•It’s now Wowowin! •Rustom: I am gay!

Curtain-raisers:

• A Funfare DPA doesn’t believe that there’s something more than friendship between Vic Sotto and Pia Guanio (whose boyfriend, if memory serves right, is Christine Jacob’s younger brother who’s a basketball player). The DPA said that Vic and his girlfriend, Pia Cabreira (now working in Dubai), are going strong and celebrated their third anniversary as steadies last February. "But Vic and Pia (Cabreira) are having a tampuhan for two weeks now over the rumor," said the DPA who added that, yes, there could be "another girl" (could it be you, Pia G.?) who’s making Vic happy while Pia C. is away. "But Vic loves Pia C. very much," insisted the DPA (who’s close to Vic and Pia C.) "He can’t afford to lose her."

• My friend Oscar San Pedro texted Funfare this observation: Peter Lawford was a member of The Rat Pack (wasn’t he?), together with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. (who are all gone)? Lawford was the brother-in-law of US President John F. Kennedy, that’s why The Rat Pack was a regular fixture in White House activities during the Kennedy Administration. In the ads for The Rat Pack’s show (Las Vegas version) on March 25 at the Araneta Coliseum, how come Lawford is never mentioned (or included)?

• Could it be true that some advertisers have been keeping a distance from Heart Evangelista because of the unfounded/unconfirmed rumor that her boyfriend Jericho Rosales has gotten her pregnant? You know how it is if you’re endorsing a product... you must have a clean/wholesome image.

* * *

Some people don’t want it back but others are clamoring that it should be. I mean, ABS-CBN’s Wowowee which stopped airing on Feb. 4 when its planned first-anniversary show at the Philsport Arena (the old ULTRA) was marred by a stampede that killed 71 people and left more than 300 injured. (ABS-CBN took care of the burials and the victims’ medical needs.)

But definitely, Wowowee will be back on March 11 (next Saturday) but with a new title, Wowowin. The host will still be Willie Revillame (the show won’t be the same without him, ‘no?) but excluding his three co-hosts Iya Villania, Kat Alano and Janelle Jamer.

The inaugural episode will be toned down as expected. According to Funfare’s Bohol Avenue DPA, the thrust will be some kind of a "tribute" to the 71 victims and the survivors of the stampede, to be done not in a "heavy-drama" manner (like Maalaalala Mo Kaya?) but in a light, heart-warming way. To be invited as members of the audience (and possibly as contest participants) are the families of the victims and the survivors.

So as not to preempt the first telecast of Wowowin, Funfare is refraining from enumerating what the other changes will be. I’ll let you find out for yourselves when the show returns on March 11. Stay tuned.

* * *

"I am gay!"

With those three words, Rustom, Padilla has set himself free and ended the brief "suspense" on the ABS-CBN reality-TV show Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition.

Con todo tears and dramatic pauses worthy of a FAMAS Best Actor in a Single Performance nomination, Rustom has confirmed what the whole world had been suspecting all along. In his anti-climactic confession (to fellow housemate Keanna Reeves who displayed bad manners by peeing at a flower pot nearby), punctuated with a "symbolic" brown butterfly (was it real or computer-generated?), Rustom recalled having been "beaten up" by his parents when they caught him dressing up in girl’s clothing as a child.

Did he leave out his ex-wife Carmina Villarroel (now happily living with Zoren Legaspi and their twin children) in the confession? Guess again.

Yes, said Rustom, he did love Carmina but he was bothered by a "pangalawang katauhan" taking charge of him, something he couldn’t understand but succumbed to in the long run.

Has the truth really set Rustom free?

"He still looks and sounds as confused as ever," said somebody close to Rustom. "With his confession, he opened more ‘cans of worms.’ And why did he have to drag his parents into a mess of his own making?"

I heard that Rustom’s brother Robin and the rest of the Padilla family were happy with Rustom’s confession.

"I am gay!"

While those three words have presumably liberated Rustom from what some people called "the demons inside him," those same words must have opened a Pandora’s Box that might require a longer stay inside Big Brother’s house for him to grapple with.

Bong calls for lifting of 1017

Sen. Bong Revilla has joined those who are calling Malacañang for the lifting of Executive Order 1017.

"The emergency it sought to address has already passed," said Bong who at the same time appealed to the opposition "to exercise restraint in making statements that may tend to incite divisiveness and disunity."

Bong added that the country has pressing problems that need attention and solution, comparing the national situation to the "divisiveness" in the local industry which was recently rocked by the ugly word war between OMB chairman Edu Manzano and FAP director-general Leo Martinez (only for them to kiss and make up after throwing mud at each other).

"It’s sad that the industry is now also divided because of politics," said Bong, referring to the conflicting sympathies of industry people (some are for the administration while others are not). "How can we revive the industry if the people leading it don’t and can’t agree with one another? All this trouble in the country and in the industry is the reason why the public has lost trust in the government and in (the local movie) industry."

The solution?

"Mag-kaintindihan at mag-unite tayo," said Bong.

Pinay competes for Miss USA 2006

Don’t look now but another Filipina is making a name in the "beauty" field in America. She’s none other than Robyn Michelle Watkins, chosen as Miss Oklahoma in December last year, who will join the Miss USA 2006 search (the winner will represent the USA in the Miss Universe Pageant to be held in May).

According to Funfare’s "beauty expert" Felix Manuel (with Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib), Robyn’s mother, Corazon, is a world-recognized artist from the Philippines and her father, Robert, is a military services coordinator at Tinker Air Force Base.

Robyn graduated from Norman High School in 2000 in her hometown Norman, Oklahoma, and is currently taking up a course in Elementary Education at the University of Oklahoma where she maintains a 3.2 overall grade and is a Dean’s Lister. In her free time, Robyn works as a substitute teacher in Norman public schools and as a volunteer at the Crossroads Youth & Family Services (an emergency shelter for abused, neglected and homeless children).

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