Happy couples at Ruffa’s B-day bash

Curtain-raisers:

• Text message from Kris Aquino (reacting to yesterday’s item): Why would I leave Game KNB? when we remain the undisputed No. 1 game show? May tiwala lang ang ABS-CBN sa akin that’s why it’s putting me on a new show (with Pops Fernandez and Zsa Zsa Padilla replacing Talk TV effective Monday, July 22). There’s no escaping me – 11 times a week on TV (including Sundays on The Buzz).

(Comment: Yes, indeed, Kris is omnipresent – you see her everywhere, not only on TV. You see her with Joey Marquez at a condo in Taguig, you see her at this restaurant and that restaurant with Joey Marquez, you see her around town with Joey Marquez. You even see her in your dreams, I guess, but a "different" Kris, though. This time, with a halo, well-behaved, with her mom, President Cory Aquino, in fervent prayer, shedding tears of joy, thanking God for making Kris see the light. Don’t you wish dreams can come true, Tita Cory?)

• Dish is mounting two "special nights" to mark its first anniversary, with a Retro night tonight featuring the Rockin’ Revival, Spirit of ’67, Q&A and other bands; and tomorrow night with Noel Cabangon, Side A, Rage and the Elements. Proceeds will go to a Dish-supported foundation.

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It never fails to rain – buckets and buckets of rain – everytime Ruffa Gutierrez celebrates her birthday, such as last Saturday when good friend Ricky Reyes hosted a "belated" salu-salo (Ruffa’s birthday was last June 24 which she celebrated in Istanbul with boyfriend Yilmaz Bektas) for her at his mansion in Valle Verde 6.

While Metro Manila was coping with rising floods, Ruffa and her well-wishers were having a breezy evening simply exchanging notes, updating one another on the latest and just being together. It was a starry, starry night (see photos on this page), marked by happy couples, including Gloria Diaz and her boyfriend "Mike" (no surname, please!), Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres, Gretchen Barretto and Tonyboy Cojuangco. Gary Valenciano and Angeli Pangilinan, etc.

It was also a "reconciliation" night for Ruffa and Gretchen who found themselves on opposite sides of the legal fence during the infamous 1994 Manila Filmfest Scam (the estafa case filed against Ruffa and company was recently dismissed by a Manila court), with Ruffa as the accused and Gretchen as the star witness.

It’s interesting to note that Gretchen owes her meeting the Tonyboy to Ruffa. Several years ago also during her birthday bash at the Gutierrezes’ White Plains (Quezon City) home, Ruffa introduced Gretchen to Tonyboy who was then "eyeing" Ruffa. The rest is history.

The day after the bash, Ruffa flew to Istanbul minus her usual halo-halo ingredients pasalubong for Yilmaz (who’s celebrating his birthday today at the South of France) because the Lufthansa check-in girl at the NAIA was charging Ruffa $600 for excess baggage even when Ruffa had removed almost half of her maleta’s contents.

"Our family wants to thank Ricky Reyes for hosting the party," said Annabelle. "We didn’t spend a single cent. It was memorable because, first, it also served as Ruffa’s victory party; and, second, all the members of our family were present. Rarely now do we find all members together."