Jennylyn, Derek bond over sports and food

We interviewed Derek Ramsay and Jennylyn Mercado over lunch on Wednesday for the presscon of their filmfest entry “English Only, Please” from Quantum Films. This is directed by Dan Villegas who helmed a rom-com movie for the first time.

How is it working with Derek in “English Only Please”? “At first, I was nervous since it is my first time to work with him. But he is such a gentleman that’s why we became comfortable with each other. We got to talk about a lot of things like sports and food because we both love to eat. He is very professional and it is fun to work with him. And he always brings Dunkin’ Donuts on the set,” said Jennylyn about her leading man who endorses the donut brand.

She admits feeling the pressure having an entry in the festival because they are facing big productions produced by major studios. But Jennylyn guarantees that those who will watch “English Only, Please” will enjoy the movie because of its heartwarming love story which has a lot of  “kilig.”

In the film, Jen plays the role of Tere Madlansacay, a private tutor teaching English and Tagalog to Fil-Ams and Koreans. She just broke up with her boyfriend (Kean Cipriano) and then was hired by Derek, who plays Julian Parker, a balikbayan from New York, to teach him to speak Tagalog fluently. “He wants to personally confront his ex-girlfriend (Isabel Oli) and tell her how much he got hurt after she dumped him for a new guy (Tom Rodriguez). We started having a teacher-student relationship until we eventually got drawn to each other,” said Jen who promises that the movie has several laugh-out-loud scenes.

Playing Jen’s mom is Lyn Ynchausti Cruz, the wife of  Tirso Cruz III who’s acting for the first time. Also in the cast are Ian de Leon and Jeffrey Hidalgo (who plays Jen’s brothers), Cai Cortez as her best friend who has a daughter (Lenlen Frial), Alex Medina, Alcris Galura and Quark Henares (yes, the director) playing the boyfriends of Cai.

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The unveiling of the new set of Walk of Fame honorees held December 1st at the Eastwood City in Quezon City was very successful despite the absence of some honorees. A project of German “Kuya Germs” Moreno, the Walk of Fame Philippines is now on its ninth year and the Master Showman says we should expect a bigger event next year as it turns a decade old.

Kuya Germs admits that mounting the Walk of Fame is a very costly endeavor but since he had already started it, he will continue doing it. Happily, he has found several benefactors who had unselfishly lent Kuya Germs the much needed financial support to keep Walk of Fame going. One of them is current Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno who started out in showbiz in “That’s Entertainment,” a popular teen program which ran for 10 years on GMA-7. The other sponsors were Joel Cruz of Aficionado fame and Nash Coffee, which Kuya Germs endorses.

“Nasimulan ko na ito, ayoko naman itigil dahil magandang project naman ito na nagpapahalaga sa mga artista na nagbibigay aliw sa mga tao,” Kuya Germs told the press who attended the event. It had been a long time dream of Kuya Germs to have Walk of Fame in our country after seeing the Walk of Fame in Hollywood many years back. If he only had the means, Kuya Germs would have wanted more celebrities both young and old, to be given their own star in the Walk of Fame.

Twenty-three stars were added to the growing list of awardees. Among the earliest to arrive last Monday was Prima Ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde who was so touched that a noted dance artist like her was among those feted.

Also arriving early was the famed action star of the 60s Tony Ferrer a.ka. Tony Falcon, the local James Bond who came with his children Maricel Laxa and Mutya Crisostomo.

Among the honorees were Sylvia Sanchez (who came with hubby Art Atayde, her son Arjo, daughter Gela and her mom), Aiko Melendez (who was with her son Andre and daughter Martina), award-winning actress Angel Aquino, former sexy actress Carmi Martin, action star-turned politician Jestoni Alarcon, beauty guru Cory Quirino, bowling champion Paeng Nepomuceno (representing his dad Angelito Nepomuceno, the most popular child star during the 1930s), Kapuso actor and TV host Tom Rodriguez (who came with manager Popoy Caritativo), comedian-host Allan K (who rushed to the event from the airport as he just planed in from Japan), award-wining performers Chanda Romero and Dante Rivero, veteran actress Daisy Romualdez, singer Jaya, Olympic gold medal winner Gabriel Moreno, and 1973 Miss World first runner-up Evangeline Pascual.

Despite being under the weather, Vice Ganda came to the delight of his fans and top teen stars Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo who braved the traffic just to make it to the event. The KathNiel tandem got the loudest cheers from the crowd.

There was no word why the other honorees – Willie Revillame, Lito Legaspi and Joel Lamangan – failed to attend.

“Doing this project is my way of showing my appreciation to my fellow actors, singers, performers and even athletes who excelled in their craft. Sana lang makita nang gobyerno ang effort namin at sana suportahan nila ang entertainment industry para maipagpatuloy pa ang ganitong proyekto,” said Kuya Germs.

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Mark Herras is tonight’s featured guest in the award-winning GMA-7 gag show “Bubble Gang” which just celebrated its 19th anniversary. The show was also elevated into the Hall of Fame of Star Awards for TV for having won the most number of trophies in the awards group’s history.

Congratulations to Rufa Mae Quinto and Sef Cadayona who bagged the top acting honors in comedy gag show for “Bubble Gang” from the PMPC Star Awards for TV.

Among the segments that viewers should watch out for are airport gags, Ikaw at ang Ina (a mother giving advice to her daughter), Tata Lino (an old man in the woods sharing bits of wisdom), Don Cantoni (the Godfather wanting his people to do their duties well), Top secret of Annasandro (siblings who keep secrets about their identities) and Hiwalayan, a conversation of a couple about their separation.