JOYCE PILARSKY DEBUTS A STAGE ACTRESS.  Premier theater company Repertory Philippines, more popularly known as REP, marks its golden year with a phenomenal celebration. All the brightest stars of theater are coming together on one stage for a one-night-only gala musical, “REP 50 Years of Telling Stories,” to be presented on June 11 at the Theater at Solaire. Mrs. Universe South Asia 2017 Joyce Penas Pilarsky debuts as stage actress with REP.
CONGRATULATIONS! Quantum Post is honored and extremely proud to have been selected as the post-production house of Qiu Yang’s Xiao Cheng Er Yue (A Gentle Night), winner of the Palme D’Or for the Best Short Film, Main Competition of the 70th Festival de Cannes. Congratulations to the team of Carlo Francisco Manatad, Mikko Quizon, Timmy Torres, Benjo Ferrer, Nardre Torres, Noah Lean Loyola, Ogie Tiglao and Kristin Parre-Barrameda!
Congratulations to Jemimah Emerald Tumolva Bartolome for her induction to The International Honor Society Phil Kappa Phi (Chapter 45) at the awards ceremony at University of the Philippines, Film Center, Quezon City! Tumolva is the 19-year-old daughter of Rey and Esmie Bartolome who is graduating cum laude for BA Psychology this June 25.
 
‘I CAN DO THAT’ FINALS THIS WEEKEND. With Gabby Valenciano in the ring man act, Christine Reyes in the fire dancing act, Daniel Matsunaga in the aerial pole act and Wacky Kiray in the wire balancing act as the final four candidates to The Greatest Entertainer title in the show hosted by Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga,  I Can Do That runs up to its finals this weekend. Lead projects Wacky Kiray will win the grand prize for his boldness.
 
ALFONSO OSSORIO GOES TO THE THEATER. In between the royal families and reality shows, theaters provide screen media with a steady supply of Otors for the name recall, act superlatively and exact professionalism.
From siblings Suzette and Mat Ranillo III to John Arcilla, the theater has been a traditional source of actors for mainstream entertainment. Eugene Domingo played the wife of Datu Bulan in Floy Quintos’ St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos before the sibling rivalry of twins Kimmy and Dora Go Dong Hae in Chris Martinez’s Kimmy Dora franchise.
After the public-friendly JC Santos, theater’s freshest export to the small screen, theater actor Nel Gomez strongly registers his availability in the Quintos-written two-act play, The Angry Christ, running at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, 2nd Floor Palma Hall, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
Before the The Angry Christ show, Leon Gallery opened the second tribute exhibit to the Global Filipino Artist entitled “Alfonso Ossorio: The Grazing Light” as curated by Tats Manahan and Lizza Guerrero Nakpil.
Overwhelming is the best description of Gomez’s performance as the young Filipino-American abstract expressionist Alfonso Ossorio in The Angry Christ.
A good-looking Filipino-Spanish like the artist who can very a hot matinee idol, Gomez arrogates his gay character with a very subtle feminine appeal he projects almost male. He goes on correct mode “But once and for all, I am a straight man. And I’m very in love with a girl named Sarah Facuri.”
Gomez is trapped to crossover to mainstream entertainment as he has shown high potential. Asked about it, he replied, “It’s possible. Depends on the circumstances though.” 
The actor with the legal name of Nelsito Gomez glamorized it with a showbiz name based on his nickname. He probably has to improve on public relations as he admits he is perceived as “suplado.”
He lists winning the 2009 MYX VJ Search as his biggest achievement. A total performer, he showed skill in singing and dancing in the video single “One Moment.”An actor in a forgettable indie film, he regained lost ground in Sam Lee Baka Bukas as boyfriend of an openly gay man.
But Gomez is foremost a theater actor (Greenday’s American Idiot The Musical, Romeo and Juliet, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, among others).  Ossorio is the second painter role this year after My Name is Asher Lev.
Coming out like a twin offering with Leon Gallery’s exhibition “Alfonso Ossorio: The Grazing Light,” The Angry Christ reimagines the mid-century America-based visual artist’s only 10-month homecoming with domestic partner Ted Dragon in 1950.
With direction and choreography by Dexter Santos, it depicts Ossorio’s inner turmoil, his sexuality caused by a lonely childhood and artistic process that wrestled his creative demons.
The image of his magnificent mural entitled The Last Judgment with the Holy Spirit later dubbed as The Angry Christ by Life magazine with a fierce-looking Jesus Christ with arms spread in crucifixion position is flashed before the final blackout.
Now arguably the year’s best play, it looks like Gomez has made Christ happy.
 
BAÑARES, ONLY FILIPINO REP IN ONE-MINUTER FIlMFEST. Ang May Akda (The Author), the new one-minuter film by Ilonggo filmmaker Elvert Bañares, is the only Filipino film in competition in Mister Vorky international film festival in Ruma, Serbia, which will run this June 2 to 4, 2017.
There are only 105 one-minuter films selected from among thousands of submissions. Ang May Akda competes under the Fiction Category and faces 18 other one-minuter films. Mister Vorky is an International Festival of one-minute films from all continents.
The organizer of the festival is the Independent Film Center Vorky Team and pays tribute to the Serbian-American film artist Slavko Vorkapich thus the Mister Vorky nickname.
Ang May Akda is part of the mobile-sintas 2017 series of Bañares, which are very short films shot and edited using the mobile-phone.

‘G DIARIES’ GINA LOPEZ’s TRAVEL DIARIES. Sharon Cuneta, Eddie Garcia and Charo Santos are among the celebrities who will guest in former DENR Secretary Gina Lopez’s fresh travel show, G Diaries. If you know her enough, the show will be advocacy-oriented.
Premiering tomorrow June 4, Sunday, just before the noontime show ASAP, it will air every Saturday at 8 a.m. The ex-head of Bantay-Bata and Bantay-Kalikasan finally decided to have her own television show as directed by a Hollywood director.
“G Diaries seeks not only to entertain viewers and promote the Philippines as a majestic travel destination and incite action for everyone to be part of the collective effort to preserve the environment and bequeath it in its healthiest state, but also to inform the next generation,” shared Lopez.

As cavernous as the Leon Gallery is, the museum-quality lots with impeccable provenance of the Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2017: The Grand Independence Day Sale downsizes it, as today’s preview at 6 p.m. with cocktails effortlessly shows.
By June 10 at 2 p.m., we will know if any of its lots have broken the record set by Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s Fish Harvest at Dawn that hammered for P52.6 million plus premium at a Leon Gallery auction.
Among them are the following curator’s picks.
Fabian de la Rosa’s Hat Weavers of rural women making hats, acquired by American actor George O’Brien when he visited the Philippines after the Japanese war, returns from Hollywood and goes on the block through the Leon Gallery sale.
Vicente Manansala’s striking work, Pila sa Bigas, shows five anxious rural women, one carrying a baby, after marketing and then queuing for scarce rice during a shortage in the 1970s. Rendered in indigeneous cubism in folksy colors, this is a modern interpretation of realism as initiated by the Thirteen Moderms of which Manansala was a founding member.
I had my first close encounter with Jaime de Guzman’s alarming surreal vision in the Metamorphosis I mural at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This power does not diminish in smaller scale in the sale’s gothic Gift of Fossils.
In a dystopian world, vestiges of life — a shell and a human skull broken into two — are shown as the remaining traces of former habitation. In thick, energetic brushstrokes and unsparing figuration, de Guzman is revelatory as to the post-historical outcome of a planet locked in a cycle of extinction and regeneration.
Jose Joya’s gigantic mural, Pagdiriwang, at the main lobby of the Plenary Hall of the Philippines International Convention Center executed with the assistance of upcoming artists of the period including Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera never fails to awe. In 1964, even before Pagdiriwang was conceptualized, nine works by Joya represented the Philippines at the 32nd Venice Biennale. Five others are in important collections and institutions, three are whereabouts unknown, with the elusive ninth being Carcass. This painting with “palette-knife fury” now makes its way to this highly anticipated sale.
Primarily through the Diaphanous and Permutations series, Romulo Olazo introduced transparency, lyricism and grandeur to Philippine modern abstraction. Permutation Series II No. 118 (B-XX), exemplified in shapely forms and curvilinear lines that interlock with or echo each other, is an incantation of vibrance, fluidity and subtlety — a harmony of visual music.
Considered as one of the more successful mid-career artists, Marcel Antonio is notable for a body of figurative work characterized by an Edenic innocence, a Picassoesque beauty. In Little Drops of Time, Antonio plumbs the mythic memory to enflesh a story of how time came to be. Here, two women seem to be competing over the attention of a man. The dejected one drops water on a basin, creating, in effect, “ripples of time,” which gets stratified between past, present and future. From hereon, separation, suffering and death will be a given. Nothing and no one will be permanent and definite: All have to bow to time’s tyrannical rule.
And the largest Ang Kiukok ever offered at auction in recent memory. The Property of an Important Institution, The Fishermen is Kiukok at the peak of his powers. Known for his “fusion of cubism, surrealism and expressionism,” Kiukok was influenced by Mexican modernist Rufino Tamayo and Cuban artist Wifredo Lam, enabling him to develop an unmistakable style all his own.
The Fishermen depicts three men straining to pull a net heavy with big fishes. Art historian Ramon Villegas describes it graphically: “Their muscles struggle against the opposing forces of the weighted net. The sun is high in the sky, a red copper orb against a sky browner than their skin made pale by the cold water. Sweat pour from their lean bodies. In their thoughts are thanks for the bounty that makes a living possible.”
While he signed it “Kiukok,” interestingly, it is also a modern-day “Letras y Figuras” as the artist’s name “Ang” is discernibly spelled out in the painting.
The proceeds estimated at P50 million from the sale will go to charity.                                                
History comes to life with a First Edition Noli Mi Tangere from an esteemed South American private collection.
The ornate Tampinco bed created for Maximo Viola, the “man who saved the Noli Me Tangere,” is the furniture-highlight of this remarkable sale. Laden with design and purpose, the bed is carved from narra by Tampinco, and has a design theme of tropical palm leaves. Among his native motifs were the anahaw, areca palm and bamboo.
In recognition for its efforts to preserve and promote Philippine visual and functional arts, many of them historical and religious, including the works of first National Artist, Fernando Amorsolo, The Fernando C. Amorsolo Foundation has honored Leon Gallery to receive a plaque in recognition for its Ongoing Commitment in Supporting the Foundation.
View the catalog for the Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2017 now available online from which this writeup was largely based.

WHEN JUDGES’ DECISION IS NOT FINAL. Senior artist/educator Herminigildo Pineda comments, as shown here verbatim: “The decision of judges is final. We cannot change, we can’t do anything and nothing but to follow.
“All end the result of 13th GSIS National Art Competition. My question is? What if the artist used another medium aside from the required material of the rules and regulations.
“This is our observation which bag the Grand Prize in last night competition. The artist use other medium aside from acrylic and oil, he used the medium of smoke... smoke coming from traditional lampara which popularized by one our noted Artist. It so happened to be one of the Jurors on the prestigious art tilt. What comes next?
“Asking other artists what shall we do if the artist violate the ruling process. Can the art community react on this issue? Is the juror aware about the medium? If he is. Does he know the rules and regulation required by the organizer? Hoping we could enlighten us, by merely inquiring about the issue.”
This writer thinks the judging had been biased. And the judges’ decision rule is unfair.

Sometimes regarded as Juan Luna’s Mona Lisa for the mystery surrounding her identity, Una Bulaqueña (variably spelled as La Bulakeña or The Woman from Bulacan, 1895) is a full portrait of an unidentified fair-skinned serene young woman with cheerless eyes and thick eyebrows.
She wears a formal, multi-layered Filipino dress, the traje de mestiza, or what became widely known as the Maria Clara gown, the attire worn by the tragic character of Dr. Jose Rizal’s novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
The outfit is composed of a kimono (inner blouse), a camisa or baro (shirt) made of pina and has wide butterfly sleeves with fine embroidetry, a pañuelo (piano shawl) that has been starched to achieve a raised look. A silk/satin olive green saya (long skirt) has slanted colored thin stripes laid over the naguas (starched petticoat). And a tapis (knee-length overskirt) covers its upper half.
She is believed from a well-off family of Bulacan as indicated by her over-all demeanor and the gold neck chain she wears. Her black hair is gathered into a bun and she holds a fan with the right hand and white cotton handkerchief with her left hand, both down, in a crossed manner. The fan language of colonial Filipino women signifies that she is willing to have a boyfriend.
As a widower in need of a new lover, Luna must have been struck by the lady’s beauty and likely planned to court her, perhaps with the portrait. This availability must have inspired Luna to paint her with mastery of perspective and details, silently regarded as his most impressive portrait.
This woman must hold a personal importance to him as she holds the distinction of being the only extant portrait he did lifesize. His typical painting of females was from the thigh up. Even the paintings of his wife Paz Pardo De Tavera were rendered that way (and most of such paintings were burned by her family after the tragic oxiricide and the cold blood murder of his mother-in-law out of extreme jealousy; some were torched during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.)
In deciding who the lady depicted in Una Bulaquena is, two basic requirements must be fulfilled: that she is from Bulacan and her personal circumstances must be consistent with available historical data about Luna. Accessible information about him from 1894 to 1896 is skimpy by itself.
In May 1894, after being out of the country for 17 years, Luna moved back from France to Spain to the Philippines with son Andres and brother Antonio Luna. This was after he was acquitted of the murder of Paz. It was still peace time in the Philippines despite the widespread social injustice exposed by Dr. Rizal’s banned novels. He had not been executed in Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park) at that time and the Katipunan was still a secret organization that fomented the Philippine Revolution led by Andres Bonifacio.
During this homecoming, Luna painted mostly family portraits, including that of Una Bulaquena, Governor General Ramon Blanco, landscapes, and the painting that became to be known as Tampuhan (“Sulking,” not its original title).
After staying put in the country for more than a year, the footloose painter travelled to Japan in the summer of 1896 with his student Gaston O’Farrell, producing as many as 20 paintings. Upon return to the Philippines in August 1896, he was arrested with Antonio by the Spanish constabulary for complicity in the Philippine Rebellion.
Una Bulaquena has an impressive provenance. As Luna’s sole heir, it passed on to Andres. When Andres died in 1952, the Philippine government acquired the painting and placed it at the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP). From 1957, it was loaned and put on display in Malacañang. In its deteriorated condition, it used to be displayed at the Music Room where First Ladies customarily received callers, hanged above the grand piano. After the Edsa revolution when Malacañang was turned into a museum and opened to the public, the painting began to get attention. Through the effort of the Pres. Joseph Estrada, Una Bulaquena was transferred to the NMP.
The painting was eventually exhibited in New York and Seattle, USA, and after its return to the Philippines, it had to undergo major conservation work in 2010 as the painting showed signs of deterioration. A thick wax residue used in previous restoration was removed. Total consolidation was done to stabilize the cracks, tenting, paint losses and powdery paint layers. After a year of conservation, Una Bulaquena was declared a National Cultural Treasure and it is now exhibited at Gallery III of NMP’s National Art Gallery with other Luna paintings and boteros (studies).
In the absence of historical data and photos of Una Bulaquena, four possibilities about who she is have been hypothesized in the following persons:

DOLORES “LOLENG” SABAS. Juan and Antonio were so close to each other that they had a tendency to do things together, yes, even in courting. They did that when they returned to the Philippines in 1894, but no one was able to marry.
Santiago Pilar Albano, author of the definitive book on the painter, Juan Luna: the Filipino as Painter, suggested that the Una Bulaquena was Dolores, nicknamed Loleng, a daughter of Doña Mariquita Sabas, who lived in 2 Espeleta Street, Binondo, Manila, which the Luna brothers frequented for tertulia gatherings. There is no clear indication if Loleng was from Bulacan.

EMILIA TRINIDAD. According to Rosalinda Orosa, a prominent journalist and advocate of culture and arts, the owner of the Luna painting, the Tampuhan, the woman could be Emiliana Trinidad, Orosa’s ancestor and the same woman who was the sitter in his Tampuhan painting.
Tampuhan shows a woman wearing a Maria Clara gown with saya in flower prints. She is seated in the living room of a bahay na bato with a man, Dr. Ariston Bautista Lin, Luna’s friend. Bautista Lin has his back turned, however, as he is watching a procession from the bay window. Their positions strongly suggest they are having an estrangement.

