Finally, San Pablo City beauty queen-actress Azenith Briones is back in circulation to appear on TV and movies.
Azenith's reappearance doesn't come easy, though.
Before she was discharged from Bridges of Hope, a rehab center in Paranaque City, where she stayed for six months, initially against her will, she had to undergo a series of self-reflection and group dynamics.
"Ewan ko ba, nang kunin ako ng apat na lalaki para dalhin sa rehab, hindi ako kinabahan. Sunod lang ako nang sunod sa kanila (I don't know but when four men forcibly got me out of my house to be brought to the rehab I wasn't nervous. I just followed them)," narrated Azenith in an exclusive interview in Makati City last week before three of us movie reporters that included Obette Serrano and Erlinda Rapadas T.
Briones said there was no court order of her commitment to the facility but she didn't complain. "Naghanda pa ako para sa pagsama ko sa kanila (I even prepared in going with them)," the actress recalled.
As a matter of fact, some of her children were around during the pickup.
When she was in BoH already, Azenith recounted, she was made to sign a waiver that she willfully agreed to be admitted at the center but initially, she begged off but later was convinced.
"Kasi nga, magkakausap kami ng mga anak ko (It's because me and my children could talk heart to heart)," smiled the former 1975 Mutya ng Pilipinas 2nd runner-up and Miss Photogenic.
True enough, in their group dynamics in the program of the institution, Azenith has the chance to come face-to-face with her four kids.
"Ngayon, naliwanagan na sila kung bakit mahigpit ako sa kanila dahil mahal ko sila. Para sa kanila rin kung bakit istrikto ako sa kabuhayan namin. Sabi nila, fifty-fifty kami pero hindi puwede 'yon, buhay pa ako, sixty-forty dapat. Kung ibibigay ko agad sa kanila ng mana, e, kung maubos, sa akin din naman sila aasa. Ngayon, dapat silang matutong magnegosyo kaya sinasanay ko sila. 'Yon ang dahilan kung bakit dinidisiplina ko sila (They now understand why I am strict with them because I care for them about our business. They want 50-50 which I declined because I am still alive. It should be 60-40. If I would distribute their inheritance, what if they lose them, they would run to me. At this point, they need to learn to run the businesses that's why I am training and disciplining them)," said Azenith.
Inside the facility, Briones had to be disciplined herself like waking up and hearing noises as early as wee hours.
"Iba ang training the loob ng rehab pero hindi naman ako addict tulad ng ibinibintang nila sa akin (The training inside the rehab was a culture shock for me but I wasn't an addict which they accused me of)," Briones.
Most of Azenith and her children's properties are in Laguna.
According to her, she could have charged people in court but her children will be implicated so she just shut up.
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