Singer and former National Youth Commission (NYC) chair Ice Seguerra has divulged yesterday that he is in the midst of hormone replacement therapy, calling it a “big risk.”
Seguerra, who identifies as a transgender, shared this in an interview with host himself Boy Abunda on Tonight With Boy Abunda.
He said in a mix of Filipino and English: “The biggest issue here is my voice. Of course, people love what they hear from me. It’s a big risk, this [singing] is my bread and butter. I feed my family through singing.”
But he remains hopeful that the changes will not be drastic. “Maybe the quality of my voice will not change, maybe it will just get a little deeper,” he said.
Seguerra, who married Film Development Council of the Philippines chairperson Liza Diño in San Francisco in 2014, explained why he decided to go through hormone therapy.
He explained his transition journey: “When I came out as trans, it’s so hard to wake up each day seeing you’re [in] this body. You know that feeling that this shouldn’t really be it? I told my wife [Diño] about it and initially, she couldn’t understand it. For her, ‘I’ve accepted you, for me, you’re a man.’ It’s not about that. [I said] ‘I thank you for accepting me. But the problem is me, accepting me.'”
Seguerra started his career in the 1980s as a child star after being discovered in a television noontime show contest called Little Miss Philippines. For most of his career, he used the name “Aiza Seguerra,” until he decided to change it last year.
In the interview, he also explained the reason for his decision to change his name: “I tried transitioning as trans maybe four to five years ago. During that time, I didn’t have a conscious decision to change my name because that [Aiza] was how people knew me.”
He continued, “But as time goes by when people call you ‘Aiza,’ it feels different. And I’ve always responded to ‘Ice’ because that was my nickname in school, that’s how my friends call me. I said, ‘I’ll just use that.'”
The name “Aiza” evokes memories of his former life. “I’m more comfortable using ‘Ice’ because ‘Aiza’ reminds me of a girl in pigtails and everything. Maybe this is just part of really embracing my identity,” he explains.
Seguerra, a staunch supporter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, served as NYC commissioner from 2016 until he resigned this year, citing “personal reasons.” The NYC’s mandate is to address issues affecting Filipino youth.
The Commission on Audit (CA), the ministry tasked with auditing various government agencies, flagged the NYC for hiring consultants without supporting documents in 2017, as reported by Rappler. The CA also flagged the NYC for spending PHP268,068 (USD$5,017) in unofficial meetings.
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