MARIA “IYANG” RODRIGO FERNANDO. According to multi-awarded writer, publisher and cultural icon Gilda Cordero-Fernando, Dr. Asuncion N. Fernando said the woman could be Maria “Iyang” Rodrigo Fernando, Dr. Fernando’s own grandmother, who assisted in the cause of the Katipunan.
Historian Antonio Valeriano, on the other hand, noted that the woman in the portrait has facial features that are similar to the Rodrigos of Bulacan, Bulacan, such as Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo’s “bushy eyebrows and sad eyes.”
Cordero-Fernando argues in “Maria joins the revolution” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) of March 12, 2006:
“Maria Rodrigo was born of Gertrudis Macapugay and Nicolas Rodrigo in Bulacan, Bulacan, in front of the house of the great propagandist Marcelo H. del Pilar.
“Maria (‘Iyang’) had large, soulful eyes with drooping lids, dark lashes and thick eyebrows. Her hair was curly and her skin creamy white. She married Francisco ‘Kikoy’ Fernando, of landed gentry, in 1885 when she was about 18. She gave birth to five boys in succession.
“Luna and Antonio came all the way from Batac on horseback and stayed in Bulacan a few days. Antonio was always in a closed-door huddle with del Pilar while Luna wandered on a horse all over town, looking for nice views to sketch. Boys followed him about, peering over his shoulder at his drawing pad.
“One day, around 1883 or 1884, goes the town legend, Luna spotted the pretty Maria, who was 15 or 16 then, in the house of Del Pilar. He must have found her exceptionally good-looking because he requested that she go home and change into a Maria Clara, saying he wanted to paint her. He made several pencil sketches of Maria. The portrait in oil was finished much later, in Luna’s studio, in Calle Alix in Sampaloc in 1895.
“Iyang, who suffered from marital oppression, decided to leave her family to join the Katipunan and never returned.”
Alikabok, the Filipino musical inspired by Luna’s Una Bulaqueña, with Rachel Alejandro in the role with the imaginary name of Bising Vallejo, who turned a Katipunera, was staged at the Music Museum in 1995 and 2002.
To verify her identity, Benita Marasigan Santos, granddaughter of Del Pilar, Mila Enriquez of the Bulacan Historical Commission, and Fernando’s sister-in-law, Dr. Asuncion “Nic” Fernando did an investigation in the ‘70s on Una Bulaquena. They went to Bulacan to interview its old residents who were asked to remember the events of their childhood and what they heard older relatives say.
Continues Fernando-Cordero’s article: “The trio dug for old photos and church records more than a century old. The visit of Juan Luna ‘who was drawing Iyang’ was well-remembered by Maria’s first cousin, Angelina Rodrigo, who lived with her in the same house. So was Juan Luna, remembered by another interviewee, emerging from the Del Pilar stable on a horse. The young boys who followed him around, by then very old men, remembered the visit of ‘Don Marcelo’s friend,’ too.
“There was no existing photograph of Maria to compare the painting with, but by sleuthing, the three found a group picture of Maria’s two brothers and two sisters in their advanced age. They all looked like Maria. If features are indeed a clue, then add to that the striking resemblance of trademark eyes and bushy eyebrows to present-day Rodrigos -- the late Sen. Francisco ‘Soc’ Rodrigo, whose father is the younger brother of Maria, his daughter Ditas, and her cousins Fenina and Dodo Ayuyao.
“‘And of course,’ says Benita, “the subject had to be a native of Bulacan, that’s why Juan Luna entitled it La Bulakeña. Why was she not identified by Juan Luna? (Maybe he didn’t remember her name.) Why was it not painted in oil until 10 years later? (Maybe he discovered he liked his sketches of her only then. It is a minor painting).”
Benita Marasigan Santos wrote a story entitled La Bulakeña in the 1970s which did not result in conclusive findings. Problematic about this account was the year, 1883 or 1884, that Luna was supposed to have made the Una Bulaquena sketches.
By 1877, Luna had migrated to Europe and was not known to have gone back to the Philippines until his return in 1894. By 1883, he had started to paint Spoliarium that won a gold medal in May 1884 at Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes.
On June 25, 1884, Filipino and Spanish nobles organized an event celebrating Luna’s win in the exhibition with Jose Rizal giving an impromptu speech that gave the mural political color as the glorification of genius and the grandeur of a Filipino’s artistic skills that made him co-equal with any citizen of the world.
Could the investigation’s oral accounts on the year the sketches were made by Luna, 1883 or 1884, be wrong? Could it be possible the sketching and painting both took place in 1895?
There is something wrong in the computation of her age based on the information gathered by said team. The portrait’s subject was supposed to be 15 or 16 when Luna sketched her in 1883 or 1884, but when she married in 1895, she was 19. She should have been 28 or 29 when she tied the knot in 1895.
Assuming that Iyang is “Una Bulaquena,” this writer likes to posit that the time of the sketching as reported is wrong and it could have been in 1893 or 1894, more likely in 1894, which is closer to 19 when Iyang married. That is verifiable with available registry documents.
And there could be a relationship between the painting and her marriage: was it an arranged or a rushed marriage? Cordero-Fernando did not indicate. If she did, it could have shed some information about the relationship I pointed out.

EMILIANA TRINIDAD DE SANTOS. Ambeth R. Ocampo writes in the PDI on May 28, 2017 that Carmelino Alvendia Jr. invited him to dinner in 2015 to meet his first cousin Ma. Esperanza de Santos Pahati-Olivera, who claimed Una Bulaqueña was her grandmother, Emiliana Trinidad de Santos, supported by photos.
He did not go to the extent of sharing basic information likely gathered during the meeting such as Emilia’s province of origin and other personal information. In an article entitled to have identified Una Bulaquena, the authority on Philippine history lamely ends: “As for the rest of the story — Emiliana, Juan and her wonderful portrait? Let’s leave that for younger historians to find out.”
However, I digress. Until new and more definitive information about Una Bulaquena’s identity can be made available, Maria “Iyang” Rodrigo Fernando comes closest to the abovestated requirements of the identity of the young lady.

Tickets to Britney Spears’ “Piece of Me” Manila tour reached soldout peak weeks ago. But you can still watch the concert, for free, with a couple of other perks thrown in for a Smart Music Live concert experience like never before, brought to you by Smart Communications.

You can say what you want about Britney, but the fact remains: She is the one and only former blonde divette-turned-pop-icon with who this Millennial generation grew up.
A few weeks ago, Britney herself announced via social media that she is bringing her “Piece of Me” tour to Manila. One of the major sponsors of the concert, Smart, echoed this announcement alongside a U2 Fly-off promo and other Manila concerts from the 2017 lineup of Smart Music Live.
So if you still need some convincing, here are five reasons why Britney’s June 15 concert at the Mall of Asia Arena is a must-see:
 1. Her “Everytime” performance. According to previous tour legs, we should all watch for this number, one of the rare moments she slows things down and descends to the stage in an angelic production.
2. This tour. Britney’s last concert was back in 2011 when she toured “Femme Fatale.” Then “Piece of Me” started on December 27, 2013, and she’s down to the final year of this tour named “Best of Las Vegas” back in 2015. As of February, it has grossed over $104 million with over 700,000 attendees making it one of the most successful shows in Vegas.
3. The hits. Oh, you know the lyrics to these songs. From the newer ones like “Work Bitch,” “Piece Of Me” and “Perfume” to the classics like “Baby One More Time,” “Oops! I Did It Again,” “I’m A Slave For You,” “Toxic,” “Stronger” and “Crazy,” we know you don’t just wanna hear them. You’d like to see Britney come out of that smartphone playlist and sing your hearts out with her live.
4. The works. We heard the show was amazing in Vegas. We wonder how the international stage will look like and we bet it’s going to take our breath away visually. Speaking of visual reasons, Britney has been working out since this tour started and honestly, she’s never looked hotter!
5. The one and only. Come on! She is the one and only Britney Spears! This is her Manila show. This is that one time you can travel back to that time when her songs were literally the soundtrack of your youth, which by the way you can do for free just by tracking down #SmartBritneySpears and #SmartMusicLive on Smart’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts for free tickets, perks and privileges related to Britney’s Manila concert.

‘MUKHA’ ON SUNDAY’S BEST. Award-winning documentary series Mukha celebrates its third anniversary with a special called “Nightshift.” The whole country gets to watch their inspiring and moving stories and see the important roles they play in our society this Sunday (June 11) on ABS-CBN’s Sunday’s Best.
Providing food for the people are fishermen like Emboy Samartino of Cavite, who’s out in the waters all night to catch fish, which are then delivered to awaiting buyers by port workers like Joseph Estrada. Keeping the population safe and healthy are the likes of Kenneth Lacuna, an emergency medical technician team leader who responds to critical and emergency situations to save lives, and Dr. Kesiah Bugante of Fabella Hospital, who works round the clock to attend to at least 15 patients giving birth each day.
Capture the routines of informers like photojournalist Vincent Go, who will share the challenges of working the graveyard to provide a slice of truth each day, and of national broadsheet roll man Rolly Damasco, who meticulously checks the papers before they are printed and distributed to different parts of the country.
Mukha will also share the experiences of protectors like Manila Metropolitan Theatre security guard Danilo Rubio, who tries to keep accidents and disturbances at bay around the historical institution and coast guard Angel Biliran, whose mission as commander of BRP Pampanga is to maintain peace in Philippine waters amidst the aggravating territorial disputes between Philippines and other countries.
It will also delve into the lives of night shift builders like steel man Louie Cabtalan, who is crucial in fortifying the foundation of buildings but is struggling to provide a shelter for his family. LRT Line 2 driver Carlos Valdez, meanwhile, goes to work as early as 2 a.m. to conduct rigorous safety tests on the trains to make sure they are safe to ride by daybreak.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) team leader Ralph Rumbines will also give an inside look into the life of a call center worker, how they deal with targets, health concerns, and discrimination as they strive to respond to queries anytime of the day. Likewise, airport ramp personnel Waynajoy Festijo has the lives of people in mind as she ensures evening flights run smoothly, checking on the weight and balance of an aircraft, as well as the refueling and other technicalities of a plane.
The stories in “Nightshift” were first shown in six parts on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel. Mukha made history last year after winning a Silver Dolphin at the 7th Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards in France. It also was a finalist at the 2017 New York Festivals Awards for International TV programs and Films for its entry “Serbisyo” in the Current Affairs category.

WACKY KIRAY IS THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER. As projected by LEAD, comedian Wacky Kiray won The Greatest  Entertainer in the first I Can Do That finals. Wacky wowed the audience Saturday with his stunning wire balancing act. He will use his prize money to get a house and lot for his parents.
Cristine Reyes placed second, with a combined score of 83.09 percent for her breathtaking fire dance for the grand finals. Daniel Matsunaga got 47.81 percent of votes for his death-defying acrobatics number while Gab Valenciano garnered 44.44 percent of votes for his emotional hoop act.
It seemed rankings were determined by difficulty of execution with aerial acts favored by judges Boy Abunda and  Judy Ann Santos and the text voters. Wacky’s sexuality was favored by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Community that included Abunda and Vice Ganda. This probed unfavorable to Valenciano’s act which turned out well-executed, almost perfect in fact.
According to Wacky, he did not expect to win the competition because all of them are deserving to win.
“Sabi ko, kahit makapasok lang sa top four, kahit third runner-up lang, okey na ako. Hindi ko in-expect na ako ‘yung magiging greatest entertainer,” he said.
“Sa tagal naming nagsama-sama, hindi na kumpetisyon ‘yung nararamdaman namin. Pamilya na kami dito. Talagang ine-enjoy lang namin ‘yung mga ginagawa namin,” he added.
Asked how he thinks this victory will change his life, Wacky said: “Hindi pa pumapasok sa isip ko. (Basta ang una kong gagawin), magsisimba. Magpapasalamat ako sa Panginoon.”
Now that the show is over, Wacky said he will always treasure the greatest learning that he got from the show.
“Huwag kang bibitaw. Basta laban lang. Kung ano ang binigay sayong pagsubok, basta laban lang,” he said.

LEON GALLERY BREAKS OWN RECORD. Ang Kiukok’s The Fishermen went to P56 million hammer, P65 million with premium, the largest work by the National Artist ever put on the block at The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction 2017. This broke previous holder Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s Fish Harvest at Dawn, which sold for P52.6M with premium. The property of an important institution, The Fishermen depicts three men straining to pull a net heavy with big fishes. It is signed “Kiukok” while the artist’s name “Ang” is discernibly spelled out in contemporary Letras y Figuras. Proceeds from the sale will go to charity.
                               
MALANG’S ART AS ‘FILIPINO.’ Before Cesar Legaspi took a leave as head of the Saturday Group of Artists, he passed on its lead to Mauro “Malang” Santos like HR Ocampo did after his tenure. Malang is raved for his universal treatment of Filipino themes and imaginative use of colors — art as “Filipino.”
Original members Onib Olmedo, Justin Nuyda, Agustin Goy, Juvenal Sanso, Ang Kiukok and Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera were known for excellence of artistry and mastery of medium. Among them, four — Ocampo, Legaspi, Kiukok and Cabrera were eventually proclaimed National Artists.
Malang is the last master as he passed on at 89 at his home in West Avenue, Quezon City on the morning of June 10, Saturday.
Seventeen years ago, the same month as now, I had the unique opportunity to have breakfast with Malang during a freewheeling one-on-one interview in his favorite hangout, McDonald’s along Quezon Avenue, which is across the National Book Store that he frequented to purchase art materials.
The subject range proved relevant until now, even revealing his character as God-fearing, family-oriented, friendly, optimistic, humorous, principled, ordered, loyal and down-to-earth.

How do you assess your chances of becoming a National Artist?
(Laughs) Alam ko ang sasabihin ninyo. You’re already a National Book Store Artist. (More laughter) It’s funny. During Nicanor Tiongson’s time at the CCP, ginawa nila na any organization can nominate a candidate for the National Artist award. Magandang pakinggan but ang actual practice, masama. Anybody can nominate anybody. (E.R.) Tagle nominated (Rafael) Pacheco. Kilala mo si Pacheco? ‘Yung nagpi-finger painting? I confronted Pacheco about it, sabi niya, “‘Padre, ganuon lang naman iyon. It’s only a pat on the back. Itaas mo ako, itataas kita.” I told him, “You don’t play with those things. Serious ‘yung National Artist (nomination).” Sa akin, a, e ‘di inupakan ko ang CCP. At least, Si Nic naman, hindi masyadong bengatibo. Sabi niya,“Malang, bibigyan ka ng Gawad Award.” Sabi ko, “Niloloko mo yata ako.” Sabi niya, “Hindi... hindi!”

But how do you assess your chances of becoming a National Artist?
I’m so much blessed. As you know, my paintings sell, parang ‘ika nga, flavor of the month. Everybody buys them. Nakapila ang mga collectors. Ang price, hindi naman masama. Ang mga anak ko, they are doing well. Walang may sakit sa amin. So ano pa ang hinahanap mo?

You are not looking forward to receiving it?
It’s not that I’m not looking forward to it, I’m not chasing it. Unlike ang ibang artists na kilala ko noong araw na they really went out of their way to get the National Artist award. Ako, I’m not. Kapag binigay ng Panginoon, well and good. Tatangapin ko. Kapag binigay ng Panginoon, bakit hindi ko tatanggapin? Pero for me to seek, sabi ko, “Hindi na bale. Okey lang.” Unang-una, National Bookstore Artist na tayo!

But I think you deserve to be one.
Salamat naman if you think I deserve it. Well and good.Salamat.

Besides having an outstanding body of work that very well reflects the Filipino psyche, you started a school of painting in the country.
(Hesitantly) Ah, yes.

Manuel Baldemor’s style of painting is basically after yours.
Assistant ko ‘yun e. He was one of my artists.

I’m unaware.
‘Yun pa ang isang maaano mo diyan. They will not tell. Ako, I’m happy to tell where I got all my know-how. I always give credit to whomever I learned my knowledge of painting. ‘Yung iba naman, kung ‘yon ang happiness nila, sige lang.

Did you abandon the baruong-barong paintings? (He entered the art world in the ‘60s with his abstract rendition of the barong-barong.)
I have not abandoned it in the sense that my paintings of women now are really an integral part of those barong-barong paintings. Nuong araw, I started with the barong-barong (theme). ‘Yung babae nasa bintana, nasa pinto. Tapos, nagkaroon ako ng mga series ng puno, tapos mga halaman, tapos mga landscape. Ngayon, ‘yung babaeng nasa bintana, siya ngayon ang nagdo-dominate. ‘Yung barong-barong ang nasa periphery ngayon. Ganoon lang naman ‘yun e. Who knows later on I may go back to flowers. Pero right now, sama-sama lahat iyan. May babae, may bulaklak, may barong-barong.

When did this change happen?
Ten years ago.

Have you thought of returning to the barong-barong as the central of your paintings?
I have. In fact, there is a demand among collectors for such paintings.

Are you returning to it soon?
Even if I want to, I cannot.

How’s that?
Simple. I can no longer paint the way I used to paint in the ‘60s. I tried, but I was not happy with the result.

How do you explain this?
I don’t know.

How do you explain that your paintings are the most collected now.
‘Yun nga ang ibig kong malaman. Jokingly, sinasabi kong kailangan na nilang magsuot ng salamin. Pero ‘yung iba ruon for investment. ‘Yung iba talagang gusto ng style ko.

I’m sure most of them are experienced collectors.
‘Yan. Marami naman sila. But the sad thing about it, when my paintings started selling, I started losing friends at the same time. Mga painter-friends.

How do you explain this?
Nagagalit sila.

