Edu cheats death on set

Two more inches and Makati Vice Mayor Edu Manzano could have been a goner.

The near-tragic incident happened Sunday afternoon in Escolta (Manila) where Edu (as the kontrabida) and Cavite Gov. Bong Revilla were shooting an action scene for Millennium Cinema's Minsan Ko Lang Sasabihin (with Judy Ann Santos as female lead), directed by Danny Cabreira.

In that scene, Bong (with a stuntman as "double") was supposed to drive a car over a truck carrying dozens of bottled mineral water and land on the other side, a safe two feet away from where Edu was, astride a motorbike held steady on a platform attached to a jeep. Edu was on the foreground.

It was a risky scene, all right, and early on, Gov. Bong felt some kind of a bad omen so he asked somebody to make Edu move a few inches backwards.

Lights, camera, action!!!

The car (with Gov. Bong's "double") revved up and flew over the truck, heading right smack on Edu's head. All the while, Gov. Bong was shouting, "Move back, Edu, move back!" It was too late, though. The car landed on Edu's side, Edu fell, with the motorbike landing on top of him. He had to be pulled out from under the wreckage and rushed to the Makati Med, his arms and legs badly bruised.

"Hadn't I asked Edu to move several inches backwards," Gov. Bong told Funfare, "the car would have landed on his head. I believe there was divine intervention in the incident. Thank God nothing more serious happened to Edu."

It was supposed to be Edu's last shooting day for Minsan. Now, he has to recuperate before he could resume shooting. It will be recalled that the accident-prone Edu injured his spinal column during the shooting of a similar action scene with Cynthia Luster a few years ago. That back injury has been bothering Edu since then.

Last Friday, Richard Gomez was all over television and the papers, accused by one Ricci Lalic of having "mauled" him when Lalic interrupted the taping of Richard and wife Lucy Torres' sitcom Richard Loves Lucy in the vicinity of ABS-CBN.

Luckily, the crew of Richard Loves Lucy was able to capture the incident on videotape which Richard is presenting in court as evidence in a counter-charge he's filing against Lalic.

Here's Richard's manager Douglas Quijano in a letter to Funfare clarifying the whole mess:

Hi Ricky,

I guess a photograph is worth a thousand words, more so if it comes from a series of moving frames called the video tape. It does not lie.

As this tape proves (they're all from a single camera) Richard was not involved in the claimed incident. In a sworn statement, the complainant said that after he alighted from his car, Richard hit him on the chest with his hands which caused him to fall on the pavement.

What's disturbing is how people believe as gospel truth accusations against stars, politicians, personalities. Unfortunately some sectors of media have aggravated a scenario from nothing to everything. At best, they should help correct the wrong impressions they have caused.

Richard has already asked his lawyers, Atty. Banjo Navarro, to file a P20-M damage suit against Lalic. In his counter affidavit, Richard will also be charging the complainant with malicious prosecution and perjury.