MANILA, Philippines – Jericho Rosales doesn’t like to dwell on externals. “What’s inside is just as important, if not, even more important.” Ironic, for someone whose latest advertisement on television for Skyflakes Fit has the camera focused on his, okay, gorgeous bod.

Saying yes to the ad gave him sleepless nights because of the skin he had to bare. “But they explained the story board to me, and I saw that it made sense, so I said okay.”

Besides, he tells this writer that Skyflakes was part of a childhood wish list. “It was one of the products I had hoped to endorse one day.”

Fitness to him is a lifestyle, and Echo, as he is known to his fans, appears to embody the totality of it—mind, body and spirit. He watches what he eats in the sense that he takes everything in moderation. “I don’t believe in depriving myself of the good things.” But after doing this latest commercial, he admits that his awareness for fiber has gone up notches higher.

This young man seems to have boundless energy. He admits to being hyperactive. “On any given day I have four or five activities going on. I like to keep moving. Even if you place me in a confined space, like say, waiting for a take, I keep myself occupied by reading, working on the computer, doing jump rope, reading my script.”

The man is in constant motion, more so on his off-days. When he is not working, Rosales goes swimming, boxing, or skating. “When I have two days off, I make sure to head for the beach and surf.” The man goes with the flow and heads where the waves are—Zambales, La Union and Bales are favorites.

Weekends he says, are also spent with his eight-year-old son, who he dotes on. “We go bowling or skateboarding. I recently took him surfing and though he was scared at the start, he eventually enjoyed himself very much,” the proud father says. “I enjoy fatherhood. I just wish I had more time to spend with him.”

Rosales clearly has a soft spot for children. He helps out the Shining Light Foundation by raising funds through a charity surf clinic for blood donations and medicine for the National Children’s Hospital (NCH).

“I found out that blood is a constant need and so I’d like to do my part, even in a little way, to help their cause.”

A stickler for clean living, he says that he drinks “very, very rarely” and doesn’t smoke. “I used to, but I quit a long, long time ago because there really are no benefits to it.”

Rosales says he’d rather take in a movie or dine out with friends when his schedule permits. “I don’t really like to party. Acting, music and surfing are what keep my soul alive.”

His life has “inspiring” written all over it. He likes to talk about his humble beginnings as a boy growing up in Bula, Camarines Sur. His childhood memories, he shares, consist of moments spent in the mountains and farmlands. It is precisely this, and the fact that he has always had a supportive family, that keeps him grounded. “You can only work so much, so you need to know when to say ‘Enough.’”

Rosales is very passionate about his faith, and he says that it is this spirituality that has brought him this far. “The greatest lesson I can share is that my life has brought me to places I never wanted to be, but my faith has brought me out and saved me from those depths. If you let Him take hold of your life, then everything will just follow.

“Since I was seven, I had been praying for a house for my family because we just lived in other people’s houses—we were caretakers of land. In high school, I felt like: What is there to look forward to in college? I went to a public school for elementary and high school. But then I became an actor, I won this contest, and suddenly, all that I wanted to be was put in one package. Whenever I play a role, I really enjoy it to the hilt. ”

Rosales believes that all the things he has gone through were used for a higher purpose. “The younger generation closely observe and mimic what you do so I really need to be careful about the way I live, what I do and what I say. That’s my reason for being here. It’s what keeps me moving and what gives me joy.”

At the end of the day, externals do matter. In Jericho Rosales’ life, fitness in all areas is bliss. He radiates it from the inside out.