When did your paintings start to sell? In the ‘60s?
‘Yung selling na ‘yun, konti-konti lang.

Ah, what you mean is selling very well?
Very well! Kung baga, flavor of the month kami ni Ang Kiukok.

Hindi yata. Ang Kiukok is not as prolific as you. And his paintings are not as happy as yours.
E, malungkot ‘yung buhay ng tao.

I think, you are selling more because masaya ang mga paintings ninyo and they are pleasant. With feng shui becoming people’s guide to doing things, I don’t think they would want Ang Kiukok’s paintings on their walls. Do you agree?
I agree with you.

Does it also depend on the artist’s productivity?
Yah, I produce a lot. That’s why I have to exhibit a lot. Si Kiukok, sa istudyo lang niya nagbebenta; kanya-kanyang istilo ‘yan. Ako naman kasi, I would like to be judged by my peers. I also want to help the galleries.

So you started losing friends because naiinggit sila sa success mo?
Sabi nila, ganoon.

Crab mentality ang dahilan.
Crab mentality. Exactly! And these are good friends. We’ve been together for so long tapos mawawala sila. Kaya nga, I’m sad.

Do you think you deserve losing them?
I don’t know how to answer that pero I don’t want to lose them. I’m the type na masaya kapag maraming tao around me. Pero sila ang lumayo. I talked to them pero wala rin. It’s really ano...kung minsan, malungkot.

To be continued...

You’re still active in the Saturday Group?
I just gave up my leadership. Four years na ako head ng group, I passed it on to Cris Cruz. Pero kapag Saturday nandoon pa rin ako. Sabi nga nila, “O, magpinta ka naman dito.”

That means you no longer paint during the painting sessions of the Saturday Group?
Hindi na. Nakikisosyal na lang ako. Paminsan-minsan, nagtuturo. Sabi ko, “Monday to Friday, nakakulong na ako sa aking studio. Pressured na ako. Gusto nyo maging pressured rin ako hanggang dito.” When I’m painting, I’m always alone. So kapag Saturday, gusto ko naman masaya and to be with other people.

Have you done your masterpiece?
Ah!

You don’t believe in the idea of the masterpiece?
Kidding (about it), sabi ko. “Lahat naman ‘yan masterpiece.” I keep calling all my works as masterpieces. Kung baga, you don’t plan for those things. Ang painting ko kasi intuition. Kapag kasi pinlano mo, ikaw kasi ang may gawa. Kapag intuition, katulong mo ang Panginoon, di ba? Hindi tayo puwedeng gumawa ng anything perfect.

But when you do studies for a painting, that’s a form of planning, right?
No, I don’t plan! Kapag nag-ii-sketch ako ng babae na may bata, it’s plain doodle. It’s like in your writing. (They are like your notes during the day. You wake up, masakit ang ulo mo, ganyan. Later on, (you use them) kung ano ang gusto mo (for example) poetry, short story or nobela, di ba? Ako, ganuon din.When I tackle a big painting, minsan I start with the woman. As I go on, nagkakaroon ng anak ‘yan. Tapos nagkakaroon ng tatay. (As such), wala akong plano in my work.

But the happy mood of your paintings reflects your personal life?
It should be. Kapag hindi mo naman na-project ang sarili mo (sa paintings), it’s no longer art. I think, huh? Kapag salbahe ka, siguro, salbahe (rin) ‘yung painting mo. Kung ano ang feeling mo, ‘yun ang dapat mong ilagay.

How old are you now?
I’m 72, going 73 on January 20.

Are you more active now in painting compared to, for example, when you were 50?
How I’m more productive? I became more productive when I became a Born Again Christian 10 years ago. I was already in my 60s.

Who introduced you to the faith?
Wala. Sabi nga n’ung eldest son ko, “Bakit ka pumasok dito? Sabi ko, “Ewan ko.” Sabi niya, “‘Yung iba sumasali dyan dahil may sakit. “‘Yung iba naghahanap ng pera. Bumebenta naman ang mga paintings ko noon. May trabaho naman lahat kami. Wala kaming financial and health problems. Wala rin akong problems with my children. Tanong sa akin bakit ka nag-join sa Born Again? Sabi ko, Ewan ko. Siguro, hinatak ako ni Lord.”

Which Christian group do you belong to?
‘Yung CCF — Christ’s Commission Fellowship. Its office is at Saint Francis Square but churches are in different places. Sa Saint Francis Square office, may worship and Bible study kapag Sunday.

Being a Born Again Christian helped you become more creative?
Siguro. Dati-rati, I watched TV up to 1 a.m., waiting for shows. Ngayon, 8:30 or 9 o’clock pa lang, tulog na ako. I wake up at 5:30 a.m. I have quiet time by reading my bible. Then I start working. Kapag kumain ako ng breakfast dito sa McDonald’s,nakatrabaho na ako. Kahit tawagan mo akong magsosyal tayo or anything, I’ve done a big work already. Pag-uwi ko uli, bago ako matulog, magtratrabaho uli ako.

How did your being a Christian help in your painting?
Not necessarily in painting. Pero siguro, binigyan ka nga idea without you knowing it. Kasi, ideas just pour to me now. Parang ulan.

It was not the same before you turned Christian?
Hindi. Dati ginagawa ko, sige lang. Ngayon, talagang inspired ako. Nakakatuwa nga.

Where do you think Philippine art is headed to?
It is not going anywhere. Paikut-ikot lang. In the first place, hindi tayo tinutulungan ng gobyerno.

Are you implying that the state of Philippine art during the time of Mrs. Imelda Marcos was better?
At least. But anyway we’ll go back to Mrs. Marcos’ time. I don’t know what’s wrong. Hindi kasi nagsasama-sama. Crab mentality e. That’s why Filipino artists cannot penetrate the international market. Katulad ng auction of Philippine art sa Christie’s Singapore, Eric Torres proclaimed Fernando Amorsolo’s paintings as fakes. Ang auction sale lang naman ang jumping board natin sa international art market. I’m encouraging somebody to come up with a quarterly of Philippine art to be distributed all over the world. Hopefully, mababasa ito ng mga tao all over the world.
It will help promote Philippine art.
Not only that. When I went to the US on a grant in 1969 at the height of the Tasaday discovery, ang Tasaday ang cover ng Life,cover ng National Geographic. It was all over America. I lived with an American doctor na medyo mataas ang social standing sa Los Angeles. So, nag-imbita siya ng dinner. Of course, it was not in my honor. I was just part of the honorees. I was introduced by him, “A visitor-friend from the Philippines.” Then he showed my paintings. Tapos, I was asked, “Do you paint?”Akala yata puro tayo nakatira sa caves.

So publicities such as the so-called Tasaday discovery were bad pala.
It was so bad. We missed the boat during President (Cory) Aquino’s time. We could have promoted Philippine art then. We could have exhibited abroad such as what Vietnam is doing now. Tayo, wala.

But Mrs. Marcos promoted Philippine art abroad, right?
Puro fashion shows. I told her, “Ma’m, bakit hindi tayo mag-exhibit sa Museum of Modern Art?” Maraming small exhibition halls doon e. Ewan, bakit na-reject o hindi na-convince si Mrs. Marcos.

So you think coming up with a quarterly will help?
That’s one. Government support is another. Ang mga artists magsama-sama. Our galleries are not even professional. They only give you the walls. Wala na.

You mean, they do not promote the artist?
Absolutely, wala. For my shows, sinasama ko ang promotions ko.

You mean, you promote yourself?
Yah. Fortunately kilala na ako ng media.

But you do not need to be promoted?
Kapag nalaman ng tao may exhibit si Malang, pupuntahan nila para malamam kung maganda ang exhibit, ‘yun bang ganoon. I promote myself so that people will know the fact that I’m holding an exhibit. I want my exhibits to be judged. Gusto kong tulungan ang mga galleries. I can always sell my paintings in the house if I want to.

You wanted to say something about the state of Philippine Art during Mrs. Marcos’ time?
She really did a lot to the point na ang mga advertising agencies nawalan ng mga artists. ‘Yung mga artists nila, nagpinta na. But the sad part of it, walang lumabas na magaling na artists. They were selling (Vicente) Manansala, (Cesar) Legaspi, (Jose) Joya, Kiukok. Kasi they were catering to the wishes of the buyers. ‘Yun naman ang hirap ng may art market. Funny situation, isn’t it? We really need strong artists like Kiukok. Si Kuikok, kahit walang naibebentang painting ‘yan noong nagsisimula siya, he kept on painting. Kung mahina ang dibdib niya, wala na ‘yan. We lost a Kiukok. It really takes time to be appreciated.

Is there hope for Philippine art?
I think the Saling-pusa group has much potential such as (Emmanuel) Garibay and (Jason) Moss. Maraming magagaling na bata ngayon. Pero minsan ang prices nila masyadong mataas. Parang they are pricing themselves out of the market.

How should they price their paintings?
They should start from the bottom and let it go up based on demand and supply. Ako, ang ginagawa ko, I increase my prices by 10 percent each year.

“Be an actor who can sing and dance,” quotes Audie Gemora of Repertory Philippines founder Zenaida Amador’s dictum that theater actors must have the basic ability to sing and dance.  
Fortunately for her, multimedia artist Joyce Peñas Pilarsky sings and dances so she did not have to learn them when she decided to join Repertory Philippines, best known as Rep, which marks an important milestone as the country’s premier theater company 50 years in the entertainment industry.
“Rep 50 Years of Telling Stories,” a musical gala featuring an all-star cast of Rep’s finest performers through the years, was presented on June 11 at Solaire with some of Philippine theater’s best. Included were some of the special people that I have had the pleasure of knowing such as Monique Wilson, Celia Diaz Laurel and son Victor Laurel, Gemora, Enchang Kaimo and now Pilarsky.
Marking its golden year with a phenomenal celebration to sum up 50 years, 80 seasons and over 443 productions, Rep’s golden anniversary was celebrated by family and friends, who came in droves, selling out the show. Pilarsky even brought her London-based younger sister, Sol Peñas, who attended in her maximalist cocktail dress.
In avid pursuit on a viable entertainment career that can lead her to the mecca of global entertainment, Hollywood, Pilarsky decided her join the best. She aimed to train as one of Rep’s friends who underwent intensive practice in singing and dancing that focused on acquiring professionalism.
Pilarsky performs in the excerpt on the well-loved musical Fiddler on the Roof under the strict direction of Bart Guingona, who is also over-all director, as one of the Mamas. To prepare for the role, she was made to attend regular, two-hour, twice-a-week rehearsals and adhere to high standards of perfection through collective and self-practice.
This shows Pilarsky’s uncomplicated nature, her willingness to start at the bottom as she knows it is the right entry point. She does not play diva, but takes the task as second nature in the order of things. She is not shy about it, but takes pride.
She knows by doing it right, she will get the role fit for her stature. She’s aware her co-actors started where she is now and with maturity she will grow to be where they are now. With honesty and sincerity, she might as well speedtrack it.
 
A FILIPINO STORY. Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harrick and book by Joseph Stein, Fiddler on the Roof is set in the Pale of Settlement of  Imperial Russia in 1905 based on Tevye and his Daughters (or Tevye the Dairyman) and Other Tales by Sholem Aleichem.
The story centers on Tevye, the dairyman who is the father of five daughters. He has the habit of playing the violin on the roof of their house in a village in old Russia. He attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family’s lives.
  He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love — each one’s choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith — and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.
The Rep considers Fiddler on the Roof as a Filipino story for its heavy slant on the family, which is a strong national trait among citizens of the Philippines.
The show opened with a look back at the past and the pillars of Rep and proceeded with the recreation of stories it has told starting with Act 1 of “Prologue: Tradition” of Fiddler on the Roof as performed Tevye and Company that included Pilarsky. The Mamas entered the stage in a straight line formation with Pilarsky at the back, being the tallest among the chorus.
The Papas came on the raised steps, giving the scene multiple levels. The Mamas then pulled out and put on their shawls, giving the grand scene a rustic feel.
This theater debut gave Joyce a whole new world to shine in that will be an excellent credential to add when she faces her biggest challenge when she competes with 80 other global candidates as representative of South Asia in the Mrs. Universe 2017 to be held in Durham, South Africa from this approaching August 28 to September 3.
For the first time, Joyce will not only use her credentials as an actress, but as a Doctor. After being honored a doctor of Humanities honoris causa, she took a Master’s Degree in Naturopathy from the University of Makati City that she capped with a doctorate degree that gave her the right to be addressed as “Dr.” She is currently working on her sophomore doctorate degree.
Pilarsky did all these being a full-time designer-businesswoman and part-time philanthropist and beauty queen. As Queen Helena of the santacruzan of Sta. Rita de Cascia Parish Philamlife Homes, she designed an eco-friendly gown with a seven-ft train (the year’s longest, it is claimed) that she handpainted with nature motifs.
 
REP@50. Founded by Philippine theater stalwarts Amador and Baby Barredo, Rep started as a passion project, which over the decades has become an institution in local performing arts.
Rep continues to stage the best productions from Broadway and the West End, showcasing local talents to promote the performing arts in the Philippines. Rep not only mounts the most impressive productions — the company also takes pride in its homegrown talents.
Numerous REPpers who have gone on to establish careers abroad, put up theater companies of their own, and received high acclaim for their work went back to the place where they all started.
Having turned a world-class theater company, Filipino artists with Rep-training under their belt impress the likes of Cameron Mackintosh, the renowned producer behind Miss Saigon and Les Misérables. “He was unsure how they would perform in front of a large audience. I assured him that the bigger the audience, the better they would perform,” says Baby, who attended in a wheelchair pushed by Leo Martinez. “That was the Rep training.”
See how they continue to evolve with the times and why Rep dares to keep telling relevant stories and aspire to touch lives for another 50 years.
The Rep is now Pilarsky’s creative home.

As the longest living and the most creative, Paul McCartney is regarded as the most successful Beatles member with 24 studio, eight live and five classical albums not including various compilations and collaborations and the most charted songs worldwide, including over a hundred singles, 17 of which reached number one.
Despite this success and offers to return to Manila as a solo act, Paul never did as a result of lynching the quartet and entourage suffered during their two-concert tour of Manila on July 4, 1966 after Tokyo, Japan, the 50th anniversary commemoration ended yesterday.
To think Paul penned the hit song “Get Back.” He borrowed its title from a line of “Sour Milk Sea,” “Get back to where you should be,” which George Harrison wrote and produced for Jackie Lomax. He converted it to “Get back to where you once belonged.” Its verses are also a conversion of the melody of the Creedence Clearwater Revival’s hit single, “Proud Mary.”
His derision alludes to Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s wife, an expression of the hostile attitude he subjected to her for intruding in Beatles territory. Yoko posed not only an unnecessary encroachment as far as Paul was concerned, but also served as a threat to his claim for leadership.
John told Playboy in 1975, “I’ve always thought there was this underlying thing in Paul’s “Get Back.” When we were in the studio recording it, every time he sang the line “Get back to where you once belonged,” he’d look at Yoko.” McCartney, on the other hand, maintains that the song is a political satire about Britain’s repatriation of immigrants, particularly Pakistanis.
But Paul returned to Tokyo after 50 years by himself at the 55,000-seater Tokyo Dome as part of his “One on One” tour on April 27, 29 and 30, 2017. He performed a set of 39 songs that lasted over three hours, not performing Beatles material.

