Juan Miguel takes a wife

The affair is supposed to be hush-hush, private, so all I’m telling you is that the wedding will be held third week of December at a romantic city two hours drive from Manila.

Funfare wishes Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Audrey Tan all the best and, as the Chinese say, may they have 100 years of blissful togetherness.

The wedding will cap the sweethearts’ three-year romance. They met in 2002 and he proposed last year.

Showbiz-watchers know more or less who Juan Miguel is because, besides being the host of Studio 23’s Saturday show Team Explorer, he was a favorite movie-column item when he was going steady with Vina Morales.

Audrey used to be a Studio 23 veejay and a Pink Soda image model. She studied at the Universidad Complutence de Madrid in Spain and earned a degree in Versatile Communications in Corporate and Economic Sectors last March.

Juan Miguel is the son of Bukidnon Gov. and Mrs. Jose Ma. Rubin Zubiri and Audrey is the daughter of Lourdes Aquino-Tan.

Here’s the wedding entourage:

• Principal Sponsors – Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Manuel V. Pangilinan and Mrs. Ma. Georgina P. de Venecia, Iñigo U. Zobel and Mrs. Katherine H. Gordon, Manolo M. Lopez and Mrs. Maripola P. Aquino, John M. Aboitiz and Mrs. Asuncion R. Zubiri, Dr. Roland B. Hortaleza and Mrs. Nelia A. Cortez, Jose Ma. G. Estrada and lawyer Lorna P. Kapunan, and Carlos Y. Perez Rubio and Dr. Vermen V. Rowell.

• Bestmen – Rafael R. Ladao and Ramon M. Pineda

• Man of Honor – Rafael D. del Rosario

• Maids of Honor – Michelle P. Aquino and Stephanie F. Zubiri

• Groomsmen – Rep. Rolando G. Andaya Jr., Rep. Robert S. Barbers, Rep. Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr., Jean Henri D. Lhuillier, Marcial T. del Rosario, Ramon G. Mirasol, Luis R. Villanueva, Carmelo T. Corro, Hayden M. Tyson and Burton L. Server

• Bridesmaids – Madeline B. Gonzalez, Cristina V. Rowell, Alexandra G. Escat, Theresa S. Leung, Luisa T. Masonmills and Beatrice Z. Bannon

• Junior Bridesmaids – Andrea G. Zubiri and Kalyx B. Aquino

• Candle Sponsors – Sabin M. Aboitiz and Bernadette R. Puyat

• Veil Sponsors – Jose Mari F. Zubiri and Jennifer A. Iguban

• Cord Sponsors – Manuel F. Zubiri and Julia R. Quisumbing

• Bible Bearer – Sec. Michael T. Defenson

• Ring Bearers – Javier G. Zubiri and Christian G. Zubiri

• Coin Bearer – Andre H. Dysun

• Flower Girls – Bianca C. David and Gabrielle C. David

• Readers – Rep. Federico S. Sandoval II, Erika G. Escat, Mayor Hernani A. Braganza and Michaella D. Mitra

Like mother, like daughter

From Maria Isabel Lopez, Funfare got the good news that her 14-year-old daughter Mara Isabella Lopez will soon start shooting Following Rosa, an independent film by Fil-Am director Ron Morales who is from New York. In the movie, Mara plays the main character Sel, a Sampaguita vendor in the railroad tracks and a battered child exposed at a tender age to street gangs.

"The movie will be entered at the Sundance Film Festival next year," said Maria Isabel, the same filmfest founded by Robert Redford. (Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros/The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros is entered in this year’s Sundance Filmfest, the first Filipino film to be so honored.)

Mara Isabella, born on May 20, 1991 in San Pablo, California, is Maria Isabel’s daughter by her Japanese husband, Hiroshi Yokohama. She’s a high school junior at OB Montessori (Greenhills). Sports-minded like her mom (who owns and manages a store specializing in diving gears), Mara Isabella is a surfer. She was a member of the Star Circle batch 13 and has done bit roles in Masarap na Pugad (starring Aleck Bovick) and Lastikman (the Mark Bautista starrer).

Maria Isabel herself is happy with her career.

"I just did the digital movie Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (directed by Gil M. Portes, shown at the recent CineManila) and Trigger (directed by Ronnie Ricketts for Derek Dee’s Apache Films) which is showing soon," said Maria Isabel who also appears in the international film Dune Warriors by Roger Coreman, with Kill Bill star David Carradine as lead actor.

Daisy Reyes has re-invented herself

Not many people know that Daisy Reyes is a good singer. In fact, before she won the Bb. Pilipinas-World title a few years ago, she had singing stints in Japan (no, she was not a Japayuki, Daisy insisted).

A few years ago after doing some movies, Daisy quietly slipped into anonymity. According to rumors, she fell in love and spent "quality time" with her non-showbiz boyfriend (a big-time businessman) by whom, still according to rumors, she has a child. Daisy met the man after she broke up with a basketball "import" with whom she went steady after she broke loose from what she described as a "very possessive" businessman-boyfriend.

Back in circulation, Daisy has re-invented herself as she resumes her rudely-interrupted showbiz career.

She has just come up with her second album entitled Ode to the Irony of Love, produced by Montage Music and exclusively distributed by Galaxy Records. The album carries 10 tracks (five originals, two acoustic versions of original songs and three remakes).

Briefly noted

• Pilita Corrales recently did a successful concert in Toronto where she won the hearts of fellow Pinoys (and some foreigners as well) with her usual heart-rending style of singing both English and Tagalog songs, with a few Spanish numbers thrown in. "We’ll never get tired listening to her," said Leo Paul Tan who produced Pilita’s concert. "The show was the talk of the town; it got very good reviews from the Toronto press."

• Latin lovers from around the globe will storm the Philippines next month at the first international gathering of salsa dancers in Manila, Dec. 1 to 4 at the Dusit Hotel Nikko. The event is expected to draw more than 1,000 participants from the USA, France, Singapore, Holland and Puerto Rico. For inquiries, call Kathy Ferrer at 0917-905-9935 or landline 882-1622.

• The Alumni Association of Xavier School (AAXS) and the Immaculate Conception Academy Alumnae Association (ICAAA) will jointly host Wish Bazaar on Dec. 3 and 4 at the Xavier School covered courts, with Anno Domini Concepts, Inc. (ADCI) as official organizer. For more information, contact AAXS at 726-4855, 727-3329 or 723-0481 local 248; ICAAA at 721-2681; or ADCI at 721-1733, 721-0734, 721-0766 or 723-6652.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)