FREEHAND by Mario E. Bautista
GRETCHEN BARRETTO loves being controversial and being the talk of the town, especially now that she's appearing in the first ever fashionserye that aims to show both haute couture and Divisoria styles, "Magkaribal". Some people think her tiff with Angelica Panganiban over Derek Ramsay is just a gimmick to promote "Magkaribal" but she says ABS-CBN already warned not to make anymore answers and let the issue die down, what with Angelica now in South Africa with Derek. "I don't really mean to offend anyone," she says. "Ako kasi, playful ako. Kung minsan, daldal ako ng daldal, I'm such a chatterbox and I don't realize nakaka-offend na pala ako ng tao. Sorry. Sa daldal ko, kung minsan, hindi ako nagfo-focus."
In "Magkaribal", she playsVictoria, the elder sister of Bea Alonzo as Gelay, but they get separated as kids. She becomes a famous fashion model-designer and her arch rival is Angel Aquino, the bitch who stole their dad, Mark Gil, and caused the death of their mom, Dimples Romana. Bea admits she was intimidated by Gretchen at first because of her health and beauty. How about her? "I take my hat off kay Bea when it comes to acting. She's so effective and because of that, I always have to be on my toes para hindi niya ako matabunan."
How is she as a mom? Hands on ako. For me, I'm ready to give anything for my daughter Dominique without any hesitation. She's number one for me but for her, mas number one ang papa niya and I understand that, even when she says in my presence, 'Dad, you're my favorite, you're the best'. For a girl kasi, iba talaga ang ama niya. Iba ang bonding nila kasi akong nagdidisiplina sa kanya."
"Magkaribal" is directed by Mae Cruz and Nuel Naval and starts airing on Monday.
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MARICEL MORALES plays the biological mother of title-roler Jillian Ward in "Trudis Liit", now showing at 3 PM. How come she's not been active for sometime? "Kasi I was elected as councilor in Angeles City and for my first time, I chose to focus muna roon para walang masabi sa'kin ang mga tao na I'm neglecting my job as councilor," she says. "Now, I've just been reelected sa second term ko and I accepted 'Trudis Liit' kasi I already know how to balance my time sa showbiz and politics. I'm also taking up law now, first year proper ako sa Angeles University."
How are her sons with former action star Ace Espinosa? "AJ is 10 and Myco is 7. They're both in Don Bosco. We have no communication at all with their father. I don't know what happened to him. I have no idea kung anong ginagawa niya."
How is it working with new child star Jillian Ward? "She's a natural actress. At ease siya sa camera, born to be a performer talaga. Aapihin ko siya rito kasi she reminds me of her father, Cris VIllanueva, who abandoned me. Tuwing aapihin ko siya, sasabihin ko, o kagagalitan kita ha. Alam niya kung paano umiyak. Sisikat ang batang yan."
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IT'S THE BIRTHDAY of Ruffa Gutierrez and John Lloyd Cruz today, June 24, St. John The Baptist' feast day. No, they won't be together as Lloydie's 27th birthday gift to himself is his admittance that yes, he and Shaina Magdayao are really going steady, which no longer comes as a surprise since everyone knew about it anyway. He no longer denied it as they were just seen together on a special trip to Singapore. No, they didn't know any hanky panky. They just did an off season Visita Iglesia to pray in the Lion City. No doubt Lloydie's the top actor now at ABS, with three consecutive box office hits: "You Changed My Life", "In My Life" and "Miss You Like Crazy". Now, he's paired with Angel Locsin for the first time in "Imortal", a sequel to "Lobo" with him replacing Piolo Pascual as Angel's new leading man.
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SURVIVOR 1 winner JC Tiuseco proved he's close to his father when he asked his dad to help him choose his date in the special Father's Day presentation of "Take Me Out" last Monday. On Tuesday, it's the turn of hunky Brapanese model-actor Daniel Matsunaga to show his martial art skills to attract his would be date. Last Wednesday was a special day as Marian Rivera was one of the 30 "Take Me Out" girls in the Hollywood red carpet style edition of the show, with Geoff Taylor and Mart Escudero as the searchers. Today, Thursday, Bodie Cruz, son of Tirso Cruz III, and Be Bench winner Carl Guevarra will be the guys searching for a date and tomorrow, "The Last Prince" Aljur Abrenica will be the searcher now that he's taken away from ka-love team Kris Bernal. Will he find his ideal love match among the 30 girls? Find out in the hot dating game "Take Me Out", Monday to Friday at 5:30 PM on GMA-7, just before "Langit sa Piling Mo', hosted by Jay-R and singer comedienne Janna Roxas.
