MANILA, Philippines - Dawn Zulueta parries a question from a TV reporter about Gretchen Barretto, with whom she earlier had a very public tiff.

The reporter asked if Dawn has heard the rumor about Gretchen breaking up with partner Tonyboy Cojuangco

"I heard," Dawn says, "but I have no time for chismis anymore. I'd rather focus on my family and my advocacy."

Deftly, she draws attention to the ICanServe Foundation and C-Network's early breast cancer detection campaign.

Dawn is the narrator of ICanServe's new breast self-exam instructional video in Tagalog, "Ating Dibdibin." (Lea Salonga narrates the English version, "Take Your Breast Cancer to Heart.")

The cause hits close to home. "I recently lost a friend to breast cancer," Dawn says, "and a childhood friend is still coping with it."

Her own scare

She herself had a scare five years ago: "The doctor told me that, based on the x-ray, it was probably Stage 3. I freaked out."

That experience made her realize that early detection is crucial. And now, she notes, the Tagalog version can help bring the message to the grassroots."

Dawn says she is trying to convince her husband, Rep. Anton Lagdameo of the second district of Davao del Norte, to sponsor an ICanServe seminar in their area.

She works closely with barangay health workers on this. "It's important to educate the indigenous people of Mindanao on the subject," she says. "It's information that can save lives."

Her socio-civic work, Dawn says, came "with maturity and fate ... I married a man with the same ideals as mine."

Coincidentally, she is currently doing a film, Jose Javier Reyes' "Magkaibigan," about two friends whose lives are affected by cancer.

Produced and top-billed by Jinggoy Estrada, the film is an entry in this December's Metro Manila Film Festival.

"People say it's inspired by Daboy (the late Rudy Fernandez)," she says. "I play the wife of Boyet (Christopher de Leon), who portrays a cancer patient."

E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com