or most of his young life, Ron Allan “Ronian” Poe—the 22-year-old son of movie icon Fernando Poe Jr.—had no inkling of his dad's real stature in showbiz.

“Siyempre kasi,” Ronian explains, “hindi naman niya sinasabi na ‘Gusto ako, ganyan ako.' When I was young, normal lang talaga. Inaalagaan niya ako, binibigyan niya ako ng baon. ‘Tapos, he'd tell me, ‘I have work,' gano'n.”

So when he had the chance to join his dad in last year's election campaign, when FPJ ran for president, Ronian was astonished at the reception that his dad got: “I was overwhelmed no'ng nakita ko kung gaano siya kamahal ng tao.! Nakikita mo talaga sa mga mata nila na they're sincere talaga for my dad. Hindi lang porke't artista siya. Alam ko kasi, ang dami niyang natutulungan. ‘Tapos, alam ng tao'yon.”

Obviously influenced by his parent's craft—his mom in former actress Anna Marin—Ronian informed them early on that he also wanted to try his luck in showbiz. “But my Papa said to finish school first,” Ronian recalls.

Anna was also against the idea at first. “I told him, sana ‘wag na. But he said he wants to try, he wants to do commercials.”

Now that Ronian has a degree (Bachelor of Science in business administration, major in marketing management, from De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde), he wants to pursue his original dream: acting. He's thinking of going to the New York Film Academy for a short course in directing.

His other passions include wakeboarding (a new form of water sport similar to water skiing but using a single board instead of skis) and various forms of martial arts like arnis, capoeira (a Brazilian martial art), jitkundo, jujitsu, and kickboxing. He originally got involved in various sports to lose weight, but now he simply enjoys them.

Anna says raising Ronian was an easy task: “He's always been a good child, a good son. He's obedient. He's never been in trouble with anything. No vice! Walang nagging problema growing up, except nga he was so fat!”

It look him a year and a half to slim down, Ronian adds: “I go to the gym every day, and five years na akong walang rice.”

Living with his family—mom Anna, half-brother Bryan Francisco, and Jing Espiritu, who has been the two boys' stepdad in the past four years—has grounded Ronian.

But now that he's been exposed to the public as FPJ's son, Ronian has been compared to his dad nonstop. To this, Anna says. “We know naman there's only one FPJ. Ronian knows that he is not his father, he is just his father's son.”

For himself, Ronian says, “Of course, I'd like to be like my father, but just follow he footsteps, di ba? Hindi ko pipilitin ‘yong sarili ko na dapat parang FPJ ako. I have my own identity.”

In the end, all his mom wants for Ronian is this: “That in the future, when he has a family of his own, siyempre to be a good father, as well as a good husband. That's my ultimate wish and dream for my children.”

- -