Joaquin Arce surprised many during his recent thanksgiving party in Quezon City by communicating with his deaf and hard-of-hearing fans using sign language.
In an exclusive interview with PUSH ABS-CBN, the young actor shared how he became drawn to learning sign language.
“Actually, natuto lang ako sa loob ng bahay. Her name is Ms. Rack (Corpuz). Tinuruan niya kami for the 'Kabataang Pinoy,' yung choreo. Pero, sobrang dami kong tanong na tinanong ko sa kanya. Kasi gusto ko talaga matuto ng sign language or ng FSL (Filipino Sign Language). Kasi may Tagalog na sign language. It's called FSL,” he said.
He went on to say that the deaf community holds a special place in his heart.
“Gusto ko talaga matuto. Kasi interested talaga ako dun. The deaf community has a spot in my heart. And ayun, thank God, patient si Ms. Rack sa akin. Kasi sobrang dami kong tanong sa kanya. Kaya halos nakaka-converse ako. Like, on a basic level,” he added.
During his stint on Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition 2.0, Joaquin, along with his fellow housemates, learned Filipino Sign Language (FSL) as part of a weekly task, guided by Rack Corpuz of the Kakamay Movement. The experience was also personal for Joaquin, who shared during his stay that he was born deaf in his right ear.
“Pinanganak po akong bingi sa kanang tainga. Never ko po naranasan na may dalawa akong tainga na nakakarinig. But my entire life, I’ve been looking at it in such a positive light na hindi ko po napansin ang mga negatibong effects,” Joaquin shared during his stay in the reality show.
Meanwhile, the rising star also reflected on how his Pinoy Big Brother experience taught him to get along better with different kinds of people.
“I've said this many times pero madami akong natutunan doon. Not giving up when things are impossible, how to cook, technically, that's a lesson also. Pero pinaka-importante yung natutunan ko doon ay yung pakikisama. Yung getting along with people with different personalities. Because people, alam mo naman na they come from different places. They were raised differently. And there's no one-size-fits-all in social life. So I guess yung social skills na natutunan ko, yung pakikisama ko sa mga ibang tao. Yun yung binaon ko,” he recalled.
Now that he’s back in the outside world, Joaquin shared that he’s eager to finish his studies and continue working on self-improvement.
“I really wanna act. I also wanna finish college. Kakapasok ko lang sa La Salle. So, I also want to finish college. It's a must for me. I love education. I love learning. So I want to finish college also. I want to learn sign language more. I want to learn more martial arts. Mahilig din ako sa martial arts. Music din. So I want to keep developing myself,” he shared.
Joaquin is currently a first-year college student at De La Salle University, taking up Interdisciplinary Business Studies. He shared that he had previously filed a leave of absence to join Pinoy Big Brother: “Nag-LOA ako for PBB. So, yeah, I'm about to go in.”