Donna: No seven-year itch

Monday last week, PM (Pang Masa) entertainment editor/columnist Salve Asis and I were in Cebu as resource persons for a forum on entertainment journalism at the Marcelo B. Fernan Cebu Press Center as part of the 11th Press Freedom Week observed by Cebu’s working press and the Cebu Newspaper Workers Foundation (CENEWOF). Cebu is the only province in the Philippines which celebrates Press Freedom Week, with The Freeman (The STAR’s sister publication) as this year’s convenor.

Some 30 entertainment journalists (and lifestyle writers) showed up that wet Monday morning. Entertainment journalism is new in Cebu, pioneered by The Freeman which was the first Cebu paper to put up an independent entertainment section (with Nathalie Tomada as entertainment editor; Entertainment section used to be a part of the Lifestyle section), so the practitioners were asking all sorts of questions ranging from how to cultivate connections with the stars (and their managers) and how to disprove the popular (but wrong) notion that entertainment journalism is "illegitimate journalism." Salve and I appeased and assured our Cebuano colleagues that we are – we should be – proud of being entertainment writers because we are read, period.

They also said that they often had a hard time arranging interviews with Manila-based stars visiting Cebu. Noticing that the Cebuano entertainment journalists were somewhat shy, Salve and I encouraged them to be more aggressive without being offensive, and to ask questions during a presscon (it took a while before they warmed up during the forum) and not just sit there and listen.

To illustrate how easy it is to "connect" with a star, I invited Donna Cruz to the forum as a "surprise" guest. Now as Cebuano as danggit and otap, Donna has been staying in Cebu since she and Dr. Yong Larrazabal (ophthalmologist) got married. They now have two children (Belle and Cian, shown with Donna in the Jollibee commercial).

Monday (Sept. 19) happened to be Donna and Yong’s seventh wedding anniversary (they were married at the San Sebastian Church in Manila), but Donna happily graced the forum to prove to the Cebuano entertainment journalists that she was not "hard to find." I explained to them that from way back, even when she was active as an actress-singer, Donna has always been a homebody, preferring to stay home than to party-hop.

We held a mock 10-minute presscon during which Donna gladly answered every question the Cebu entertainment journalists had been wanting to ask her but didn’t have the chance to.

Yes, said Donna, she is happy and contented being wife to Yong and mother to their two children.

Yes, said Donna, she has easily blended into her "new home" and has, in fact, learned how to speak the dialect.

But no, Donna blushed, knocking on wood, she and Yong haven’t experienced the so-called seven-year itch.

As usual, Donna added, she and Yong were celebrating their wedding anniversary with a quiet dinner. She and Yong are now busy supervising the construction of their dream house to which they hope to move in December from the posh condo they’ve been staying in, lent to them by Yong’s parents.

As a whole, the forum was a success. The Cebu entertainment journalists hopefully learned something from Salve and me – and vice-versa.

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Trivia: After the forum, Salve and I dropped by the uppity Melange boutique owned by my nephew Kenneth Lo Tajan, located at the ground floor of MC Nenita Building 1, A.C. Cortes Avenue in nearby Mandaue City. According to Blisyl May Seno, general-manager of Melange (French for mix and match), the boutique (which has branches in Pampanga and Iloilo) makes only three of each item (shirts, pants, jackets, T-shirts, etc.; small, medium and large).

If you happen to be in Cebu, take a look at Melange. If you’re from Cebu, do drop by (or call 032-420-2414).

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