A SUICIDE TRY AT THE BEATLES CONCERT IN MANILA. “She’s crazy!” Ringo Starr described the girl who threatened to jump off a building if she would not meet him, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison during the Beatles’ concert in Manila on July 4, 1966.
“I’d like to be there when she jumps,” McCartney segued in a funny tone during the interview with the local press members at the War Room of the Philippine Army-Navy Club on Dewey Boulevard (now Rojas Boulevard) upon their arrival on July 3, 1966.
A Manila newspaper published earlier that a fringe fan of the Fab Four from an exclusive school threatened to jump off from a building from if she could not shake the hands of the Beatles during the visit.
Largely unremembered, she is Josefa “Josie” Leorado who was unofficially recognized as head of the Beatles Fan Club of the Philippines. Upon confirmation, the mopheads were coming to the Philippines after Germany and Japan, Josie initiated communication with Tony Barrow, the Beatles senior press officer.
Now the lifetime president of the Beatles Fan Club of the Philippines, Josie clarified the issue:
“Sir ‘di po ako galing sa exclusive school. My alma mater happenend to be a public high school and I went to FEU (Far Eastern University) for two semesters only.”
She explained her unique circumstance: “Yes I am an avid Beatles fan club hooked with The Beatles Booster Club founded by Ernie Santos who joined us in our endeavor but he did not disband his group.”
Days earlier, Josie led members to the residence of the British Ambassador near Malate Church to express their love and support for the Beatles.
Straightforwardly, she admitted, “And yes, I did say that I would jump off a building. But it is from the window of the 2nd floor of the BPI Building in Plaza Cervantes in Manila.” It housed the Philippine office of Parlophone Record, the Beatles Record label.
With a big twist, “This was in answer to the joke of Fae Corrales, associate of Cavalcade Promotions concert producer Ramon Ramos, if I would not get a presscon pass. I was also joking because Mr. Barrow had already told me that I would get a presscon pass. True enough I got mine a day before the Beatles arrived on July 3, 1966.”
Fae is the brother of Pilita Corrales, the main front act of the Beatles concert, who handled its promotions. “Okay. Mabait siya sa mga Beatle fans. As far as public and press relations were concerned, siya ang nagbibigay ng feedback sa amin tungkol sa activities ng Beatles dito sa atin. I am very thankful kasi hindi nya ako binigo sa presscon pass ko.”
In recognition of her fandom efforts, Tony invited Josie to attend the Beatles press conference.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. Besides seeing the gaudily-dressed and smart-alecky mop tops turned acid heads up close, Tony invited Josie at the Manila Hotel on July 5th. “Hindi ko alam kung ano ang magaganap but I hoped kasama ang Beatles sa meeting,” she craved.
The Ponce sisters, Chato, Betty and Carmen with Nini and Violy Tavera and Vez Valdez sneaked in Manila Hotel post-concert of July 4th. Bypassing manager Brian Epstein, John, Paul and George were hospitable. Chato recalled: “All I wanted was look at them to relish the moment.”
Josie with members Susan Frianela, Melba Banaria, Myrna Flores and Josephine Marasigan were at the front desk of the Manila Hotel 10 minutes to 10 a.m. on appointed day. “It surprised me na expected ako,” she gushed. Using the house phone, she asked Tony to take along her companions.
When Tony opened the door of Suite 401, he inquired about Josie’s fan club. He told her, “I will notify Anne Colllingham of the London Fan Club of your appointment as an official representative of the Philippines. But he asked me to work with (registered reps) Margie and Ernie.”  
Tony checked if the Beatles were ready, advising to stay calm once they come out. When he returned, Paul and George trailed him. “Natulala kami. Biglang huminto ang tibok ng puso ko. Nasa cloud nine. ” she described the disbelief.
“I apologize that John and Ringo will not be able to meet you as they are still sleeping,” Paul spoke. She told him that they were happy and thankful for the chance to meetup.  
“How are you?” Paul asked. “Who is Josie?” The thrilled Josie introduced herself. “Meet George Harrison and I am Paul McCartney at your service,” as Paul shook her hand and then George held out his.
Josie approached George and shook his hand. The girls collectively giggled after which Paul looked at George and said, “See, I told you... Filipinas always laugh.” George smiled and nodded.
Paul made them comfortable by being himself that took away their edginess. “It’s nice of you to come to see us,” Paul added and thanked Josie for heading their club. Heaven talaga ang makausap si Paul, Josie commented to herself.  
“How about you girls? Go on introduce yourselves.” said Paul as George nodded in agreement. And they took turns identifying themselves, acknowledged with warm handshakes.
How they wished it would not end, not expecting the warm hospitality plus the souvenir photos and the “Paperback Writer” singles. In return, Josie handed to Paul a Weapons of Moroland wall décor and an embroidered barong with raffles.
At visit’s end, Josie took photos. Getting her notebook and pen, she asked Paul to write his thought. He scribbled: “640 win. Keep up the good work Josie Luv PAUL McCARTNey.”
“I have a bad cold,” George wrote in turn and added, “George Harrison To Josie Love from the above.” Bidding goodbye, Josephine asked George if she could kiss him who answered, “You can’t because I have a bad cold.”
Tony led them to the door with Josie asking him about the Beatles’ snub of First Lady Imelda Marcos that he denied.
Meeting Paul and George turned out “the best birthday gift ever” as Josie turned 20 on July 20th that year. To her dismay, her shots turned out as mere shadows as she took them sans flash bulb. Too bad! Josie frets until now.

LEAD-INS. Brillante Mendoza and Lav Diaz are new members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars!... With eight best actress awards, Vilma Santos’ Natatanging Gawad Urian this year is long overdue!... After the first National Basketball Association Awards, wanna bet a Philippine Basketball Association Awards is up for grabs?... Appearances in the press conferences of son Diego Gonzaga can open up acting opportunities for mom Teresa Loyzaga!... No doubt Vic del Rosario is correct in giving Regine Velasquez a film project as new contract star!... Pia Wurtzbach realized Marlon Stockinger is not the man for her?... Only Eat...Bulaga! can make PBA legends play Jack en Poy!...

MAINDIE-MASTERPIECE FACEOFF. Quantum and Mjm Productions’ Almost is Not Enough as directed by Dan Villegas with lead actors Jericho Rosales and Jennylyn Mercado made it as official entry to the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival!
Others are Coco Martin’s adaptation of Ang Panday and Star Cinema’s superhero flick The Revengers, which stars Vice Ganda; and Daniel Padilla, Pia Wurtzbach and Antonio Reyes’ Love Traps #FamilyGoals top-billed by Vic Sotto and Dawn Zulueta.
Almost is Not Enough is made by the same team of #WalangForever, 2015 MMFF Best Picture, recipient of the Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence and its biggest winner. It almost ran away with all the big prizes, taking Best Actor for Jericho, Best Actress for Jennylyn, Best Screenplay for Paul Sta. Ana and Best Original Story for Dan and Antonette Jadaone.
On #WalangForever, Jennylyn as Mia is a celebrated writer of romantic-comedy films, who is at a turning point in her life. She finds it difficult to believe that love could last. Everything comes to a head when Jericho as Ethan returns, only for her to find out that he has become a cynic of lasting love because she broke his heart.
This makes Almost is Not Enough a maindie, a fresh love story with an exciting twist. Jericho is Gab and Jennylyn is Gabby with a big support cast and an even bigger list of actors in cameo roles. It has the same romantic appeal, but an entirely new treatment!
This also shows that quality is almost not enough. By MMFF standards, quality is paramount, but high ticket sales potential does help a lot in the selection process! Quantum Films’ Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2 ranked a big seller among the non-performing “indie masterpieces” of MMFF 2016, its original release the highest-grossing indie film to date. Proof is in the taste! Quantum Films has a solid track record of delivering quality high-grossers.
What are the two other features that will complete 2017 MMFF’s Magic Eight besides the masterpieces Loy Arcenas’ Ang Larawan and Mike de Leon’s Citizen Jake that Lead projects will be selected? The other four will be picked from finished film submissions that will be announced at a later date.
Quantum started the maindie trend when it entered Jeffrey Jeturian’s Ekstra (The Bit Player) in the 2013 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Maindie marries qualities of the mainstream film with the indie film. When put together, it produces a quality film with commercial intent.
Ekstra is a Vilma Santos starrer, a light movie about bit players supported by bit players with Piolo Pascual, Marian Rivera, Richard Yap, among others, in cameo roles. True enough, it won special jury prize, audience choice, NETPAC Prize, best actress for Vilma and turned out to be the highest grosser and had an out-of-festival commercial screening.
So Quantum found the solution seven years ago that indie filmmakers cannot reconcile up to now, and that the 2017 Executive Committee is theoretically implementing this year. It seems irreconcilable because indie filmmakers aim to make themselves the standard, unwilling to work on a compromise.
Trouble here is that the Film Development Council of the Philippines cannot take sides and decide that quality is almost not enough.

TOO MUCH FUN CAN KILL YOUR LIVER. How does your week usually go?
At the start of the week, you seem to find “Manic Monday” a reason to indulge, most probably a fast food take-out for dinner or lunch.
On Tuesday, it’s your friend’s birthday, another reason to celebrate. Cheers for another year they say; no harm in that, right?
You have a bad hangover on Wednesday, so what’s the best hangover remedy? An especially greasy burger paired with deep-fried fries just to keep you going for the day.
You need to pause for a while on Thursday, you went home as soon as you’re off work, and you took the chips you had been saving, grabbed an iced cold beer from the fridge, then turned on your favorite TV series and binged.
TGIF! It’s the end of the week and one of your officemates invited you to a rave. Aside from your usual two beers a night, you find yourself gulping on some shots and sipping into some cocktail. You end up drunk enough to be able to go home and pass by a drive-thru.
Now, if this week is all too familiar to you or if you find yourself hanging out at a bar, with a beer in one hand and a pulutan in your mouth, at least twice a week, bet you’re at risk of a fatty liver.
While it’s nice to enjoy and take off some steam once in a while, doing so too often can be bad for your liver’s function.
Fatty liver disease is the state where there is too much fat build-up in the liver. When you take in too much fatty food, individual liver cells turn into little balls of fat. If this condition accelerates, it can lead to inflammation and damage of liver tissues, resulting to liver cirrhosis, an irreversible liver condition.
Don’t wait until it’s too late, change your drinking and eating lifestyle and give extra protection to your liver with Liverguard.
Liverguard helps repair damaged liver cells and strengthens the liver’s storage function. Liverguard has 450mg of Silymarin and 50mg of lecithin, an all-natural ingredient that also acts as an antioxidant. These ingredients combined have the potential to shield liver cells and prevents further damage to your liver. Available in all Mercury drugstores and leading drugstores nationwide for only P15 per capsule. For more information about Liverguard, visit https://www.facebook.com/liverguardtheliverdefender/

THE FASTFOOD GOURMET @MAX’S RESTAURANT. “Lasang seasoning!” a no-holds-barred friend comments about Max Restaurant’s Adobo Rice, a menu add-on that is a generous serving of sweet and salty rice with tiny bits of hardly visible meat slices, specks of black pepper, garlic bits, spring onion and boiled egg slices in a wooden bowl lined with banana leaf.
Come to think of it, after it became a habitual order, she was right It tastes like Liquid Seasoning -- like adobo, but it is not adobo! She knows I favor the natural flavors of Max’s menu, partial to its Sinigang na Bangus Belly for its usually fresh, boneless, premium cut.
Also for its nilagang baka, so very chunky and usually tender, but the huge serving size has several times fooled me to actually choke. Can’t they make it half the size? I usually request this, but they forget.
Max’s also promotes Danggit Rice Bowl with garlic bits, a taste of ginger, diced tomatoes, salted duck egg and chopped fried danggit. Also Tinola Rice Bowl with a blend of ginger and garlic, diced sayote, spring onions and malunggay leaves. I have not seen actual servings, but its Facebook page promotes them. Must be a special locations menu add-on.
The Crispy Pata Rice Bowl is a miniscule serving of tender plus crunchy combination over a mound of white rice, atchara and spiced soy sauce. The Kare-kare Rice Bowl is a 100 percent pure beef kare-kare with sitaw and pechay cuts and on top of a mound of white rice with a serving of sauteed bagoong. Both are priced for “only” P199 with a glass of ice-cold softdrink brand.
Clearly, Max’s is shooting for add-on sales with this Rice Bowl strategy, mainly the fastfood niche, so this sector must fret about what it will do for this slice of the pie.

LEAD-INS. Ted Failon’s relevant documentary, Pamana ng Mina? that aired on “Sunday’s Best” on ABS-CBN reminds us of President Rodrigo Duterte’s botched platform promise!... As ushered in by “Despacito,” Latin Pop is the next big thing in contemporary music!... Billy Crawford is the host of the new ABS-CBN one-hour children’s television and talent show, Little Big Shots!... Willie Revillame ditched Super Tekla as co-host of Wowowin due to his acquired casino vice!... The first branch of the world-famous restaurant Hello Kitty Cafe of the globally-loved cat has just opened in the country in the Uptown Mall in Bonifacio Global City!... Empoy now carries the surname “Marquez!”...

ORESTES OJEDA IS BACK! A film by Tim Rone Villanueva, Paano Bihisan Ang Isang Ina is an Orestes Ojeda starrer with Hark Montillana, Micko Laurente and Cataleya Surio as Klaudua. Will the three men in her life shame her? Who will save her?
After an absence of 13 years when he silently exited with Te Amo, Maging Sino Ka Man TV series and Kuya in 2004. The year before, he did four important films: Mano Po 2: My Home with Susan Roces as directed by Erik Matti; Sanib; Dekada ’70 with Vilma Santos; Pistolero; and Hesus Rebolusyunaryo as directed by Lav Diaz.
A Philippine School of Business Administration alumnus, he was basketball varsity player in college years, he was bound to become a professional basketball player, but showbiz turned his life at 20 years old when he was persuaded by director/business manager Joey Gosiengfiao to join show business. He appeared in more than 115 movies and television shows.
He was formally introduced as a supporting actor in Zoom Zoom Superman, starring Ariel Ureta in 1974. He also appeared in Sunugin Ang Samar (1974), Isang Gabi, Tatlong Babae! (1974), May Isang Tsuper Ng Taksi (1975), Ang Boyfriend Kong Baduy (1976). He played the lead role as a priest in Pagsambang Bayan (1977).
He was also in the cast of Ishmael Bernal’s 1980 classic Manila By Night. In 1985, he did Scorpio Nights, the story of a college student (played by Daniel Fernando) who had an affair with his neighbor (Anna Marie Gutierrez), a housewife married to a security guard (played by Orestes). He starred Dingding Lang Ang Pagitan (1986) with Maria Isabel Lopez.
During the hiatus up to the present, Orestes partly spent his time in art events such as prestigious auction previews of Leon Gallery and Sotheby’s with the likes of Aga Muhlach, Julius and Christine Babao and Gretchen Barretto.

CANNED HIT: ‘WEIGHTLIFTING FAIRY.’ ABS-CBN is set air Weightlifting Fairy, another Korean series beginning July 10, 2017. A coming-of-age story about a group of college athletes who are fighting for their dreams, experiencing and finding love in the process, and growing every step of the way. It follows the story of Kim Bok Joo, a young lady who enters the world of weightlifting to fulfill her father’s dreams.
Lee Sung-kyung as Kim Bok-joo is a naturally gifted weightlifter with an ambitious personality. She stands up for injustice, but is shy and awkward around boys. She hides her insecurities and fragile heart under her strong exterior.
Nam Joo-hyuk as Jung Joon-hyung is Bok-joo’s best friend, a talented swimmer with a playful personality. He suffers a trauma that began when he realized that the postcards being sent to him by his mother was actually from his aunt and uncle, which coincides with his first big international tournament, he later made a false start and got disqualified.
Lee Jae-yoon as Jung Jae-yi is Joon-hyung’s cousin and older brother. A former athlete who becomes an obesity doctor due to an injury. His gentle and kind personality makes him the first man that Bok-joo falls in love with.
Kyung Soo-jin as Song Shi-ho is a top-class rhythmic gymnast, who won a silver medal at the Asian Games at the age of eighteen. She is an overachiever, and is under constant stress about her developing figure, which causes her to break up with Joon-hyung.
Despite the hardships, Bok Joo remains determined to prove herself and to make her family proud. Her love life, however, is on the line because not many guys like women in the weightlifting team.
One day, she meets Jung Joon Hyung, a collegiate swimmer who’s swimming career is also on the line because of a mistake he made in one of his competitions.
As they cross paths, Joon Hyung and Bok Joo realize that they know each other way back when they were still kids.
The two become good friends and just as when Joon Hyung is starting to fall for Bok Joo, she develops a crush over her weight loss doctor Jung Jae-Hyi, who happens to be Joon Hyung’s brother.
Weightlifting Fairy is part of ABS-CBN’s primetime block and it will air from Monday to Friday after “A Love to Last.”

POPE  FRANCIS’ TOP 10 TIPS FOR A HEAVENLY LIFE. In an interview published in part in the Argentine weekly Viva, Pope Francis listed his Top 10 tips for bringing greater joy to one’s life:
1. “Live and let live.” Everyone should be guided by this principle, he said, which has a similar expression in Rome with the saying, “Move forward and let others do the same.”
2. “Be giving of yourself to others.” People need to be open and generous toward others, he said, because “if you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant water becomes putrid.”
3. “Proceed calmly” in life. The pope, who used to teach high school literature, used an image from an Argentine novel by Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the protagonist — gaucho Don Segundo Sombra — looks back on how he lived his life.
“He says that in his youth he was a stream full of rocks that he carried with him; as an adult, a rushing river; and in old age, he was still moving, but slowly, like a pool” of water, the pope said. He said he likes this latter image of a pool of water — to have “the ability to move with kindness and humility, a calmness in life.”
4. “A healthy sense of leisure.” The pleasures of art, literature and playing together with children have been lost, he said. Families must also turn off the TV when they sit down to eat because, even though television is useful for keeping up with the news, having it on during mealtime “doesn’t let you communicate” with each other, the pope said.
5. Sundays should be holidays. Workers should have Sundays off because “Sunday is for family,” he said.
6. Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people. “We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities they will get into drugs” and be more vulnerable to suicide, he said.
“It’s not enough to give them food,” he said. “Dignity is given to you when you can bring food home” from one’s own labor.
7. Respect and take care of nature. Environmental degradation “is one of the biggest challenges we have,” he said. “I think a question that we’re not asking ourselves is: ‘Isn’t humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?’”
8. Stop being negative. “Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. That means, ‘I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down,’” the pope said. “Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy.”
9. Don’t proselytize; respect others’ beliefs. “We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: ‘I am talking with you in order to persuade you,’ No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing,” the pope said.
10. Work for peace. “We are living in a time of many wars,” he said, and “the call for peace must be shouted. Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive” and dynamic.

