Photo from ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

Last Wednesday, Sandara Park, “Dara” of the famous K-pop girl group, 2NE1, arrived in Manila. Her group and a new boy band called Winner are having a concert at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday, May 17th. Sandara was ardently welcomed by her Filipino fans. They waited outside Ninoy Aquino International Airport just to have a glimpse of her and during her TV interviews, they were there to watch and support her, too.

Photo from PHILIPPINECONCERTS.COM

In an interview, the former Kapamilya star mentioned that she and the other girls from her group were given a three-day vacation, and when she was asked where she wanted to spend her vacation, she said “in the Philippines, of course”.

Sandara won the hearts of the Filipinos when she joined Star Circle Quest in 2004, a talent search on ABS-CBN from which she emerged as the first runner-up. She became one of the members of Star Magic, ABS-CBN‘s elite circle of young talents. She made a number of television appearances and some product endorsements. She even had her own TV show called “Sandara’s Romance” which featured Korean dramas that she narrated. Her life story was also featured in Maalaala Mo Kaya, a popular Philippine drama anthology.

She appeared in several movies and released her self-titled album that included the novelty dance hit “In Or Out”, a song about her experiences on “Star Circle Quest”.

In August 2007, Sandara left the Philippines despite her success to pursue a showbiz career in South Korea. It wasn’t long before she was offered workshop classes by YG Entertainment and was chosen as one of its talents. She joined the group 2NE1, the female version of Big Bang, together with Bom, Minzy and CL. The girls of 2NE1 were first introduced in May 17th, 2009. This year, they are promoting their latest album entitled Crush which includes hit songs “Crush”, “If I Were You” and “Come Back Home”.

Since her comeback in the Philippines, she has been busy with interviews and made a guest appearance on the reality show Pinoy Big Brother All In.

I’ve watched Sandara when she was a celebrity in the Philippines and I think she was adorable. I also like that she remains humble and she hasn’t forgotten that once she was a darling to the Filipinos. She still is.