Celebs lend hand in rescue operations

CEBU, Philippines - Jericho Rosales, a surfing enthusiast, joined the rescue operations, plucking out an elderly woman, a child and a dog from the waters, using his surfboard. Jericho, who celebrated his birthday yesterday on ASAP ’09, got visibly emotional at the turn of events, saying that it’s hard to be happy on his birthday with so many people suffering from the floods caused by the typhoon. “My only birthday wish is that I wish I could have been a boat, or I had a boat, so I could have helped more people.”

For his part, Raymart Santiago, the husband of Claudine Barretto, helped in the rescue of people from his neighborhood near the Marikina River.

Meanwhile, Richard Gutierrez came to the rescue of fellow actress Cristine Reyes, his co-star in “Patient X,” as well as three other people, using a speedboat. Cristine got stranded in her home in Marikina, and was waiting in the rooftop of her house when help came.  

Richard told Pep.ph that he was sad, however, to have passed by other stranded people along the way because his speedboat could only carry a few people.

Apart from Cristine Reyes, other celebrities who sought help and rescue included the comedian Chokoleit, actresses Lindsay Custodio and Gladys Reyes, who are all residents of Rizal Province.

Actresses and actors were, obviously, not spared from the onslaught of the typhoon. 

In ABS-CBN, Willie Revillame was visibly missing from the Saturday edition of Wowowee because he got stranded in San Juan, while the following program, Entertainment Live, had to tap comedian Pokwang of Wowowee to be host, because only Mariel Rodriguez managed to show up at the show.

According to Kim Chiu, the building where she lived in Katipunan in Quezon City was also flooded, including her car.

Rhian Ramos, who was supposed to be in Cebu to attend a Kapuso Kalingawan Day at SM City Cebu Entertainment Plaza, was asked to deplane for several times and got stranded at the Manila airport, consequently missing the Cebu show. The same happened to her “Stairway to Heaven” co-star Dingdong Dantes.

Jason Gainza, a talent of ABS-CBN, whom Star Magic was trying to contact since Saturday, was already accounted for yesterday afternoon, ABS-CBN big boss Linggit Tan, head of Entertainment Production, told The FREEMAN. She said, though, they still cannot verify all of the whereabouts and condition of the rest of their talents.

According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the death toll from the onslaught of tropical storm Ondoy rose to 52 as of Sunday noon. (NMT)