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WE JUST RETURNED from a four-day vacation in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia arranged by my two kids, Mario Miguel and Hannah, with their respective spouses, Shirleen and Erf, plus my grandchildren Louise, Sammyboy and Victoria. The place exceeded all my expectations. Kota Kinabalu is just two hours away from Manila. It's in Sabah, Borneo and the one thing we immediately notice is that it's so much cooler there.
Our tour guide tells us that Borneo is still 75% covered by forest and this is evident when you look around as the city is surrounded by hills, all thickly covered with trees, unlike here that when you go to Antipolo or Montalban, it's pathetic how bald our mountains are. No wonder it's much hotter and more humid in here.
Sabah is being contested by the Philippines as part of its territory but we don't think the locals there would be foolish enough to allow themselves to be under Pinoy politicians who are notorious for being so corrupt. Why would they when life there is much better now than here in Manila? The roads are all good, no traffic, and the development is visible all over. They have a small airport where the immigration counters in the arrival area are not even airconditioned, but like we said, it's cooler there so it's no problem.
The centerpiece of our trip is the breathtakingly beautiful Mt. Kinabalu, the tallest in Southeast Asia at 13,435 ft. and a World Heritage biological site designated by UNESCO. We went to its park where they have hostels and trails for adventurous tourists. The weather is like in Baguio. But it's easier to access as it's oly two hours away from the city and the zigzag roads amidst mountaintops offer fantastic scenery. We first stopped at a hanging bride where you get a good view of the awesome mountain then at a marketplace where you can climb a tower where you can buy souvenir items and get an even more awesome look of the majestic mountain jutting out into the sky.
It's good we had clear weather in the morning we went there so the mountain is very visible. From the park, we were taken to an idyllic hilltop town where there are so many vegetable farms like La Trinidad in Benguet. We had lunch at a small hotel where all the dishes are full of a fresh and crips newly harvested vegetables like cabbage, brocolli, spinach, etc. Even our kids who don't normally eat vegetables liked them. From there, our guide took us to Poring Hot Springs more than an hour away and it's like Pansol Hot Springs, only better developed by the government.
They have this Canopy Walk where you have to trek up the mountains then go around treetops using a series of five very narrow hanging bridges. It's scary but we enjoyed it. We were back to the city by nightful and we were taken to a restaurant by the beach for dinner. All in all, we spent only about P8,000 each per person for our plane fare and hotel stay. The mountain tour is an additional P2,500 plus. Very cheap indeed for a four day-three night stay.
GRETCHEN BARRETTO loves being controversial and being the talk of the town, especially now that she's appearing in the first ever fashionserye that aims to show both haute couture and Divisoria styles, "Magkaribal". Some people think her tiff with Angelica Panganiban over Derek Ramsay is just a gimmick to promote "Magkaribal" but she says ABS-CBN already warned not to make anymore answers and let the issue die down, what with Angelica now in South Africa with Derek. "I don't really mean to offend anyone," she says. "Ako kasi, playful ako. Kung minsan, daldal ako ng daldal, I'm such a chatterbox and I don't realize nakaka-offend na pala ako ng tao. Sorry. Sa daldal ko, kung minsan, hindi ako nagfo-focus."
In "Magkaribal", she playsVictoria, the elder sister of Bea Alonzo as Gelay, but they get separated as kids. She becomes a famous fashion model-designer and her arch rival is Angel Aquino, the bitch who stole their dad, Mark Gil, and caused the death of their mom, Dimples Romana. Bea admits she was intimidated by Gretchen at first because of her health and beauty. How about her? "I take my hat off kay Bea when it comes to acting. She's so effective and because of that, I always have to be on my toes para hindi niya ako matabunan."
How is she as a mom? Hands on ako. For me, I'm ready to give anything for my daughter Dominique without any hesitation. She's number one for me but for her, mas number one ang papa niya and I understand that, even when she says in my presence, 'Dad, you're my favorite, you're the best'. For a girl kasi, iba talaga ang ama niya. Iba ang bonding nila kasi akong nagdidisiplina sa kanya."
"Magkaribal" is directed by Mae Cruz and Nuel Naval and starts airing on Monday.
**********
MARICEL MORALES plays the biological mother of title-roler Jillian Ward in "Trudis Liit", now showing at 3 PM. How come she's not been active for sometime? "Kasi I was elected as councilor in Angeles City and for my first time, I chose to focus muna roon para walang masabi sa'kin ang mga tao na I'm neglecting my job as councilor," she says. "Now, I've just been reelected sa second term ko and I accepted 'Trudis Liit' kasi I already know how to balance my time sa showbiz and politics. I'm also taking up law now, first year proper ako sa Angeles University."
How are her sons with former action star Ace Espinosa? "AJ is 10 and Myco is 7. They're both in Don Bosco. We have no communication at all with their father. I don't know what happened to him. I have no idea kung anong ginagawa niya."
