CEBU, Philippines - It was a mad scramble of dodging the downpour, hurdling snaking lines in taxi stands (or surrendering to a walk-a-thon in the frustrating absence of transport) to get to events and chase stars. It was after all, the annual week-long celebration of Cebu's Sinulog Festival, when Manila's celebrities are sure to make their presence felt and add to the city's festive air through mall shows, concerts and parade floats.
Concerts topbilling divas, comedians, actors and Cebu-bred talents were held simultaneously — some were filled to the rafters according to reviews, others turned out to be flops for one reason or another. Much-detailed features of our close encounter with the stars and our new Miss Cebu shall be penned soon, in the meantime, here's a quick review of that hectic yet fun week that was.
Miss Cebu
I don't know where one news report got the idea that MAC model and ABS-CBN's MAG TV host Blinky de Leon was the crowd favorite. The audience's dislike was actually hard to miss when she was at one point loudly interrupted by a "char!" comment from the crowd in the middle of her casual q&a, and there was just this big happy applause when she was announced the fourth runner-up among the top five.
After last year's brouhaha which included accusing organizers of playing favorites (that it became a running joke among the rest of the candidates that they were really just vying for Miss Cebu 1st runner-up), this year's unexpected turn-out of a non-favorite winning let loose still a lot of after-pageant gripes that bordered on the standard sour-graping to being downright mean.
The well-heeled patrons weren't pleased, and were overheard quipping, "Did the judges have their glasses on?"
Fortunately, Reena Elena Malinao has a tough heart and has been taking all the criticisms in stride. It makes me smile to read that she has had critics change their minds upon hearing her speak spontaneously in the functions she has graced as part of her duty as Miss Cebu 2010.
True, this is a beauty pageant and not a speaking contest but we don't need a city ambassadress who just smile, wave, cut a ribbon and who sound like they were just handed a script when they speak.
Vina
A day before her well-attended 30th Cebu Pop Music Festival anniversary concert at the New Cebu Coliseum, the beautiful Vina Morales had a quick presscon at the Cebu Parklane Hotel. The Cebuana reminisced on how an unknown little girl named Sharon Magdayao first stood at the Cebu Coliseum back in 1986 and sang her winning piece "Paglaum". She gave updates on daughter Ceana and an upcoming Kapamilya primetime soap set to replace "May Bukas Pa" with scenes shot in Cebu and some dialogue in the Visayan dialect.
Vina also announced that she will be returning to Cebu this week with younger sister Shaina Magdayao for the formal opening of their salon "Ystilo" at the upper floor of SM City Cebu.
Last Prince, Et Al
The following day was a Kapuso extravaganza at SM City Cebu. Aljur Abrenica and Kris Bernal of "The Last Prince", tween tandem Joshua Dionisio and Barbie Forteza of the upcoming soap "First Time" and the the singing trio collectively known as "La Diva" did a round of interviews with us at the Cabalen restaurant of SM before they came out onstage at the Kapuso Sinulog mall show at the north covered parking area where they were also joined by the Sex Bomb dancers.
Who knew a barely pubescent loveteam made up of a 15-year old and a 12-year old could garner such numerous fans this early? But of course, loudest screams were reserved for the cute Aljur Abrenica.
Banana Split
The eve of the grand Sinulog celebration proved to be the busiest. It was off to Cafe Laguna at the Ayala Terraces for lunch with the Banana Split funny men John Pratts, Zanjoe Marudo, Jason Gainza and the star of the upcoming series "Rubi", Angelica Panganiban.
Evidently, the three guys are really good friends off cam which makes it easier for them to swap jokes on television. John was mum on the real reason why he and Shaina broke up, Jason did a spoof of John while Zanjoe didn't seem to be in the mood.
So was the lovely Angelica who didn't look too happy to be in that room. Turns out she hasn't had the chance to sleep the past few days and was feeling faint with fatigue.
KANTO BOYS
Later in the afternoon, The Freeman was frontseat at the rehearsals of the Kanto Boys (John Lloyd Cruz, Vhong Navarro, Billy Crawford and Luis Manzano), Anne Curtis, Pooh and Streetboys’ Danilo Barrios at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) a few hours before their Kanto Boys debut concert.
It was just rehearsals, but Vhong had the most outrageous dance number. The non-singers lip-synched their way through practice, but Anne did her Lady Gaga song and dance numbers live and was quite good at it.
While Vhong, Billy and Luis were horsing around, John Lloyd noticeably sat hunched in a corner, cap pulled way down his face and seemed brooding over something. Could be a simple case of jet lag. Or can't help think there might be some truth to talks of the "Box Office King" currently having a drinking problem.
FULL HOUSE
Then finally, it was back to Cafe Laguna for dinner with GMA 7's "Full House" cast which included Richard Gutierrez, Heart Evangelista, Patrick Garcia, Isabel Oli, Sheena Halili and Rainier Castillo. The bunch earlier held a mall show at SM and everyone was quite gracious with us when it must seem a chore to hop from one table to another to answer yet another bunch of questions from the curious entertainment scribes.
That was enough star-gazing for a week so I didn't dare venture out the streets on Sunday lest I be forced to hike again. Can't wait to see who'll be coming for next year's Sinulog.