If cockfighting is the prevalent animal sport until now among Filipinos, that is because it is a movable sport -- prized fighting cocks are portable; they can be held in any space where avid cockfighters can gather; and disposing of the losing animal is not much of a hassle.

Although the matador seems to be dancing with the bovine with his/her graceful but tensed movements in bullfighting, the intention is to outwit the animal with a red cape and pierce it with banderillas
to weaken it with loss of blood and eventually to stab it with a sword between the shoulder blade and the heart or aorta to kill it. If the animal turns out to be stronger, then it is to harm the matador with its pointed horns, possibly gored to death.
Though now a forgotten local sport, bullfights never took a foothold in our country. There is even no remnants of a bull ring in Manila, but our history contains stories about bullfights, among them written by well-known Spanish writer W.E. Retana in “Fiestas de Toros en Filipinas” (Madrid, 1896), and photos with the clock tower of the City Hall of Manila protruding in the background.
Retana is Wenceslao “Wenchesco” Emilio Retana y Gamboa (1862–1924), also known as Wenceslao E. Retana, a 19th-century Spanish civil servant, colonial administrator, writer, biographer, political commentator, publisher, bibliophile, bibliographer, Filipiniana collector, Spanish Filipinologist and Philippine scholar.
Retana was a “onetime adversary” of Philippine national hero José Rizal who later became an “admirer” who wrote the first biographical account of the life of Rizal in 1907 entitled “Vida y Escritos del Dr. José Rizal” or “Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal” where he admitted that the gravest mistake of Spain was his judgment and execution. Rosa M. Vallejo described Retana as the “foremost” non-Filipino Filipinologist.

BEGINNING YEARS. Retana writes that the first corrida or bullfight, Spain’s national sport, recorded in Philippine history was held in Manila on a Sunday afternoon, December 8, 1619, during the celebration of the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception.
In the 1750s, he continued, bullfights were held at Plaza de Armas in Intramuros until the “indios” of Manila realized that “neither bulls nor matadors were any good,” and so turned back to their favorite “sabong” or cockfighting. Plaza de Armas was renamed Plaza Mayor, which formed the Spanish Government Center.
As a Spanish colony then in the 1880s, the Philippine islands were known to have corridas or bull rings. They were located in two locales, Manila and Iloilo. The only known photograph of these bull rings was in the country’s Queen City of the south, Iloilo, the Plaza de Toros en Iloilo.
That same decade, bullfighting reached its peak of popularity attended by Spanish high government officials, ecclesiastical dignitaries, oligarchic families, the middle class, and even some of the Filipino educated class called Ilustrados. The bullfights lasted until the closing years of Spanish rule. Most of them were held in Paco, Manila.
However, the bullfighting game does have similarities to the Philippine’s own favorite weekend sports and gambling activity, the cockfights. To attain victory, both had to end with a lethal and fatal consequence to the other protagonist. A final solution to the game with no second place honors.
In 1884 several bullfights were held in the town of Batangas, but these were “poor imitations of the genuine corridas held in Spain so that they were ridiculed by the Manila newspapers.”
Other bullfights were performed at intermittent periods in celebration of certain festivals not only in Luzon but also in the Visayas as captured in a 1895 photograph of a bullfight at Plaza Iloilo.
A native version came out in which sharp-horned carabaos picked for their ferocity were pitted against one another with bets laid on the side.

ENDING YEARS. The last bullfights were performed at the Plaza de Toros (bullfight arena) located in the suburb of Paco outside the Walled City (Intramuros). They were no longer attended by Manila’ elite because by this time, the corrida had degenerated into a vulgar spectacle for the ‘bakya’ crowd.
‘Bakya’ was a derogatory term taken from the wooden footwear worn by the uneducated class. It means anything that is cheap, gauche, naive, provincial and terribly popular.

The bullfights lasted until the closing years of Spanish rule. Most of them were held in Manila at the Sunken Gardens. An open public space just outside the walls of Intramuros popularly used as playing fields during the American colonial period, the area used to be the moat of the walled city during the Spanish colonial period. When the Americans arrived, they reclaimed the area because the moat proved to be unsanitary, and used it as a public space and military drilling grounds.
It was reported: “Bullfighting in Manila in the 1890s... The bull ring was located in Paco district.” This information was vaguely attributed to American writer Joseph L. Stickney, who was in the Philippines between 1898-99. Stickney described the state of the sport in the country: “Neither Spanish bull-fighters nor Spanish bulls are brought to the island, so that native talent has to be obtained to play both roles. The bulls are timid and lazy, the bull-fighters are little better, so that the traveler does not see bullfighting of the same sort that he would in Spain, Cuba or Mexico.”
This writer thinks this a wrong attribution, perhaps based on the wrong information that Intramuros as part of Paco as they were adjacent. There is no proof of this as no such structure remains,
There is also the unsubstantiated information that said the Paco bull ring was located where the present Knights of Columbus property near Plaza Dilao, Paco, Manila is located.
After the Philippine-American war, bullfighting was no longer encouraged by the new ruling American government officials because they were aiming to eradicate any influences of the previous Spanish colonial regime and they also find bullfighting as animal cruelty disguised as sports.
Bullfighting made a brief comeback in the 1950s during the celebration of the 1953 Manila International Fair. It was held at the Sunken Gardens.
The bullfights, which featured bulls and matadors from Spain, was a big hit. But the next stagings of the event were no longer supported and funded by the high ruling class and government officials because as they saw it in those days, bullfighting had degenerated into a vulgar spectacle for the cheap and naive people which they used to call then as the Bakya crowd. The last bullfight held at the Sunken Gardens was on January 5, 1955.

SABONG. Cockfighting is an older sports in the Philippines than bullfighting. Flourishing in pre-colonial Philippines as recorded by Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian diarist aboard Ferdinand Magellan’s 1521 expedition where he recorded his observation.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockfight - cite_note-39 This sport was derived from the fact that it shares elements of Indian and other Southeast Asian cultures, where the jungle fowl (bankivoid) and Oriental type of chicken are endemic.
Like bullfighting, cockfighting is a blood sport in which roosters are placed in a ring and forced to fight to the death for the “amusement” of onlookers, illegal in many countries like the United States. “Tested with steel” roosters are born, raised, and trained to fight on cockpits.
The Filipinos’ penchant to engage and enjoy in cockfighting is legendary. A game that encourages victory by all means, a final end result justifying means, a deadly combat to the end. Popular enjoyments and favorite pastimes probably leads one to a better understanding of human behavior and cultural development as a people and as a country

LEAD-INS. Bashed for posting Philippine soldiers’ positions through videos on Instagram, photojournalist Jes Aznar boldness paid off when his photo of Marawi siege landed on the cover of Time magazine’s July 3, 2017 issue!... GMA must stop shamelessly using the blurb “Walang kinikilingan, walang pinoprotektahan” because like ABS-CBN, it does not broadcast the competitor’s winners in entertainment awards!... Is Donita Nose of Willie Revillame’s “Wowowin” going the way of Super Tekla?... Sancho, Ai-Ai de las Alas’ son and a big reason she switched from ABS-CBN to GMA, is now officially a member of the Kapamilya Network’s Star Magic!... ABS-CBN chief content officer, executive adviser to ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III, and president of ABS-CBN University Charo Santos-Concio appeared as a vampire in last Friday’s edition of “La Luna Sangre!”...

‘ANG PAMILYANG HINDI LUMULUHA.’ After the botched Star Cinema feature with ex-husband Gabby Concepcion which Megastar Sharon Cuneta will start shoot this September. Buzzed to be subbed with a film project with Richard Gomez, Sharon refused to confirm.
But she Sharon is finally back in the movies with CineLarga Multimedia Production’s “Ang Pamilyang Hindi Lumuluha” to have its world premiere on August 8, 2017, CCP Main Theater in connection with the prestigious 2017 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival!
“This is Cinemalaya. I think all the stars of all the movies are on the same level, no super duper, no mega, no like that. They are all in the same footing which makes it wonderful,” shares lead star/co-producer Sharon with Niño Muhlach, Moi Bien and others.
Her last film eight years ago was Chito Rono’s “Caregiver” about a dedicated mother who goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for her family. Sharon portrays the role of Sarah, a mother who left her son in the Philippines and also a teacher who relinquished her profession in lieu of care giving in London, in hopes of augmenting her salary. For her realistic portrayal, Sharon won Best Actress.
In her new film, she plays a businesswoman who is searching for “ang pamilyang hindi lumuluha” in the hope it will reunite her with husband and their children. “In this movie, you have never seen me like this anywhere else,” Sharon explains the role.

WHAT ARE THEIR CREDENTIALS? At the First The Eddys Entertainment Awards, helmer Lav Diaz was bestowed the Manny Pichel special award, an honor given to showbiz editors for their valuable contributions to local cinema. The acclaimed filmmaker used to edit the entertainment section of the tabloid Taliba and other magazines such as Jingle Chord Book.
Manny Pichel was the entertainment editor of Malaya before the present entertainment editor, Gie Trilliana, his assistant who took over when he passed on of throat cancer. Even he was detected having terminal illness, he decided to continue smoking until his death.
An unforgettable experience with Manny was one time we went to a media activity from ABS-CBN Quezon City to Makati City with Danny Vibas and Mario Hernando in a cab. It only took less than an hour to navigate Edsa during that time. I specifically remember Manny, Danny and Mario used the time to have a great time by singing Broadway classics.

FIGHTING ILLEGAL MINING WITH TELEVISION. President Rodrigo Duterte issued a fresh warning to mining companies, citing destruction he saw in an episode of ABS-CBN’s “Failon Ngayon.”
Mining companies will “pay the price” if they violate the law, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu. “If you violate the mining law, then you have to pay the price of it, either fines or closure or suspension. We are serious about that,” he added.
Cimatu said he would decide within the year on appeals against the decision of his predecessor, former Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez, to suspend 23 mines and cancels dozens of contracts.
A glossy magazine travel show, highlighting the country’s most scenic destinations, G Diaries continues her advocacy for protecting the environment and promoting eco-tourism.
Composed of 13 breathtaking episodes directed by Ollywood ace director Will Harper featuring celebrities Charo Santos, Eddie Garcia and Sharon Cuneta, G Diaries airing every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. over ABS-CBN.
It informs and incites action for everyone to be part of the collective effort to preserve the environment and bequeath it in its healthiest state to the next generation.”

‘WEIGHTLIFTING FAIRY,’ WATCHING MY FIRST KOREANOVELA. Korean dramas, better known as Koreanovelas, began airing in the Philippines in 2003, starting with GMA Network airing “Bright Girl.” It is only now with ABS-CBN’s newly launched “Weightlifting Fairy” or 14 years after that I started watching my first series.
Now staple of free channel daily programming, K-dramas depict our collective cosmopolitan dreams; they answer our deep-seated need for actors with chiseled features and to-die-for skin quality; and/or they satiate our evolving taste for television viewing.
A coming-of-age story about a group of college athletes who are fighting for their dreams, experiencing and finding love in the process, and growing every step of the way, Weightlifting Fairy is a South Korean television series starring Lee Sung-kyung in the title role. It is inspired by the life of Olympic gold-medalist Jang Mi-ran.
Although the series was a commercial failure om South Korea and only averaged single-digit audience rating of 4.6 percent, it ranked last against public broadcasting dramas airing in the same time-slot throughout its run. It gained a cult following among young viewers and received favorable reviews.
Main cast members are:
Lee Sung-kyung as Kim Bok-joo is a naturally gifted weightlifter with an ambitious personality. She stands up for injustice, but is shy and awkward around boys. She hides her insecurities and fragile heart under her strong exterior.
Nam Joo-hyuk as Jung Joon-hyung is Bok-joo’s best friend, a talented swimmer with a playful personality. He suffers a trauma that began when he realized that the postcards being sent to him by his mother was actually from his aunt and uncle, which coincides with his first big international tournament, he later made a false start and got disqualified.
Lee Jae-yoon as Jung Jae-yi is Joon-hyung’s cousin and older brother. A former athlete who becomes an obesity doctor due to an injury. His gentle and kind personality makes him the first man that Bok-joo falls in love with.
Kyung Soo-jin as Song Shi-ho is a top-class rhythmic gymnast, who won a silver medal at the Asian Games at the age of eighteen. She is an overachiever, and is under constant stress about her developing figure, which causes her to break up with Joon-hyung.
Dubbed as the “Home of Asian Novelas,” ABS-CBN continues to offer Asian series to its viewers. The Kapamilya network has recently acquired the rights to show seven Koreanovela hits in 2017. It has already serialized Legend of the Blue Sea, Love in the Moonlight, Goblin and now Weightlifting Fairy. Hwarang, W and Doctors are scheduled for showing this year.

ARIEL ANGELITO BAGS 4TH PLACE. Grade 11 participant Ariel Angelito as accompanied by Adviser Jorge Llanes of Bitalag Integrated School (BIS) bagged the 4th place of the Poster-Slogan Competition of the Dangerous Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program Summit.
This was held during the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on July 14, 2017 at the Oasis Resort Hotel, San Fernando City, La Union.
Adviser Jorge signed the Commitment Board for a drug free district, drug-free barangay and drug-free school in behalf of BIS and Dr. Delia Hufalar, BIS Principal III. He also thanked her for the encouragement and support. Also Dave Zaragoza of Department Of Health — RO1.

Motion in paintings by Vincent Christopher Gonzales and Jun Martinez is the style of two consignments by ARTlead Originals to Leon Gallery’s Leon Exchange Online Auction, scheduled on July 29, 2017 at 11 a.m.
Motion has always been in art since the Lascaux, France cave paintings depicting the big mammals of the plains. Capturing a moment in time and its motion, whether static or kinetic, this kind of work attempts to depict motion to show movement over time.
Art works in a depiction of a moment are unlike motion features as Yoko Ono’s “Fly” or kinetic sculpture such as Alexander Cadler’s mobiles, which is series art in action, not depicted movement. This makes it even more difficult to depict as there is a need to fool the eye to create the projected dynamism.
Frederic Remington’s The Cavalry Charge (1907) doesn’t use any abstract tricks to suggest motion, but captures the horses at full speed, and the expression on the lead horse’s face shows the urgency with which they are running. The energy and action come from the horses; the men riding them are in rigid and seemingly calm positions.
In Roy Lichtenstein’s Blam (1962), the moment where a plane has been struck by fire, its upside-down position suggests that the impact from the blast will send it hurtling off the right side of the canvas. Although flat and non-dimensional, the suggestion of action is all over the place.

“BALER” (LOT 281 MINIMUM BID: P10,000) BY  VINCENT CHRISTOPHER GONZALES. It was love at first sight with this odyssey of Baler, Aurora in abstract expressionism, the 24” x 31.5” masterpiece acrylic on boxed canvas, Sheltered Sky (2014) by Vincent Cristopher Gonzales. Impressing me as mature art waiting to be discovered, it is intrepid, innovative and insightful. The impactful non-representation is actually a sly representation of nature as it appeals to the senses.
A veritable play of colors, lines, shapes and textures, for sure, a dense artistic expression and impression, it goes without saying that its clear and present beauty are metaphors in motion. Infiltrating the eyes, ears, nose and skin, a meeting of accidental meanings, a hopeful update of personal vision, it assaults minds with feelings, circumspection and trust.
Elements define the space — dark down, bright up and cusps in the mid — the background moves deeper and deeper into the infinite. Thickly painted and patterned after a lush forest with elaborate open spaces, the horizon is yellow radiating energy and love, the views are in hues of red, green and blue. The earth is generous, traced with black streaks, complete with shadows cast from above. Quiet sun seizes the opportunity to be sighted.
Littered with transparent trapezoids and triangles, each a subtle hint of the Almighty’s intricate design put into good use to project benevolence and unintended wit, they pay homage to the glowing creation over time, forever changing into an ever-rich tapestry of nature. Protected from bad weather and difficult realities, a native adores the sheltered sky.
Born and raised in Baler, Aurora, Gonzales is an accountant turned self-made visual artist. Having exhibited in Europe and Asia and an award-winning member of ARTlead, the 15,000-member Facebook art organization, Gonzales was Finalist of the GSIS National Art Competition 2015 and Honorable Mention Awardee of the Art Association of the Philippines Annual Art Competition 2015 among other prizes.
The maverick Gonzales is the founding artist of The Vincent Gonzales Art Museum situated at Sitio Hiwalayan, San Luis along the National Highway of Baler, Aurora, three kilometers from Baler Poblacion. It opens with the magnificent 30’ x 8’ mural in acrylic Aurora in Red in abstract expressionism. This 1,200-sq. meter art showcase displays the artist’s artworks and local art and culture with a Paint on Ur Shirt Café that offers free art workshops.

