You can help choose Miss World

Curtain-raisers:

• If Vhong Navarro seems to be floating on Cloud 9 these days, it’s because his first-starring movie, Star Cinema’s Mr. Suave, continues to draw crowds in several theaters where it’s on extended run (now into its third week). The box-office success of Mr. Suave augurs well for Vhong’s next starrer, Regal Films’ Gagamboy, which is an official entry at next month’s Metro Filmfest.

• Reader Jade clarifies that Mandy Moore has done not only three (as last Sunday’s Conversation wrongly mentioned) but four movies, namely Princess Diaries, A Walk to Remember, How to Deal and Try Seventeen (where she played a spoiled rich girl who always got what she wanted). Mandy is shooting her fifth movie, Chasing Liberty, where she plays a First Daughter.

• Could it be true that the wedding of Dolphy and Zsa Zsa Padilla, scheduled on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas (where Zsa Zsa’s parents are), has been postponed "indefinitely"? How come? Or is it just a ploy to mislead the press?

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Funfare readers have been asking how they can vote for the People’s Choice Winner in the ongoing 2003 Miss World contest being held in China (grand finals are slated next Saturday, Dec. 6, to be covered "live" by Star World which is on SkyCable’s Channel 25; pre-pageant also to be telecast tonight starting at 9 on the same channel).

With more than 100 contestants (110 all in all, actually) competing for the crown, the Miss World pageant is the biggest international beauty contest and the only major world beauty title which has eluded a Filipina so far.

The Philippine bet this year is 22-year-old Maria Rafaela "Mafae" Yunon, niece of 1983 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Desiree Verdadero who was third runner-up in that same year’s Miss Universe contest.

Like last year, you can actually help choose the winner by casting your vote through the phone or Internet. Our bet last year, Kate Manalo, made it to the Top 10. No doubt the website voters who rallied behind her greatly improved Kate’s chances of winning (she landed in the semi-finals).

The top contestant in the Telephone and Web Voting will be called the People’s Choice Winner and she’ll automatically make it to the Top 20 finalists.

Here’s Gerry Diaz, chief correspondent of Mabuhay Beauties Message Board (www.voy.com/61263/ <http://www.voy.com/61263/>) on how you may cast your vote:

Following the success of the Miss World 2002 on-line voting, the public will once again have the chance to vote for the contestant of their choice during the run-up to the live event.

This year the online voting is even more important as there is a Peoples’ Choice Winner, who will automatically be in the final 20 contestants. This contestant will be voted in by the web and telephone vote.

To vote,
1. You have to log on to the official Miss World website at http://www.missworld.org/contestants.asp
2. Click Contestant Voting at the top menu bar.
3. This will lead you to an introduction on the voting system.
4. At this point you will click the location where you are voting from.
5. It will also ask you to choose the country of the contestant that you are voting for.
6. When you click Proceed, it will open up to the tow voting options via Telephone Voting and Web Voting.

a. TELEPHONE VOTING
a.1. From the Philippines, dial 00 682 38 143
a.2. It will ask what country you are voting for Philippines’ country code — 176
a.3. You also have to key in the contestant number. For the Philippines’ Mafae Yunon,
Contestant Number : 081

B. WEB VOTING

An international credit card like Visa/Mastercard is required to vote online. Each Web Vote will be billed at GBP1.00 or approximately $1.69. Your email ID will also be required.

How the votes are calculated:

The votes received from each country are totalled and the contestant with the highest vote is awarded 20 points, the second highest 19 points and so on down to the 20th contestant who receives 1 point.

Each country’s vote therefore receives an equal number of points with all the other countries irrespective of the size of the vote.

Votes received from countries who do not have a contestant are added together and treated as "one country." The points received from all countries are then added together to arrive at the overall winner.

Tribute To Amado

More than eight months after her husband, Amado Cortez, died (last March 25), Gloria Sevilla continues to grieve.

"It will take a lifetiime for me to get over it," said Gloria, her voice cracking. "I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Amado and I were married for 32 years and we were always together, whether here or abroad. We parted only when he died."

Since it’s her first Christmas without Amado, fondly called Madz by friends, Gloria will fly to California to spend the holidays with her children Lillibeth, Juni, Dandin and Jojo who now have families of their own. Daughter Suzette Ranillo will accompany Gloria for the family reunion which is not complete without their beloved Madz.

Gloria and Madz’s only daughter, Czarina, 27, is married and living also in California with her husband (a police officer) and their children.

"I’m leaving on Dec. 6 so I will have time to prepare for a tribute for Madz on Dec. 14," Gloria (a member of the cast of the ABS-CBN sitcom Bida si Mister, Bida si Misis).

To be held at the Banquet Hall of Vallejo in Vallejo, California, the tribute will be presented by the East Bay Women’s Club headed by Charito Benipayo and co-sponsored by the Visayas-Mindanao Association and the Sto. Niño de Cebu Association.

A member of the Padilla clan (Robin is among his grandchildren), Madz served as Ambassador to 10 Pacific States (including Alaska, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Northern California and Washington) from l998 to 2001 and, before that, as Philippine Consul in San Francisco from1986 to 1992.

Mommy Rose Now Into Real Estate

So how would you like to live in the same neighborhood as Rudy Fernandez, Robin Padilla, Ara Mina, Aubrey Miles, Maui Taylor and other stars?

All of these could really happen once you set-up your permanent home at Rosmont Executive Villa in Tarlac City. Rosmont is owned and developed by RALF Realty and Management Corporation, owned by FLT Film producer Mommy Rose Flaminiano. Her idea to be in the real estate and house developing business came as soon as she predicted that showbiz might soon hit it low. After acquiring properties worth millions of pesos, Mommy Rose decided to put up her own realty business.

"Hindi rin madali pero nandito na siguro ang fulfillment ko ngayon," Mommy Rose says. "What they see in our model homes, yun ang makukuha nila. Then can avail of it through a flexible financing term which consists of a low down payment and low monthly amortization rate. They can also finance it through the PAG-IBIG Fund."

Mommy Rose is also happy to have as endorsers and proud owners like Rudy Fernandez, Robin Padilla, Ara Mina, Aubrey Miles, Maui Taylor and Judy Ann Santos.

"Each of these stars is a proud owner of our different types of village namely Prince Edward, Princess Lizette, Princess Inah and Prince Kevin. Kaya magiging proud din ang mga titira dito kasi kapitbahay nila ay siang malaking artista."

In 2004, Mommy Rose will go full swing with her realty business. After developing Rosmont in Tarlac City, she will put up to more, another one in Tarlac and the other in Pampanga.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])