Welcome to a blog dedicated to enthusiasts of the colorful and exciting world of Betty La Fea. Philippine's "I Love Betty La Fea" soap opera is based on the Columbian telenovela ,Yo soy Betty, la fea, that has spawned over 20 editions worldwide. This website has been established to offer a portal connection for fans of any Betty La Fea adaptations around the globe. The Betty La Fea saga is not just a franchise but a universal organization for everybody to share their country's culture and sensibilities.
Contributed by: Faye Bettina
Source: fayebettina.multiply.com
In the original version of YO SOY BETTY LA FEA, Betty’s love interest was Armando Saenz Mendoza. He was the son of Roberto Mendoza and Margarita Saenz de Mendoza. His younger sister Camila lived permanently with her husband in Switzerland. Armando Mendoza was engaged with Marcela Valencia, a childhood sweetheart and co-owner of Eco Moda.
Eco Moda was a fashion design company owned by two families – the Mendozas and the Valencias, with Roberto Mendoza as the President/CEO. When Roberto retired, Armando replaced his father for the presidency. Well. It wasn’t an automatic replacement. The board members made their votes, of course. The other candidate for presidency was
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Daniel Valencia, the brother of Marcela (Since their parents have already passed away and Marcela wasn’t interested in running the whole company. Marcela and Daniel’s sister, Maria Beatriz, wasn’t interested in the business. She was just busy spending her money for her own vanity.). Daniel was determined to get the presidency, but it was Armando who got the most votes – his mom’s, his best friend’s (Mario Calderon) and his fiance’s (Marcela) – while Daniel got only the vote of Roberto and Maria Beatriz.
Armando was the kind of man almost every girls dream of because of his looks and his status in society. However, he is the kind of man that would break every girl’s heart. He would easily make a girl, or a woman, fall for him by his looks, his moves and his sweet talking. But he would easily dump her for another. Most often, he would have relationships with several women at the same period of time. But, none of them was serious, except for Marcela.
However, aside from the models and female celebrities who gather around him like birds, the others were in so much fear of him. He was only charming with those beautiful and sexy ladies, but a monster in front of the ‘ordinary’ employees. His shout would make one start and tremble, especially when that person makes mistake or says something stupid. He was an arrogant and domineering boss… until he met Betty.
Well, he was arrogant and domineering with her at first. But, her efficiency, intelligence, diligence and loyalty made him change his attitude toward her. He respected her and even protected and defended her from his own girlfriend. He made some huge mistakes along the way, by using her and abusing her trust for his own self-interests. However, he learned his lesson from these mistakes. In the end, he had fallen deeply in love with Betty, and had changed into a better person – a lot better than who he used to be.
Armando Mendoza was portrayed by Jorge Enrique Abello. JEA is a versatile Colombian actor who had also made movies and soaps in other countries near Colombia. He has been recognized by award giving bodies. Among his telenovelas were the original version of “La Viuda de Blanco” (The Widow in white) 1996, as Dr. Dimas Pantoja, opposite Yolandita Monge as Haydée Blanco, Las Ejecutivas (The Executives) 1996, La Mujer en el Espejo (The Woman in the Mirror) 1997, Perro amor (Dog Love) 1998, and the leading man in the original version of Betty La Fea (Betty, the ugly) 1999, opposite leading lady Ana Maria Orozco, Julius 1999, Eco moda (Echo Fashion) 2001, La Costeña y el Cachaco (The woman from the coastline & the Cachaque man) (2003), Anita no te Rajes (Anita don't give up) 2004, opposite leading lady Ivonne Montero & Merlina, Mujer Divina" (2005-06)& En los tacones de Eva" (In Eva's heels) (2006). In this last soap, he won a best actor award.
Beside soap operas or telenovelas and movies, Jorge Enrique Abello is also a theatre actor, director and a UNICEF ambassador. He played Horacio in the 2005-2006 play “HAMLET”.
He’s also a very athletic person who enjoys scuba diving and horse-backridng. His fascinations are books, artworks, dogs and religion (especially Hinduism and Buddhism). He was very imaginative and creative ever since he was a kid.
JEA was born on February 28, 1968 in Bogota, Colombia; divorced to Marcela Salazar,
and a doting father to a beautiful 8-year-old Candida (Candy). The last thing I know of him is that he’s been dating Colombian model and actress, Natalia Jerez.
In the Philippine version, Armando Mendoza is Armando Solis portrayed by the Philippine Blockbuster King, John Lloyd Cruz. Notice their similiraties in looks?
Image: Tony's International Bettybase
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8 comments:
Actually, Armando's full name was Armando Mendoza Sáenz, not Armando Saenz Mendoza, right? It's my understanding that the Spanish-speaking peoples have the father's surname come first, followed by the mother's. I know it's the opposite in Portugal and Brazil, though.
Really? In the Philippines we always put the mother's maiden name at the middle then the father's surname last, I'm not sure if that had been adapted here before, when Spaniards came to the Philippines
That's interesting. I would have thought that you'd use the Spanish way, not the Portuguese.
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese maritime explorer who, while in the service of the Spanish Crown, tried to find a westward route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. then was killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. from wikipedia --- haha ironic :D
That's a very good observation. It's true that in Colombia his full name is written Armando Mendoza Saenz. But, since, the blog is specially made for Filipino readers, it's just proper to use the international way of writing names. Anyway, whatever way it is written, I think that the blog made it clear that his father is Mendoza and his mother is Saenz. And most importantly, the goal of the blog is to give more info about the character and the actor who portrayed it.
i appreciate your sharing of thoughts guys! We established this site not just to cater the fans of Philippine's Betty La Fea but as well as a portal for other Betty fans from other countries. The Betty La Fea saga is not just a franchise but an organization to give opportunity for everyone to share their knowledge, cultures, and ideals. :)
fayebettina, I understand completely, and I hope that you don't think that I was being critical or trying to correct you. I was just interested to learn that the custom for matronyms is different in the Philippines. I didn't know that matronyms were even used in the Philippines at all, because none of my Pinoy/Pinay friends use them, but perhaps that's just because they know that most Americans don't use them.
sirlizard, don't worry! I never felt that way. In fact, I appreciated your observation. I just gave a response to it....
Well, when we introduce ourselves to others we just say our first name and family name (which is our father's surname). But, when we write our name on a document, we usually include our mother's maiden name. For example, "I, Beatriz Aurora Solano Pinzon" instead of writing "I, Beatriz Aurora Pinzon Solano." However, on application forms we write surname first and middle name last, like this: "Pinzon, Beatriz Aurora Solano" or "Pinzon, Beatriz Aurora S."
This is interesting, isn't it? It's a different thing, too, for Koreans.