“FIESTA” (LOT 151 MINIMUM BID: P12,000) BY JUN MARTINEZ. A master of romantic realism, Perfecto “Jun” Martinez’s framed 24” x 20” acrylic on canvas Karera ng Kalabaw (2014), local color splatters as yearly rural tradition repeats. The carabaos rush forward in bold and brilliant but blurred and broad impressionist strokes. A band music to the cheers of townsfolks to take the lead. The air is moving; taste the vibrancy.

After apprenticing as graphic artist in 1978 at Vibal Publishing doing illustrations for textbooks, he moved to Abiva Publishing. Turning fine artist, he held his first one-man show at AAB Gallery in 1983. In 1991, he joined the Visual Artist Cooperative of the Philippines headed by Jose Joya, which met every Wednesday at the National Commission in Culture and Arts Building, Intramuros, Manila.
Prolific as Martinez is, he turned art competition prize winner: Hon mention. Metrobank Annual, 1987 and finalist, 1988-89; runner-up, 1993-94, Kulay sa Tubig competition; finalist, Diwa ng Sining, 1994; and Juror’s Choice, Philip Morris awards (20th CENT Vol II-M).
A core member of the Tuesday Group, Martinez is winner to the art group’s annual Christmas party painting challenge sponsored by patron Alex Lao. As a judge, this painting was given to me as a gift by Lao. Actually, he made me pick it besides the three major prizes.

JOIN THE AUCTION. Partly based on the Leon Gallery catalog mechanics, bidders are required to provide valid name, address, telephone number and e-mail address and at times a bank reference or credit card to Leon Gallery regarding the status of their pending application.

1. All participants must agree to be bound by the terms that have been set by Leon Gallery.

2. All lots are numbered according to the catalog unless otherwise stated by the auctioneer.

3. Transferring, selling, assigning of lots to anyone other than the bidder that won prior to the removal of the lot from the gallery is not allowed. Only the winning bidder has the authority to remove the lot from the gallery.

4. All items do not have warranty. Leon Gallery is not and will not be liable for any unfortunate circumstances that can happen to the lot after it has been transferred to the winning bidder.

Bidding Procedure: Bidders are required to complete and sign registration forms. Participants shall be asked to present a valid government-issued identification card (driver’s license, passport, etc.) upon registration.

1.Before the auction proper, each buyer will be given an assigned buyer’s number. The highest bidder of a specific lot shall be the buyer of the lot.

2. The auctioneer shall announce the winning bid and the corresponding buyer’s number of the bidder.

3. Failure of the winning bidder to object at the time of the announcement shall be considered as an acknowledgement of the bid and purchase. The buyer is legally liable to purchase the lot or pay the difference if the auctioneer must re-offer and sell it at a reduced price.

4. The buyer’s premium shall be 15 percent plus Value-Added Tax on premium (total of 16.8 percent).

5. The auctioneer shall be in charge of supervising the bidding and shall be the sole arbiter of any disputes.

6. Leon Gallery reserves the right to withdraw property at any time before the sale and reject any bid from any bidder.

PAYMENT: The balance of the invoice must be paid in full. Cash, cashier’s check, wire transfer, personal checks (items may be held until the check clears).

Eatigo, the leading restaurant reservation app that can easily be downloaded for free in both iOS and Android, operates with the mission statement “to connect empty tables with empty stomachs across Asia via a platform that allows users to reserve tables at popular restaurants and enjoy time-based discounts.
It states: “We delight our users by saving them money while upgrading their dining experiences, and we drive incremental profitability for our restaurant partners by filling previously empty tables during their off-peak times.
“We envision a world where people only decide on where to eat out after they have checked what is available on Eatigo,” said Michael Cluzel, co-founder and CEO, Eatigo International Pte. Ltd. “I am glad that Eatigo has finally launched in the Philippines and I am proud to share that Metro Manila had one of the strongest launches in Eatigo’s history. With the enthusiastic response from Filipino diners, Eatigo is on track to seat over 100,000 diners in our first month. It really is a testament to how much Filipinos love food.”
By now having seated over five million diners across Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and Manila and looking to expand to more countries, Eatigo claims to be the leading online reservations platform for restaurants in Asia, downloaded by more than 1.5 million users to date.
Eatigo’s partner restaurants range from homey hole in the wall joints like Sweet Ecstasy to crowd favorites like CIBO and Ramen Nagi to premium establishments like Heat in Edsa Shangri-la Hotel Manila and Food Exchange at Novotel Araneta Center Cubao.
Backed by TripAdvisor with total up to date funding of $15.5 million, satisfied users can choose to dine anywhere, from upscale hotels to popular food chains, and enjoy the same discounts with no strings attached, while restaurants get to fill their empty seats during off-peak hours.
As a result of our current time-strapped and on-the-go lifestyle, Filipinos today are now known as the “dine out generation.” Not only have we become more adventurous in our food choices, we have also learned to become more discerning in our dining preferences while keeping a list of our favorite grub joints and making sure that we get the best value for our money.

HOW IT WORKS: Eatigo elevates the dining experience through a seamless and fuss-free reservation process with unheard of no pre-payments and no vouchers needed.
1. Through the Eatigo mobile app, diners can browse and reserve their favorite restaurants.
2. After the reservation, the diner just needs to show up at the restaurant, order any dish on the menu and enjoy their food.
3. And their discount will be automatically reflected in the bill.
Eatigo’s list of restaurant partners in the Philippines is rapidly and steadily growing every day and could reach at least several hundred restaurant partners by the end of the year.

TEAM. The Eatigo team is made up of: 
MICHAEL CLUZEL, co-founder and CEO, Eatigo International Pte. Ltd. Born in Germany in 1973, Michael has enjoyed a multinational career as a business leader across four continents and four industries. After graduating from the oldest university in Germany, Heidelberg University, with a Master of Arts in Economics in 1999, Michael went on a journey that took him to Switzerland, Germany, Thailand, China, Paraguay, Lao PDR, Vietnam, the Caribbean and back to Thailand.
After accumulating a wealth of experience working for Global Fortune 500 companies, such as Coca-Cola (Food and Beverages), Henkel (Cosmetics) and Vimpelcom (Telecommunications), Michael became a CEO at just 33 years of age. He quickly carved out a reputation for himself as a creative, charismatic, and highly successful business leader running businesses that had yearly turnovers of up to $700 million.
A relentless visionary in business, Michael unwinds by playing golf, running marathons and spending time with his wife, Aimee and his two children, MJ and Aiana.
 PUMIN (LOUIS) YUVACHARUSKUL, co-founder and CEO, Eatigo International Pte. Ltd., Thailand. Born in Thailand in August 1984, Pumin has proven to be an outstanding entrepreneurial role model of his generation.
His broad suite of skills comes from the wealth of experience he accumulated since his graduation in 2007. Prior to establishing Eatigo International Pte. Ltd., Pumin started Nanology Co., Ltd., which produces and distributes “Pi Water,” creating a new genre of healthy drinking water in Thailand. The product has been accredited with the Prime Minister’s Award, as well as the G-Mark and DEmark Design Awards in Thailand.
Full of energy and enthusiasm, Pumin also helps out his sister, Milin Yuvacharuskul, as Technical Consultant of “Milin,” a leading fashion brand since 2009.
Pumin earned a Master’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Computer Science from the University College of London, UK. He also has a passion for sports and enjoys participating in squash tournaments in his free time
 SIDDHANTA KOTHARI, chief financial officer, Eating International Pte. Ltd. Born in Nagda, India in 1973, Siddhanta has extensive experience in the finance industry, having worked for 17 years in a number of small and large companies around the world that managed turnovers of between $10 million to $600 millon. He last served as chief financial officer in Digicel, overseeing operations in Trinidad and Tobago; and in his previous capacities, had also led successful acquisitions of companies in Indonesia and China. Over the span of his career, he has built up a reputation for being a leader with strong financial acumen and a keen eye for ensuring proper controls.
Being an adrenaline junkie, he loves to go sky diving and scuba diving in his spare time. The saying “you can never take the cricket out of an Indian” also rings true with Sid, for he is an avid supporter of Indian Cricket Team and the Mumbai Indians in the IPL league
JUDY TAN, co-founder and director, Eatigo International Pte. Ltd., Singapore. Born in Singapore in 1971, Judy has accumulated a wealth of experience over the past two decades in building and leading regional and global teams in fast-paced business environments.
Earning her distinctions in Master of Business Administration (technology and medicine) from Imperial College London, Judy has enjoyed a 14-year career with Millicom International Cellular, a NASDAQ OMX Stockholm listed telecom and media company. The seasoned C-level executive served as the chief officer for Millicom Asia, where she assumed overall responsibility of the company’s operations and human resource development across the region.
Judy is a wearer of many hats as a Certified Public Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Singapore, an adjunct lecturer at Singapore Management University, teaching International Business courses, and is also a doting mother of one.
 
AWARDS. With its efficient operations, no wonder Eatigo is a decorated operations: Most Innovative App of the year, Google Play Thailand Awards 2016 (Thailand, December 2016); Most Outstanding Male Entrepreneur for Michael Cluzel, Entrepreneur Now Awards 2015 (Thailand, November 2015); winner of Regional Digital/Online Startup of the Year, Rice Bowl Asean Startup Awards (Malaysia, November 2015); Global Brain Award and 2nd Best Startups in the Region, Tech in Asia Singapore 2015 (Singapore, April 2015); winner of the Discount Trade category, Big Chilli Expat Entrepreneur Awards 2014 (Thailand, October 2014); and Top 8 Tech influencers, Echelon (Thailand, September 2014).

Decorated director Brillante Mendoza redefines “found story” with Brillante Mendoza Presents: Kadaugan, set to air tonight, July 30, at 10:30 p.m. on TV5 after new public affairs program Turning Point pilots.
The Cannes Best Director unveiled his latest masterpiece during a press conference and advance screening at Director’s Club Cinema in Mega Fashion Hall of SM Megamall as supported by SM Supermalls.
Promoted by his mentor, the master storyteller Armando “Bing” Lao, found story features real-life stories at real-time mode. But in Kadaugan, writer Eero Yves Francisco bends the style by not following real time.
The narrative jumps by a good five years that gives it high realism and best suspense.
“I don’t want to compromise my creativity and storytelling. We really show reality, capture it. Viewers can expect the same process with how I make films,” he explains. Portraying the roots of Filipino traditions in courtship and hospitality as it relates to our globalized times, Kadaugan — Cebuano for victory —― is yet another dauntless television work by director Brillante that reflects TV5’s strong commitment as a TV network to provides differentiated entertainment.
TV5 considers Mendoza as a content partner. “Our collaboration with him is a full-fledged content partnership that spans culturally significant made-for-TV films for a 13-episode miniseries. With this partnership, TV5 continues to uplift and improve the quality of entertainment in Philippine free TV,” TV5 president Chot Reyes emphasizes.
For his part, Mendoza says that he agreed to do this project as his advocacy for indie films, a vision that TV 5 — which has given the winning filmmaker full support for this creative inputs and brand of storytelling — also shares.
“With TV5’s new thrust, it’s going to be home for independent artists and independent cinema, and I am happy to be part of it. Our goal here is to tell the Filipino story, and for this, I will — like in my films — show reality and capture life the way it is on TV,” shares the director.
The show features films that focuses on time-centered festivals of different places and culture in the Philippines. “In fact, even before signing the contract with TV5, my team members were already all over the country doing their researches for the projects,” director Brillante adds.
For January, the show featured Tsinoy about the Chinese New Year; for February, Everlasting, Baguio’s Panagbenga Flower Festival; for March, Pagtatapos, about graduation; for April, Panata, about Marinduque’s Moriones festival; for May, Anak, about the Obando, Bulacan’s fertility procession; and for July, Kadaugan.
Featuring a largely Cebuano cast and crew, Kadaugan gets a high degree of authenticity with reality show actors Dionne Monsanto and Daniel Marsh taking the lead roles in the interracial romance.
According to the director, “Major networks are busy with ratings, I believe in original stories and content and will also do this in Cebuano with subtitles in Tagalog.”
“Kadaugan” refers to the “Kadaugan sa Mactan” annual festival, usually held on April 27 with much grandeur and pageantry to commemorate the victory of native chieftain Lapu-Lapu over Spanih circumnavigator Magellan at the Battle of Mactan at the Liberty Shrine, Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan, Cebu. This is an ancient example of the natives’ attraction to foreigners.
No wonder rhythms of the classic Cebuano love song, “Usahay,” waft scenes of Kadaugan. This is like how many Cebuanas end up as wife of many foreigners as marriage statistics show.
TV and film actress Dionne as Tere, a service personnel in a native restaurant in Lapu-Lapu City, was born in Cebu. Her first small screen appearance was in Pinoy Big Brother: Season 2 as contestant, in 2007. She entered on Day 12 of the series, and was evicted on Day 77. She then proceeded to act in ABS-CBN drama series. Dionne had a big break in the daytime TV series Tubig at Langis as Lucy Villadolid, the main antagonist.  
Her TV exposures give Dionne an uncommon familiarity mixing her exotic beauty with a naturalness of acting to make it a unique execution. She stirs them into good use in Kadaugan to make it a rare drama piece, blending well enough with the bravura performance of the veterans and emphasis the acting to the newbies.
Daniel was the Filipino-Irish member of TV5’s acting boy group Juan Direction. Born and raised in Ireland by a Cebuana mother from Argao, Cebu, and an Irish father, Daniel first visited the Philippines in 2007 and has since lived in the country. He spent his first three years in Cebu and then moved to Manila where he now works as an actor and host for TV5. Brillante was surprised by Daniel’s acting mettle.
Also featured are veteran actresses and Cebu’s prides Suzette Ranillo as Ate Chona and Suzette’s real life mother, the great Visayan actress Gloria Sevilla, as Mercy.

For love and passion
For owners of ABS-CBN TV Plus units, Kadaugan will mark the return of TV5 to Channel 26 after its three channels were dropped without advice to unit owners. This will assure high definition narrowcast, assuring viewers maximum appreciation than traditional TV sets.
“I work on a limited budget to produce movies, a hard task, but we do it. This is an effort as we used to be No.  3 in the world in producing films. We’re a bit late, I know, but we are doing our share. I intentionally hired artists and production that are from Cebu because this is where they are from, to show their passion,” director Brillante outlines his main objective.
The story is intertwined with the festival and isn’t forced. The festival is like the same journey as Tere and is doing a battle for love, much like Lapu-lapu versus Magellan.
The Kadaugan episode shows the Filipinos’ high hopes and faith in love and happiness, which revolves around Tere, a beautiful Cebuana who single-handedly raises her five-year-old son after suffering from the misfortunes of being impregnated by a foreign love interest and abandoned by him.
Women are still depicted often marrying foreigners to get out of their current condition and dreaming of a more affluent life with them. Based on the research of the writer, he said that it is still apparent that many women in Cebu, or perhaps in the entire country, still marry foreigners, even with true love set aside, thinking that our foreign neighbors would give them a better and comfortable life.
It is during the Kadaugan festival where 21-year-old professional photographer Johann (Daniel) from the Netherlands takes pictures and is pushed by Tere to cut short his work for the scheduled lunch with her extended family.
Everything turns out fine until conversations seem to suggest for Johann to marry Tere. Surprised and unprepared, Johann admits that he is not yet ready to get married and leaves for his scheduled flight without closure in his relationship with Tere.
Flash forward, Tere is now pregnant with her new American boss-turned-boyfriend, Frank (Matt Daclan). He initially agrees to meet Tere’s parents, but postpones it because of work. Unable to contact Frank a few days later, she discovers that he had already left for America. Alone again and hopeless, Tere decides to raise her son by herself.
Kadaugan depicts the unfathomable resilience of the Filipinos despite the raging storms in their lives. It is also a celebration of motherhood and a sincere depiction of family ties and hospitality among Filipinos.
How does the narrative end? No spoiler here. You must watch it until the credits.

PILARSKY FLASHES ‘#ONE VOICE.’ “I Stand Against Violence Against Women and Children!” is the mission statement of Mrs. Universe 2017 to be held in Duran, South Africa from August 28 to September 3. Mrs. Universe South Asia 2017 Joyce Penas Pilarsky flashes the mission statement, “#One Voice,” of 86 candidates from all over the world.
The global fashion designer, beauty queen, singer-actress, philanthropist, author and doctor of natural medicine was featured guest in the “Eagle Rock and Rhythm” segment of Net25’s “Letters and Music” as hosted by Apple Chiu on July 25.
Wearing a self-designed gown, Joyce performed two classic songs, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “The Way You Look Tonight” that she learned from her father.
“He courted my mother by telephone that my grandfather encouraged her to marry him as they were always on the phone,” she shared with the engrossed viewers.

