great family, and life is really good." - -