By Walter Ang
April-May 2010 issue
Garage Magazine
As a testament to Milby's professionalism, he stands by for the sun to reappear just like the rest of the crew. The stylists adjust his clothes. The make-up artist wipes his face with tissue paper. He is polite all throughout. No complaints. In order not to waste time, he answers this interview with all of these things going on.
When told he is one of Garage Magazine's picks as a sexy man for this issue, he stares blankly for a split second and the beginnings of a blush ever so slightly creep into his cheeks. You can almost see this thought balloon: "Who? Me? Sexy?"
The girls at the shoot nod silently with gusto. Obviously, someone who is sexy and doesn't even think he is automatically becomes sexier. This appeal is amplified by the way Milby's quiet, steady drive matches the heat that day: there is silent intensity behind those eyes that can be disarming for anyone who first meets him.
It's that same drive that has carried him through from a struggling newcomer to the showbiz industry, taking the bus everyday from Bulacan where he stayed with relatives to Manila for auditions, to his status now as an established celebrity with movies, TV shows and music records to his credit and audiences swooning over him. (By now, small crowds have formed near the photo shoot and occasionally hoot out "I love you Sam!").
Success can be sexy, of course. Milby's schedule is packed. He was actually already in the building where we are at that morning, but had to rush back to the TV studios for a live guesting before coming back again. He's just recently wrapped filming the movie "Babe I Love You" (which should be out in theaters by the time you read this) starring opposite Anne Curtis.
He plays a "straightlaced architecture teacher who is strict with his students and who knows exactly what he wants." As usually is the case with romantic features, along will come the character of Curtis who isn't what the man wants and will throw everything Milby's character knows into a blender and make him fall in love with her.
What does Milby find sexy in a woman? "I like women's bodies!" he grins like a schoolboy. "I look at women's eyes and lips. I like a woman's body the way it is. Showing some skin is fine, but I don't like it when they wear very revealing clothes. I like to think that my woman is for my eyes only. I'm not so much into seeing tattoos on a woman. I mean, it may look good when they're young, but imagine a tattoo on a 50 or 60 year old woman."
He admits, however, that for a while, he really liked seeing body piercings on women. He eventually outgrew it. "A lot of people equate sexiness with the body or with clothes or adornments like tattoos or body piercings," he muses. "And of course, who wouldn't like a nice body to look at? I think it's sexy when a woman can dress up for certain occasions or be in jeans and a shirt for other things and still look great. But beyond the physical, I think sexiness is really in how one carries oneself."
So how does he pull off a sexy look for himself? Again the self-deprecating aw-shucks demeanor kicks in. "I have no idea how to dress myself. I'd rather be in jeans and shirts all the time!" he laughs.
He reiterates that confidence is one of the key points in achieving the status known as sexy. "You don't have to be maporma. I mean, look at someone like Johnny Depp, he wouldn't be considered as someone who is a very glamorous or sexy dresser, but I'm sure men and women alike will agree that he's sexy."
In order to carry clothes or yourself well, you need, at the very least, a fit body to work with. Milby has been working out. Anyone who passes along EDSA has already seen his billboard wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. "But because of my schedule lately, I haven't been able to," he laments. "Otherwise, I usually work out for an hour twice a week."
He doesn't have a diet but tries to watch what he eats. Try being the operative word. "I like to eat. There's always a lot of food where I work and fans usually give food as gifts and I eat their gifts out of courtesy," he says, trying to his big guilty smirk.
All that talk about food triggers a discussion about scents. "Vanilla," he says. "I like the smell of vanilla on a woman." For himself, he prefers Clinique Happy, Curve and Giorgio Armani.
For a rush, however, Milby confesses to a love for motorbiking. "I like the thrill, the danger. There aren't a lot of places here where I can motorbike so I recently sold off my Yamaha R6 Cross Rocket and exchanged it for a Nissan 350Z convertible that I'm going to paint either black or silver," he says.
The sun's come out and signals are given to start the photo shoot. "So speed is sexy?" someone asks Milby as he starts posing for the camera. He winks and nods, "I like women who drive fast."