Judy Ann: I’ll never break a family!

"Spare me!"

That, in a nutshell, was what Judy Ann Santos was asking rumor-mongers as she broke her silence in an exclusive interview with The Buzz yesterday on the raging issue about Robin Padilla and his wife Liezel Sycangco.

"I don’t want to be dragged into the mess," added Judy Ann even as she swore that there’s nothing "romantic" between her and Robin, her co-star in the ABS-CBN sitcom Basta’t Kasama Kita. "Huwag n’yo na ako isali sa gulo."

Last week on the GMA talk show Startalk, Liezel said in a phone-patch interview from Goldcoast, Queensland, Australia, where she is based with her and Robin’s four children, that she and Robin had broken up and that she was just waiting for Robin to keep his promise of filing a divorce case. Under Muslim law, said Liezel, it’s the husband and not the wife who has the sole right to initiate a divorce.

Saying she was fed up (punung-puno) with Robin’s womanizing, Liezel mentioned a "third party" and even if she didn’t identify her, showbiz-watchers surmised that Judy Ann was "it". Rumors linking Robin and Judy Ann have been spreading for months now, surfacing as "blind items" in movie columns every now and then.

There are unconfirmed – yes, unfounded – rumors that Robin and Judy Ann have gotten married (as a Muslim, Robin is entitled to four wives but among Muslims, the husband can have them only with the consent of the first wife, and so on and so forth), that Judy Ann is pregnant, and that Judy Ann has been seeing Robin in his condo unit – and vice-versa.

Judy Ann’s mother, Carol, denied reports that it was she who told Liezel that Robin and Judy Ann were an "item" during her (Carol’s) recent trip to Sydney. Why would a mother do such an unthinkable thing that would put her daughter in a tight situation? Because, according to rumors, "Carol doesn’t approve of Judy Ann’s relationship with Robin, that’s why she and Judy Ann – whom, according to reports, Carol "couldn’t control anymore" – are having a misunderstanding, forcing Judy Ann to leave home and stay by herself at a Quezon City condo.

Mother and daughter and those close to them have vehemently denied the rumors.

On The Buzz, a visibly bothered Judy Ann again denied that she and Robin had an "affair." A week ago on TV Patrol, she also denied in an ambush interview on the set of Regal Films’ Mano Po 2 that she was pregnant, saying, "Tomboy ako, ’no!"

But Judy Ann admitted having watched over Robin when he was confined in the hospital several weeks ago. "We are friends, so what’s wrong with that? Mamamatay na ’yung tao, hindi mo pa ba babantayan? Between helping a friend and generating a rumor, I’d rather help a friend."

On Tuesday, Judy Ann is leaving for shows in the US. Her two-week absence will surely fan the rumors all the more, with rumor-mongers claiming that she’d have an abortion abroad. To which Judy Ann can always say, "How can I have an abortion when I already said that I’m not pregnant?"

Robin himself is leaving for Australia end of this month to iron things out with Liezel who’s hurting up to now. ABS-CBN didn’t allow Robin to (unilaterally) end his contract with Basta’t Kasama Kita, letting him go on leave for only two weeks. So Robin has no choice but to stay on the sitcom until it ends in May next year.

At the end of her The Buzz interview, Judy Ann said that she’s not a home-wrecker.

"Robin is a family man and people should stop the tsismis," said Judy Ann. "I don’t want to break a family. I come from a broken family so I won’t ever break one."

‘Wild’ Night With The Flintstones

And finally, after weeks and weeks of begging off ("Next week, okay?"), we honored Vivian Sarabia’s persistent invitation to listen to The Flintstones and the Gang during their gig at the Conway’s Bar of Shangri-La Makati. It turned out to be such a fun – and "wild," well, in a way – evening that when it was all over, we could only tell Vivian, "we should have come with you long ago. Can we drop by again anytime?"

The Flintstones opened their first 45-minute set at around 9 o’clock with the Dave Clark Five’s I’ll Be Yours My Love, followed by Petula Clark’s Downtown and other ’60s/’70s well-loved songs, such as the Bee Gees’ How Deep is Your Love, The Temptations’ With These Hands, Gloria Gaynor’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, The Beatles’ Till There Was You, The Hollies’ Bus Stop, The Buckinghams’ Don’t You Care, the Four Seasons’ Sherry, Diana Ross & The Temptations’ I’m Gonna Make You Love Me and Blue Moon (by whom? I don’t remember), before capping the set with a medley of danceable tunes (The Beatles’ Twist and Shout and Roll Over Beethoven, etc.) that drew our group to the dancefloor, led by the vivacious Vivian S.

It was fun, as I’ve said, and truly invigorating, an "exercise" I recommend to all of you out there who have excess poundage to shed and stressful joints to stretch.

Those on the first and second sets (about 40 songs all in all) are only part of The Flintstones’ 300-plus-songs repertoire calculated to take you down Memory Lane.

The Flintstones and the Gang is composed of music veterans who, in their youth, were members of various groups and have regrouped to play beautiful music one more time, with more feeling, more as a diversion than a profession (because all members have well-paying jobs and/or running their own businesses).

They are: Besana "Jaramie" Zuñiga (lead vocals), Ramon "Mon" Chunaco (lead vocals), Jonathan "Jay Ar" Dimen (lead vocalist, percussionist and vocal coach), Jose "Tolits" Callueng (lead vocals and percussionist), Dan Reyes (MIDI guitarist, musical arranger, vocal coach and back-up vocals), Ernie Amoroso (bassist and vocals), Manuel "Malu" Fernando (drummer and band leader) and Jun Raymundo (father of Ina Raymundo, lead guitarist and musical director).

Anyway, don’t just take my word for it. Enjoy The Flintstones’ music – I dare you not to dance, I dare you! – and crave for more.

Flintstones and the Gang perform regularly Tuesday nights at Shangri-La Makati’s Conway’s Bar; Wednesday nights at Amoeba Music Recall at Fuente Circle, Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City; Thursday nights at Chef & Brewer (Ortigas Center); and Friday nights at the EDSA-Shangri-La Lobby.

(For further inquiries, call Malu at 411-2939 or 0918-9911995; or Vivian Sarabia at 0918-9225073, the group’s business consultant.)

Limpbizkit Trivia Tilt

Do you want to be a part of the biggest hard-rocking concert event this year? Join this weekly trivia contest to win tickets to the once-in-a-lifetime rock event Limpbizkit Live in Manila concert on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at the ULTRA Open Field, presented by Tribal Streetwear in cooperation with Magic 89.9 DWTM, 103.5 K-Lite, 99.5 RT, NU 107, RX 93.1 and Joey 92.3.

Just answer this week’s question: Limp Bizkit’s latest hit Behind Blue Eyes from the album Results May Vary was originally done by which rock band?

Send in your answers via email at [email protected] or fax it at 8160014. Include your name, age, address and contact number. Four lucky winners will be picked each week in a raffle. Each entry with the correct answer will receive one ticket. Winners will be published in this column every week and notified by a phone call.

Bring your ID when claiming tickets at Tribal Sreetwear Store in SM Manila from Monday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. look for Carla Salazar or call tel. No. 5281976 for more inquiries.

Tickets are available at SM Ticketnet outlets at the following prices: Premiere, P1,650, Deluxe, P950 and Bleachers, P550. For details, call Ticketnet at tel. No. 911-5555 and 373-5734.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])