YES, sex is the trend in the movies nowadays. Sadly, cheap sex flicks are making money. It's a sure thing that keeps the box-office upfloat. Even our acclaimed filmmakers resort to explicit sex scenes and raunchy dialogue to sell their movies.

Unfortunately, this has completely sidelined our more mature but reliable actors. We rarely see them essaying important roles in films that would showcase their versatility and commendable thespic skills. If at all, they are relegated to playing mother and father roles. Some are only in their late 30s, yet they play mother to young stars like Patrick Garcia, or not-so-young actors like Bojo Molina.

We were surprised to see Amy Austria playing mother to Bojo Molina in a "Star Drama Theater" episode. God, they could still pass as lovers! We're also shocked to hear that Jaclyn Jose was once tapped to play mother to Rita Magdalena! That's totally absurd, isn't it?

Many times, mature actors are forced to accept cameo roles in quickie sex films, on a per day payment basis, just to augment their income. Indeed, times are so hard that they'd rather compromise. Right or wrong, who can argue with survival instincts?

So it's no wonder that female actors like Rio Locsin would rather play mother to Patrick Garcia in the successful soap "Mula Sa Puso" or play maid in the box-office hit "Princess Sarah: The Movie". She would rather have these safe roles and be part of wholesome entertainment than be involved in a film that shows more skin than fabric.

She reasons out: "There are just two types of movies we have right now: sex and action. Saan mo naman ako ilalagay doon? Obviously, hindi naman ako puwedeng mag-bold, hindi rin puwede sa action dahil pabata nang pabata ang mga leading ladies. So what other options do we have? Wala na, di ba?"

But thanks to television, a thriving industry, fine actresses like Rio Locsin are given the respect they deserve. They're assigned roles that are not really perfect because of the medium's limitations, but at least, those roles don't insult them.

We may miss her on the big screen but on TV, Rio Locsin has been very visible (and even hateful) lately as Katrina Rodriguez, the main villain in ABS-CBN's daily afternoon soap, "Marinella." It's Rio's first contravida role ever. Years ago, it would have been hard to imagine Rio Locsin in that role. With her soft features, her almost angelic face, and our own traditional mindset on how a contravida should look, she just couldn't play evil personified. But things have changed. We now see the goodlooking likes of Jackielou Blanco and Princess Punzalan playing villain roles.

So now, we watch Rio, completely immersed to her role despite her initial hesitations and misgivings "First of all, I'm a Christian. I have limitations. So before I said yes, I sought the counsel of our pastor. I also consulted my husband. (She's married to former basketball player Padim Israel who's now a pastor.) Ang sabi nila, somebody has got to play Judas, somebody has got to be bad so we can see the good," she says.

Rio understood the logic and eventually accepted the role. "But I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to deliver, that I couldn't cope with their expectations," she adds.

With some minor adjustments, televiewers slowly welcomed the change. They can now relate to her character--they now want to smash her face! What were the transformations she had to go through? First, she had to look more scheming. "They hired a make-up artist and a wardrobe consultant so I would look more cunning and repulsive. Para raw mas maging mukhang matapang at mabagsik," reveals Rio. "With the help of our director and my co-actors, I was able to adapt to the role."

Rio's character Katrina is psychologically imbalanced. She comes from a mental asylum--that explains her mental lapses. This makes it all the more difficult to second-guess her next move. She's so unpredictable that she can be saccharinely sweet one moment and hostile the next. "She's so complicated that I have to project her exterior as softer than what she really is," Rio describes her alter-ego. "She had a terrible childhood--her deviant behavior can be traced to her tumultuous experiences as a kid."

And Katrina is obsessed with one thing: her love for her adoptive brother played by Raymond Bagatsing. It sparks her every evil intention. "Raymond doesn't know it, but the audience knows that we adopted him, I took care of him, I love him and I want him for myself," grins Rio. "And because of that obsession, Katrina will make the lives of people surrounding them miserable as she tries to do everything in her power to get the one thing she really wants."