How is it working with new child star Jillian Ward? "She's a natural actress. At ease siya sa camera, born to be a performer talaga. Aapihin ko siya rito kasi she reminds me of her father, Cris VIllanueva, who abandoned me. Tuwing aapihin ko siya, sasabihin ko, o kagagalitan kita ha. Alam niya kung paano umiyak. Sisikat ang batang yan."
**********
IT'S THE BIRTHDAY of Ruffa Gutierrez and John Lloyd Cruz today, June 24, St. John The Baptist' feast day. No, they won't be together as Lloydie's 27th birthday gift to himself is his admittance that yes, he and Shaina Magdayao are really going steady, which no longer comes as a surprise since everyone knew about it anyway. He no longer denied it as they were just seen together on a special trip to Singapore. No, they didn't know any hanky panky. They just did an off season Visita Iglesia to pray in the Lion City. No doubt Lloydie's the top actor now at ABS, with three consecutive box office hits: "You Changed My Life", "In My Life" and "Miss You Like Crazy". Now, he's paired with Angel Locsin for the first time in "Imortal", a sequel to "Lobo" with him replacing Piolo Pascual as Angel's new leading man.
**********
SURVIVOR 1 winner JC Tiuseco proved he's close to his father when he asked his dad to help him choose his date in the special Father's Day presentation of "Take Me Out" last Monday. On Tuesday, it's the turn of hunky Brapanese model-actor Daniel Matsunaga to show his martial art skills to attract his would be date. Last Wednesday was a special day as Marian Rivera was one of the 30 "Take Me Out" girls in the Hollywood red carpet style edition of the show, with Geoff Taylor and Mart Escudero as the searchers. Today, Thursday, Bodie Cruz, son of Tirso Cruz III, and Be Bench winner Carl Guevarra will be the guys searching for a date and tomorrow, "The Last Prince" Aljur Abrenica will be the searcher now that he's taken away from ka-love team Kris Bernal. Will he find his ideal love match among the 30 girls? Find out in the hot dating game "Take Me Out", Monday to Friday at 5:30 PM on GMA-7, just before "Langit sa Piling Mo', hosted by Jay-R and singer comedienne Janna Roxas.
**********
WE JUST RETURNED from a four-day vacation in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia arranged by my two kids, Mario Miguel and Hannah, with their respective spouses, Shirleen and Erf, plus my grandchildren Louise, Sammyboy and Victoria. The place exceeded all my expectations. Kota Kinabalu is just two hours away from Manila. It's in Sabah, Borneo and the one thing we immediately notice is that it's so much cooler there.
Our tour guide tells us that Borneo is still 75% covered by forest and this is evident when you look around as the city is surrounded by hills, all thickly covered with trees, unlike here that when you go to Antipolo or Montalban, it's pathetic how bald our mountains are. No wonder it's much hotter and more humid in here.
Sabah is being contested by the Philippines as part of its territory but we don't think the locals there would be foolish enough to allow themselves to be under Pinoy politicians who are notorious for being so corrupt. Why would they when life there is much better now than here in Manila? The roads are all good, no traffic, and the development is visible all over. They have a small airport where the immigration counters in the arrival area are not even airconditioned, but like we said, it's cooler there so it's no problem.
The centerpiece of our trip is the breathtakingly beautiful Mt. Kinabalu, the tallest in Southeast Asia at 13,435 ft. and a World Heritage biological site designated by UNESCO. We went to its park where they have hostels and trails for adventurous tourists. The weather is like in Baguio. But it's easier to access as it's oly two hours away from the city and the zigzag roads amidst mountaintops offer fantastic scenery. We first stopped at a hanging bride where you get a good view of the awesome mountain then at a marketplace where you can climb a tower where you can buy souvenir items and get an even more awesome look of the majestic mountain jutting out into the sky.
It's good we had clear weather in the morning we went there so the mountain is very visible. From the park, we were taken to an idyllic hilltop town where there are so many vegetable farms like La Trinidad in Benguet. We had lunch at a small hotel where all the dishes are full of a fresh and crips newly harvested vegetables like cabbage, brocolli, spinach, etc. Even our kids who don't normally eat vegetables liked them. From there, our guide took us to Poring Hot Springs more than an hour away and it's like Pansol Hot Springs, only better developed by the government.
They have this Canopy Walk where you have to trek up the mountains then go around treetops using a series of five very narrow hanging bridges. It's scary but we enjoyed it. We were back to the city by nightful and we were taken to a restaurant by the beach for dinner. All in all, we spent only about P8,000 each per person for our plane fare and hotel stay. The mountain tour is an additional P2,500 plus. Very cheap indeed for a four day-three night stay.