THE 15 ‘MEN WHO
MATTER’ 2017.
1. Jaime Ponce de Leon, owner of Leon Gallery, the Philippines’ world-class auction house of fine arts and antiques
2. Jerry Acuzar, New San Jose Builders Inc. chairman, the man behind the 26-hectare resort of Colonial structures, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, in Bagac, Bataan
3. Paolo Ballesteros, Best Actor at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival, the Gawad Urian and The First Eddys Entertaiment Awards for playing a transgender woman in Die Beautiful
4. Julius Babao, award-winning ABS-CBN broadcast journalist
5. Luis Manzano, the formidable ABS-CBN host, actor, and funny man plus comedian and advertising model
6. Marlon Stockinger, the acclaimed Filipino F1 driver
7. Satoru Suzuki, president and CEO Toyota Motor Philippines, the No. 1 automotive brand in the Philippines
8. June Mar Fajardo, the five-time PBA champion
9. Alfonso Chusuey, president of the family-owned Henann Group of Resorts, the biggest resort group in the Philippines
10. Francis Libiran, world-class acclaimed fashion designer known for his bridal gowns
11. Joseph Calata, the Philippines’ youngest self-made billionaire to formally enlist his company through an IPO
12. Harald Feurstein, Conrad Manila’s pioneer general manager
13. Chester Luy, RCBC’s senior executive vice president and head of the financial advisory and markets group and CEO/president of RCBC Forex Brokers Corp.
14. Lucien Dy Tioco, executive vice president of the PhilStar Media Group, the largest print-based multimedia enterprise in the Philippines
15. Ben Wintle, creator of Booky, the Philippines’ leading food app.

THE DAWN ROCKS THE FORT... AGAIN! The longest-lived and most prolific rock band in the Philippines, The Dawn presents “Trenta The North American Tour Kick Off.” Watch Jett Pangan (vocals), JB Leonor (drums) and Carlos Balcells (bass guitars), Francis Reyes and Rommel Sanchez perform live. See you guys next Saturday, August 5 at Privé, BGC. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 9:30. p.m. Entrance is P600 with two free drinks. For inquiries and table reservation, call or SMS 0917-8061214.

THE REAL REASON JUSTIN BIEBER CANCELLED. The Purpose Driven Life (2002) is an influential devotional book written by Christian author Rick Warren that topped the Wall Street Journal best seller charts, as well as Publishers Weekly charts with over 30 million copies sold by 2007 and on the “New York Times Bestseller List” for over 90 weeks.
The book title reminds of Justin Bieber’s abrupt cancellation of the “Purpose World Tour,” which was untypical of edgy names of contemporary music tours.
The word in the title implies aiming for redirection which Bieber grossly botched as fans threw water bottles at him when he forgot the lyrics of the new monster hit, “Despacito,” during a recent leg.
The “Purpose World Tour” should have taken him to six continents including Asia with stopovers in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines but was canceled “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Sponsored by Smart Communications, it should have brought him to perform at the 50,000-capacity Philippine Arena on September 30, 2017 where Katy Perry was the last global act to do a show also sponsored by Smart Communications. Beliebers have been surprisingly supportive. Ticket refunds are available.
And Justin’s not the first to cancel. John Mayer cancelled his “Gravity” tour in 2012 after learning he had a granuloma on his vocal cords. Tom Jones cancelled his concert dates in the Philippines without cause in 2015. But it turned out his wife was terminally ill and had since passed away.
Justin admitted that he canceled because he had been on tour for two years and wanted to “get some relaxation” and “ride some bikes.” He pulled the plug because he has “rededicated his life to Christ” and Hillsong Church.
Justin’s “purpose” in life does not seem to be music anymore -- it’s all about his “spiritual awakening” due to the Hillsong Church and his intense relationship with its leader, Church Pastor Carl Lentz.
Justin’s decision to cut short his “Purpose World Tour” is rooted in his relationship with Pastor Carl who did not advocate canceling the tour. In fact, he recommended the opposite. Instead, the church leader has increasingly influenced the singer in making life decisions.
Justin made his decision based on spiritual soul-searching and his own view of the path in life he should be taking. He processed the endless conversations he has had with Pastor Carl and used them to make the decision. It’s unclear whether canceling the tour is a one-off or whether Justin is so down the road with the church that he will close the book on his music career.
Justin and Pastor Carl were spotted having a casual chat behind Mastro’s in Beverly Hills, California. Justin’s religious lifestyle is the complete opposite of his life on the road and that’s why he chose it over the “Purpose World Tour.”
He worships in total peace, feeling like a regular person, not a superstar. He does not enjoy being the center of attention and the not feeling of community. Taking photos or video is frowned upon, and that’s a big deal for Justin. Not long ago he complained that fans snapping pics makes him “feel like a zoo animal.”
Justin cut short the “Purpose World Tour” after he “rededicated his life to Christ” -- that’s the “unforeseen circumstance” in the official cancellation statement.
Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Kyrie Irving arrived at his own reported decision to ask out of his NBA team the same way Justin chose to end his tour through long chats with Pastor Carl.
Kyrie and Pastor Carl have been close for years, but Justin and the NBA star are acquaintances. Kyrie who’s been an active member for a long time met with Pastor Carl early July about his desires to step out of LeBron James’ shadow. He didn’t tell Kyrie to “leave Cleveland,” but instead listened to his concerns, and encouraged him to make the decision he felt was best.
Now we know Justin’s decision is God-approved. But we know his faith won’t stop him from being an artist. Music’s always been a major release for Justin and he’s constantly in and out of studios working on new tunes. Although he has not recorded since pulling the plug on his tour, but he’s made it clear he intends to return.

Jaime Torres, ‘mambabatok’ of the digital age

Surrounded by mountain ranges breathtaking slopes, wild river rapids and lowland plains with countless rice paddies, Buscalan, Kalinga in the central province of the Cordillera Region north of Luzon is where a cultural treasure lives and works.
You have to buy a stairway to heaven to witness (or even participate in) her unique ancient art of tattooing locally called batok.  She is a century-old woman known as Apo Whang-Od, who uses a thorn, bamboo and charcoal from a pine tree to continue the culture of tattooing. This body art is artistically made by a traditional tattoo artist, the mambabatok.
Her nose without a bridge, her face now designed with lines as circuitous as the rice terraces, her arms marked with tribal geometric designs and her neck and wrists adorned with chunky, multi-colored beads, Apo Whang-Od is a figure lovingly known as “The Last Mambabatok.”
Trying to generate awareness to honor her as a National Living Treasure while she’s still alive, Jaime Torres has declared Apo Whang-od as his muse.
The digital artist (“digiartist,” as coined by ARTlead Originals) is based in Diamond Bar, California and is 72 years old.
Old age has caught up with the native beauty of the Mountain Provinces made elegant by her tattoos, but Torres’ attraction to her is purely professional. In her, he sees a kindred of sorts.
Digiart is an artistic work that uses digital technology, and batok uses digits essential to the creative process. Digiart can be purely computer-generated (such as fractals  and  algorithmic art) or taken from other sources, such as a scanned  photograph  or an image drawn using  vector graphics  software using a  mouse  or  graphics tablet. Batok uses design templates usually ethnic or adapted, based on the request of the client. As such, Torres may loosely be called a “technological mambabatok.”
Apo Whang-Od reminds Torres of his childhood with his deceased grandmother. When his grandfather, who used to sew uniforms for the Colonial revolutionaries, passed on, she sat near his coffin and never left its side until his burial day. She became paralyzed after this and eventually died. Before that, she was as strong as a carabao, doing all the chores in the household and even tilling the soil in the family farm.
Born in Bustos, Bulacan, Torres grew up in Quezon City, shuttling from Calumpit and Hagonoy and Pangasinan and Baguio, special places in his coming of age. He says the first model he painted as a Bachelor of Fine Arts student at the University of Sto. Tomas looked similar to Apo Whang-od.
Torres had his share of awards and scholarships, and a special one was when Mauro Malang Santos was one of the judges. He has not exhibited any of his works; most people who have some of his works may have passed on. But his biggest challenge now is to get back to his easel and be productive again.
There is no single artist who inspires him. Torres says he is influenced by multiple artists like Fernando Amorsolo, Malang, Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso. He also liked the early works of Boy Rodriguez Jr. and Raymond Valencia, fellow UST students, and Danilo Dalena, Raul Isidro, Rodolfo Samonte and Jaime de Guzman.
During his prime, Torres spent almost 20 years at different advertising firms. Ayala, in his biggest break right after graduating in 1968, pirated him from the Roces publications Liwayway and The Manila Times, to work with the Elizalde Tri Media Group as art director, which took him to Hong Kong. But he lost the job after labor disputes.
When Elizalde sold the company, Torres took a lot of odd jobs to survive and then worked with the Puyat Industries. Then he worked with Peque Gallaga in Changes, the first colorcast that starred June Keithley, Jim Fabregas and Maya Valdez. Caloy Atayde was there and a good friend, Charles Russell. He worked with Honesto Vitug, father of the great Romy Vitug, as a protégé. At that time, he was the only who had access to his darkroom.
With his three sons, he migrated to join his wife in the 1980s to seek a better life. Torres stopped painting for more than five years due to a combination of physical, medical, financial and emotional problems. Right now, he’s itching to do some exercises as he stares at the walls of his residence.
His paintings need some enhancements and this might push him back to work on them. Conditions now are almost the same. He’ll be 73 by September; there are so many things in his mind to reinterpret or to express visually.
In less than eight years, he amassed a number of visual concepts, but may have deleted some of his best works. He didn’t take it seriously until the exit of celluloid film, and Bill Gates and Steve Jobs came in. He seriously worked on mixing manual visuals and digital art, but didn’t and stopped short of doing Photoshop or Adobe.
Right now, Torres can only communicate through social media. Physically, not yet, although he knows there’s an active Filipino group in Los Angeles. His life is somewhat complicated that he limits physical contact with fellow artists rather than compete with them.

Here are Torres’ answers to the Thirteen Questions out of the 20-item questionnaire:

As a visual artist, what is the one thing the public does not know about you?
I am relatively “unknown” in our local art circles. Although I could name-drop well-known artists and bask in their glory, I won’t. I never compare my work to anyone; I would rather try to inspire others if I can.

2. What fascinates you the most about art and why?
Being a visual language of expression, communicating your feelings and emotions through lines, colors, forms, or symbols, it inspires me to create upon hearing a song or lines from a poem, being moved seeing a painting or touching a sculpture, a landscape, a face... Art is everything that fills the heart, moves in and frees the soul to create and inspire.

3. Do you paint for money or pleasure?
I paint to express myself. It’s difficult to part ways with what you have created, but I can’t live with art alone. I did sell some to keep my family fed or pay bills.

4. Who do you think is the best Filipino visual artist and why?
This is a multi-layered question. Right now we have enormous number of “great hands,” artists with great minds. I choose Enzo Gabutina for his strong graphic content and design. It’s your right to disagree.

5. Are your works Filipino in spirit? Why?
 Of course, my upbringing and roots are Filipino. I’m not a US citizen, and even if I am, my visions and outlook will always be Pinoy.

6. What future projects do you have in mind?
I would like to retouch my old paintings as some parts have faded, which will act as a stepping stone to a comeback. I would to visualize something “new” probably in oils, as classic medium.

7. Does criticism help you become a better artist?
No. But positive publicity may help or boost awareness or interest in art and may help sell it.

8. How do you determine when an art work is done?
Since I’m a multimedia artist, I tend to layer my art so at times I tend to go back and redo or recycle an idea. But in oil paintings, sometimes you need to convince yourself it’s okay na, or else it becomes “overworked.” I prefer the “unfinished look” or an impression, as intended or to preserve the freshness or the spontaneity of renderings.

9. How do you market your art?
 I haven’t done, just word of mouth. Right now my exposure is through social media.

10. Will you describe your work space as orderly or disorderly?
A little disorderly. I used to paint at the back of the house, but right now that the temperatures are high, and inside, would be a challenge.

11. How do you keep your art fresh?
Multimedia is keeping abreast of what’s in, apps and softwares although I don’t do Photoshop or Adobe. My digital know-how is basically self-taught or old school. I fill the gap between manual photography and digital, computer-enhanced smart tools.

12. What aspect of your art is distinctively yours?
Because I did it myself, although, nowadays, it is easy to be copied, hacked or the similarity of subject matter is always a possibility, expressing it visually would be the difference.

13. How do you want to be remembered as visual artist?
 I am sincere with what I do. I work hard for it. Digitals may look “easy: or “glossy.” But don’t hate it if you don’t understand it. All I want is a little respect.
    

REAL MEN CAN MAKE YOU CRY. Perhaps because it tells real stories in every episode, Maalaala Mo Kaya or MMK seems to be the only television show that has the power to make me cry despite the prevalence of drama series. It was repeated again with the story titled “Orange Juice at Mansanas.” John Estrada stars as the sugar cane plantation worker who does not support the education ambition of his son as played by Star Magic actor Yves Flores. John delivers a realistic performance, while Yves shows tremendous improvement in his acting. They did not overact like the usual male leads do. This shows both deserve acting challenges.

HIGH TIDE. When the ocean reaches its highest level, writer/ director Tara Illenberger’s High Tide, a film about how mangroves save coastal-dwelling Filipinos, wins Best Picture at the second ToFarm Film Festival. With jurors Laurice Guillen, Christopher de Leon, Mario Hernando, Gardy Labad and Jess Navarro, the universality of the features’ Climate Change theme gives it extraordinary global relevance.
“Digital filmmaking has democratized the medium, made it cheaper and more accessible. Plus online platforms like YouTube of Vimeo,” shares the decorated film editor-turned-director of 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival Special Jury Prize Brutus, Ang Paglalakbay and Best Picture High Tide.
For Ilonggo cinema, Tara’s lead is the latest occasion a full-length from Iloilo wins in a national film festival. This continues Iloilo’s reap of top plums like in Cinema One Originals, Richard Somes’ Yanggaw (2008) and Ray Gibraltar’s Wanted Border (2009).
This feat was initiated by master Ilonggo filmmaker Peque Gallaga’s Oro, Plata, Mata about rich families caught in the horrors of the Pacific War. Loosely based on the English novel Without Seeing the Dawn by Ilonggo author Stevan Javellana, the film has a largely Ilonggo cast and crew led by Joel Torre.
“Local cinema is no longer Manila-centric. A lot of regions now have their own endeavors to enrich, tell or document the uniqueness of their culture through the medium of film,” such as the Western Visayas Filmmakers Network led by President Elvert Banares is undertaking.
Government initiatives effective? “Yes, malaking tulong na may FDCP (Film Development Council of the Philippines) Cinematheques,” Tara categorically agrees.
It is good for regional cinemas like Tara’s three-part advocacy trilogy on trees called Treelogy. Part 1 is the environmental and indigenous-themed work, Brutus, Ang Paglalakbay, about two Tagalog-speaking Mangyan kids who smuggle logs in the mountains of Oriental Mindoro.
Filmed entirely in Iloilo and Hiligaynon dialect, Part 2, High Tide, has an Ilonggo cast and crew except Dalin Sarmiento, who was tutored in Hiligaynon to achieve authenticity of speech.
Sisters Dayday (Christine Mary Demaisip) and Laila (Riena Christal Shin) and boy friend Unyok (Forrest Kyle Buscato) gather clams together in the shoreline to sell and give the proceeds to the girls’ father, Tibor (Arthur Solinap), who works in a bangus (milkfish) fish pond. They frantically search for clams to help with the increasing hospital expenses of their seriously ill mother, Ligaya (Dalin).
Unfortunately, the supply of clams in the mainland coastline is depleted. When the tide is incredibly low, Unyok sets off his needy girl friends to the former island where his family used to live. There’s an abundance of clams in the deserted island, but can the children go home safely before the high tide flows back?
Asked about her short- and long-term plans, Tara is direct to the point, “Continue doing more films.”
ORGANIC VS. INORGANIC CALCIUM. The organic market is currently trending towards a rapid growth. Organic products offer more benefits, far better than what synthetic formulations can provide because it is curated without unnecessary ingredients.
Did you know that even vitamins and supplements can either be organic or inorganic?
What we don’t know is that inorganic supplements are more difficult to absorb and can irritate the gut. In contrast, organic supplements break down more slowly and is easily absorbed by the body, letting you receive all the benefits you need.
One organic food supplement available in the market is Bewell-C Plus with Calcium. It contains Calcium Citrate, Calcium Ascorbate and Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D), that aids in the better absorption of Calcium to the bones. Bewell-C Plus Calcium is an organic vitamin supplement that is non-acidic, this means that it can be taken on an empty stomach. Being an organic supplement, it provides the full benefits of vitamin C and Calcium at a very affordable price.
Aside from the bone building, repairing and maintaining benefits Bewell-C Plus Calcium offers, the non-acidic vitamin C also helps in treatment of common colds. The vitamin C in Bewell-C plus Calcium enhances the immune system. It facilitates the absorption of iron, resulting to a strong resistance to infection.
It enhances mood. Vitamin C also plays a key role in the production of norepinephrine that affects the mood of a person and wound repair, facilitating the growth of connective tissues that speed up the healing process of wounds.
Vitamin C aids in stress and helps the body deal with pressures by reducing elevated-stress hormones. It balances energy and aids in the production of dopamine in the nervous system that supports the adrenal function for increased metabolic energy.
Vitamin C is required in the production of molecules needed for collagen. It improves skin texture and increases the formation of elastin which thickens, protects and heals skin cells. It also improves hair growth. Having enough supply of Vitamin C in the body gives protection against free radicals that affect in hair growth.
Get all these benefits and the power of calcium, organically produced with Bewell-C Plus Calcium. Available in Mercury Drugstores and other leading drugstores nationwide for only P10 per capsule SRP. For more information about Bewell-C Plus Calcium, visit https://www.facebook.com/bewellcpluscalcium/.

