Manila is a relatively tiny city, and the upwardly-mobile/middle-class population is fairly small, so people with the same tastes all end up within a few degrees of each other, in the Friendster/Kevin Bacon sense. As such, I've met the majority of famous and "semi-established" Filipino comic artists.
When I was more active in the punk/indie scene, I organized gigs that featured Marty McFly, the Weezer-esque geek-rock band that features Leinil Yu on vocals. I had his old cellphone number in my phone, if that counts for anything, and since I was introduced to him through friends, rather than in a comic-related/industry setting, I refer to him in person by his familiar name, Neil. (Their guitarist Rio is the member I know better, and we still hang out, if we run into each other at gigs, etc.)
I used to be in touch with Gerry Alanguilan fairly regularly, by email, and we still trade zines/mini-comics, whenever either of us has a new release. (I'm still a semi-regular zinester, if anybody here cares.) Gerry knows me (and my girlfriend/partner-in-crime Claire) by face and name, but admittedly neither of us has ever made a concerted effort to really keep up with each other. He lives down in Laguna Province, a few hours south of Manila, and he's always busy with something work-related, so we really only run into each other during convention-type events, nowadays.
He's a very supportive, approachable guy, and he even hosts weekly communal drawing sessions at his house, for up-and-coming artists from his hometown of Los Banos, Laguna.