CAFÉ YSABEL CLOSES AND REOPENS. A million memories have been created at Café Ysabel, San Juan City’s favorite culinary landmark. It had served its last meal of all-time favorite Angry Pasta and a bottle of Arguellanas. But it will serve its well-loved menu when it re-opens in December 2017 at a new address, on 175 Maria Paterno Street at the former 3,000-sq.m. Dian family compound. Until then, we must rely on culinary dreams and recalls.

THE JEEPNEY IS NOW A CARS 3 CHARACTER. Cars 3 is the latest of the animated film franchise about road machines that focuses on the rivalry between ace racer Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and newcomer Jackson Storm (Armie Hammers). It played in local cineplexes with a new character — the vehicle with an orange body and a blue hood, with purple details including stars as drawn by Michael Daley, a story artist at Pixar Animation Studios. He worked on visualizing the script into panels of drawings for Cars 3. Filipino artists Nelson Bohol and Paul Abadilla also worked on the film as set designer artist and sketch/environment artist, respectively.

ANG DALAWANG MRS. REYES. Judy Ann Santos and Angelica Panganiban lead in the comedy feature, Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes, a most hilarious film under the direction of Jun Robles Lana, a co-production of Star Cinema, Quantum Films and Idea First. Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real is the title of a GMA-7 teleseries aired in 2014 that starred Maricel Soriano, Lovi Poe and Dingdong Dantes.
Lawyer Joji Alonso, producer of Quantum Films, has started production of her first directorial work, a short film entitled The Last Order, with Nico Antonio in the lead character. This will fulfill her student dream to be a filmmaker and show proof to be a soon-to-be-qualified film producer.

Known for being one of the strongest vocalists and most fearless stage performers in the Philippines, catch the final performance of award-winning and internationally acclaimed theater actress and singer Carla Guevara-Laforteza as The Lady Of The Lake in the much-awaited Philippine run of the Broadway smash hit Monty Python’s Spamalot, on August 12 (8 p.m.) at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, in RCBC Plaza, Makati.
Carla’s prolific body of work includes starring roles in the London production of Miss Saigon, where she played the iconic roles of Kim and Gigi, and Saturday Night Fever, which toured in Manila, Singapore and Malaysia. She played unforgettable roles in such locally produced hit musicales as Once Upon A Mattress, Hansel and Gretel, The Bridges Of Madison Country, Three Stars and the Sun and Rak of Aegis, among many others.
Carla was recently honored with a much-deserved special ALIW award for her stellar theatrical work for the past 20 years. She was also recently tasked to be the official “Kim” audition vocalist at the Manila auditions in the search for the new cast of the global productions of Miss Saigon.
Monty Python’s Spamalot’s is a recipient of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album and the highly coveted Tony Award for Best Musical. Its Philippine run is a production of Upstart Productions under the direction of Joel Trinidad and Nicky Trivino. This laugh-a-minute musicale spectacle is based on the hilarious film Monty Python And The Holy Grail, and it tells a crazy version of the classic story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail.
“I am so thrilled to be back in theater,” says Carla, who was part of the amazing ensemble cast of Gary Valenciano’s Gary V Presents concert series franchise, which recently had a sold-out season finale run at The Theatre At Solaire. “Spamalot is the kind of production that I love — it’s out-of-this-world, super fun and absolutely funny. I am also very excited because all my costumes are created by Francis Libiran and the wigs I’ll be using are specially designed for me by Lynelle Hair Fashion.”
In between theatrical productions, Carla is busy with numerous television and film appearances in her home network ABS-CBN as she is part of Star Magic’s roster of artists. Also a concert performer, Carla was handpicked to be a soloist at Claude-Michel Schonberg’s and Alain Boublil’s Do You Hear The People Sing where she performed alongside international theatre superstars such as David Harris, Leo Valdez and Lea Salonga with the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gerard Salonga.
Carla is also part of a fabulous all-girl group called Leading Ladies with two of the country’s top theater divas Cris Villonco and Shiela Valderrama-Martinez. Carla, Cris and Shiela, as the Leading Ladies, are currently busy doing their rounds in high-profile events and corporate shows.  
Monty Python’s Spamalot also stars Rachel Alejandro, who alternated with Carla, and Lorenz Martinez.
For tickets, call TicketWorld (891-9999) or +63917-3273209.  
For updates and more information on Carla, follow her on Twitter at @carlaguev and on Instagram at @carla4teza.

THE POLITICS OF BEAUTY CONTESTS. Miss Manila 2016 Cristelle Tolentino failed to bag a beauty title in the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2017 during the coronation night held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater of Resorts World Manila on August 4, 2017. Sofia Marie Sibug, Sofia Romero of Star Magic, however, who placed second runner-up of Miss Manila 2017, proved luckier than Cristelle as she turned out second runner-up of Mutya ng Pilipinas.
Other winners are: Mutya ng Pilipinas-Tourism International: Jannie Loudette Alipo-on; Mutya ng Pilipinas-Top Model of the World: Hannah Khayle Iglesia; Mutya ng Pilipinas-Overseas Filipino Communites: Savannah Mari Gankiewicz; Mutya ng Pilipinas-Asia Pacific International: Ilene Astrid de Vera; and First runner-up: Angela Carla Sandigan.
This just goes to show beauty pageants do not love winners of other beauty contests.

RS FRANCISCO WANTS TO PRODUCE  ‘M BUTTERFLY.’ Before he stars in another full-length feature, RS Franscisco and his multi-level marketing company, FrontRow, wants to produce M. Butterfly, with RS again portraying the main role of Song Liling. It appears he will continue acting as producer of concerts and stage plays.
RS garnered praises from audience and critics alike during his outstanding performance as the lead actor in M. Butterfly in all its 300 shows. This landed him commendable reviews in major broadsheets, as well as the cover of Newsweek and Asiaweek; it also opened the door to a viable entertainment career.
The play was inspired by Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly. The first act introduces the main character, Rene Gallimard, who is a civil servant attached to the French Embassy in China. He falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera diva, Song Liling, who is a man masquerading as a woman. In     traditional Beijing opera, females were banned from the stage; all female roles (dan) were played by males. The first act ends with Gallimard returning to France in shame and living alone after his wife, Helga, finds out about his affair with Song and leaves him.
Act two begins with Song coming to France and resuming the affair with Gallimard. They stay together for 20 years until the truth is revealed, and Gallimard is convicted of treason and imprisoned. Unable to face the fact that his “perfect woman” is actually a man, that has been posing as a woman for 20 years to be able to spy, he retreats deep within himself and his memories. The action of the play is depicted as his disordered, distorted recollection of the events surrounding their affair.
The third act portrays Gallimard committing seppuku (also known as harakiri, ritual Japanese suicide through self-disembowelment) while Song watches and smokes a cigarette.
RS is not, however, lead actor of Front Row-produced Bhoy Intsik as helmed by Joel Lamangan. Four months after RS bagged the Best Actor award in this year’s Sinag Maynila for his performance as a gay thug in Bhoy Intsik, he turned down director Joel for the movie as lead actor, but said he can accept a role as supporting actor.

HARD NEWS VS SOCIAL MEDIA. Lizza Guerrero Makpil posted on her Facebook account a sampler of the big difference between the two: “The Devil may wear Prada but the Chief Legal Counsel wears Dior and Louboutin. Thanks to my eagle-eyed fashionista friend Robbie Santos, the secrets of Salvador Panelo at the SONA are revealed. What GMA 7 News amateurishly described as ‘a flower-patched tux,’ I’ll have you know is a $1,200 Dior Homme blazer, Spring/Summer 2017. Worn with ultra-chic Christian Louboutin men’s pumps (admittedly Spring/Summer 2016, but such a good buy!) and the latest Mon Damier Graphite Vuitton for Men shoulder bag.”
We are free to make sartorial choices, but as much as we can do what we want, what we choose shows our psychosocial mindset. The fashion forward superiority is said to be the reverse reflection of an inferiority complex. For instance, Salvador is not perceived as a fashion trendsetter, but a victim of his own whims which do not serve well the government and the people he serves. In fact, it does the reverse. It exposes caprice that is not consistent with President Rodrigo Duterte’s simple and practical fashion standards, which people appreciate. Perhaps this is the reason he was removed as presidential spokesman? Buti pa si Spacial Presidential Assistant Bong Co marunong makibagay sa Boss niya!

LEAD-OUT! Are you aware that the advertising time of most drama series now equals its the drama time and nobody’s complaining or doing something about it?... Coco Martin smiling off the photo of his buzzed girlfriend Julia Montes with his mother in Hong Kong confirm or deny the fact!... Regine Tolentino subs Tweety de Leon as Organique Acai Berry ambassador!... Kris Aquino reinvents herself as ambassador/adviser of iflix!... Cristy Fermin’s radio program Cristyperminute has been transferred from the late afternoon to the noontime slot of Aksyon TV!...

ABS-CBN FINALLY SETTLES A SCORE. GMA-7 has always used the blurb “Walang pinapanigan; walang pinoprotektahan,” perhaps an indirect reference to ABS-CBN as an allegedly biased network. Then I heard Kabayan Noli de Castro close TV Patrol (August 11, 2017 edition) with the down-to-earth blurb: “Salamat sa pagpapatuloy ninyo sa amin sa inyong tahanan at pagtanggap sa aming serbisyo.” Truthful and does not poke partiality.

DI KA PASISIIL. ABS-CBN displayed its mastery in programming by going out of the box featuring the outstanding Chiara Zambrano and Jeff Canoy documentary Di Ka Pasisiil in a mid-afternoon time slot that usually features less-than-a-year-old, screened Filipino films. Informative and heart-rending using exclusive footages of clashes between government forces and a disgruntled terrorist group from Marawi City, the defeated Maute group powered by the defeated Islamic State in Iraq and Syria killers.

‘SALAMIN.’ Drama anthology genre leader Maalaala Mo Kaya featured Christian Bables in mirroring the life story of Ruben Hernandez, the exotic dancer son of broadcasting icons Helen Vela and Ben Hernandez in “Salamin.” It showed iridescent proof that Christian deserves the Best Supporting Actor trophies he won in Die Beautiful.

A HUGE PILOT FOR LITTLE BIG SHOTS! A showcase of mind-boggling and accident-prone feats, Little Big Shots lived up to its promise to deliver amazing skills by children. Billy Crawford proved an outstanding choice as host as it never left one’s mind that he was a little big shot himself, which constant host choice Ogie Alcasid can never claim even if he is as skilled in handling kids.

WILL MEGASTAR SHARON CUNETA BE 2017 CINEMALAYA BEST ACTRESS? Sharon Cuneta in the role of the deserted and desperate Cora de la Cruz in Mess de Guzman’s minimalist drama-comedy Ang Pamilyang Hindi Lumuluha, 2017 Cinemalaya’s quality saver, showed versatility and tantalizing acting, staged with precision and magic realism. Her persuasiveness should have easily bagged her the Best Actress nod. But Angeli Bayani of Zig Dulay’s Bagahe received the award.

HAS FINALLY FOUND SOMEONE EXCEEDED THE EARNINGS OF KITA KITA? Alessandra de Rossi and Empoy Marquez’s surprise highest grossing indie film, Kita Kita, which grossed P320 million, broke Heneral Luna’s record. Yet Star Cinema has not announced the gross earnings of the Sarah Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz starrer that screened almost simultaneously with Kita Kita. It will probably do this at the end of its global run and the figure will certainly amaze!

CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH HISTORY CON 2017. “We, at Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB), are honored to be part once again of the History Con 2017 and we look forward to even more partnerships in the future with History Asia as we see a lot of common goals,” said PVB chairman Roberto de Ocampo, OBE, held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City from August 10 to 13 this year.
“Our aim has always been to create awareness of WWII history among the youth, instill pride of country and people and bask in the glory of our heroes’ courage and bravery in fighting for freedom. We must always remember that our peace and freedom came with a price,” shared de Ocampo.  
For his part, A&E Networks Asia head Jacque Ruby also thanked PVB for joining History Con. “Their artifacts help make the convention both entertaining and educational especially for the students visiting the event. This year’s History Con is themed on the 75th anniversary of the start of WWII in the Philippines.”
“PVB objective to elevate the status of the Filipino WWII history and the veterans is an easy fit with History Con and also History Channel’s programming,” explained PVB VP for Corporate & Consumer Relations Mike Villa-Real.
“We’ll deliver more exciting History Exhibit this 2017. Aside from the vintage photos, memorabilia and artifacts from World War II, we’ll display a WWII M3 Stuart tank and an actual WWII Jeep. Through the Philippine Living History Society, we’ll help visitors experience how it feels to be part of World War II by wearing one of several WWII-era uniform replicas like as an American G.I., Japanese Imperial Soldier, or a Filipino Guerrilla,” added Mike at the beginning of the exhibit.
All these were available at the “War of Our Fathers Exhibit.” Uniformed members of the Philippine Living History Society gave brief history talks and stage battle reenactments.
First staged in Manila in 2016, attracting a record of 50,000 viewers to celebrate the anniversary of History cable channel in Asia, History Con 2017 repeated history. “There were many synergies that we could take advantage of,” said Mike.
The star-studded event hosted by comebacking Paolo Bediones lived up to its promise to be a bigger spectacle as it also coincided with the tenth anniversary of History channel in Asia.
The biggest entertainment convention of the year, it featured  meet your favorite History celebrities; largest rally of cars and bikes; gripping virtual reality simulations; historical exhibitions; live musical performances; breaking world records attempts; sneak peeks of brand-new HISTORY shows with auctions, sale of memorabilia and lectures.
Writer Leah Salterio found the “obsolete” typewriters worth featuring in her Facebook account: “But all of us probably used these non-electronic devices before laptops came to be. These typewriters are, in fact, not just on display, but on sale at the World Trade Center until Sunday. There was even one typewriter at the lower middle section that uses silver ribbon. Neat.”
History channel star Correy Harrison of Pawn Stars fame led History Con 2017. He was joined by US-based Filipino reality star bladesmith Ryu Lim, who shot to fame after his stint in History’s Forged in Fire.
Other celebrity guests this year were Jamie Dempsey from Ride ‘N Seek, Horny Mike Henry from Counting Cars, Justin Mott from Photo Face-Off and Danielle Colby from The Pickers, Simon Yin of The History Hustle and the cast of Celebrity Car Wars like Phoemela Baranda.

‘DESPACITO,’ THE LATIN POP WONDER. This column projected a trend of Latin-inspired pop songs jumpstarted by “Despacito” by the Puerto Rican artists Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi, who co-wrote it with Erika Ender in September 2015. It is the first mostly Spanish song to top the Hot 100 since Los del Rio’s “Macarena,” the smooth jam about slowly falling in love, in 1996.
“Despacito” is a fusion song that shows off the genius of pop music, but also serves as a model of how creativity works generally. Innovation often involves organizing old pieces into new configurations.
It begins with a steel-stringed Puerto Rican guitar called the cuatro, which most likely descended from an instrument brought to Spain from North Africa by Moors. The rolling reggaeton beat came out of Jamaica, and long before that, probably originated in West Africa.
In rapping, Daddy Yankee employs an art form developed by urban African-Americans, infusing it with the unique feel of Puerto Rican Spanish and slang. Fonsi’s deliciously suggestive lyrics arguably belong to a tradition that stretches back to the lovelorn troubadours of medieval Spain, and beyond.
Its rhythmic backbone is reggaeton, a style with roots in Jamaica that developed in Puerto Rico and has long been popular in Latin America but has only occasionally broken through to the English-speaking world. The video is set in a storied Puerto Rican slum called La Perla and features a joyously mixed cast.
Justin Bieber discovered the song, which was already popular, and did a remix that turned it into Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. His intro is almost entirely in Spanish.
“Despacito” means “slowly,” and depending on how you interpret the lyrics, the song is about what you’d do slowly to someone you really like.
A great song that people automatically connect to and dance to and enjoy, “Despacito” in a very organic way got the whole world just connected to it. People in Russia and Australia and UK and France and US and South America — everyone’s just dancing.
The trend has started to materialize. The Latin beat can be heard on current English-language hits including DJ Khaled and Rihanna’s “Wild Thoughts” and French Montana’s “Unforgettable” that has a reggaeton vibe.
“Despacito” was overthrown by J. Balvin’s collaboration with Willy Williams, “Mi Gente,” another Spanish song finding success on US radio and the pop charts. It is number 30 on the Hot 100 after a month on the chart. We’ll see where the trend will take itself.