I would say that Lady Donna is qualified to run for any public office, what with her sterling record as a self-made person. Her success story started in her native Cebu where, even in her teens, Marian Patalinjug (Donna’s real name) engaged in the daing business and turned it into a glamorous venture. And then, she was discovered for showbiz, staying only as an actress for a while because she discovered she could do better and help the industry further by being a producer. Thus was born the Golden Lions Films which Donna, with Carlo, propelled into one of the country’s top companies which has produced more than 50 films, most notable of which were the so-called "massacre films" (The Vizconde Massacre, etc.) which raked in multi-millions at the tills while helping authorities nab suspects long at large.
Until recently, Donna and Carlo have temporarily stopped producing movies, but not before she was awarded Producer of the Year by the FAMAS and Box-Office Producer of the Year by the Guillermo Mendoza Foundation Memorial Awards.
Close on the heels of Carlo’s award given last Aug. 1 at the start of the National Language Month (that’s Carlo J. you see in billboards all over Metro Manila, with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Mayor Sonny Belmonte in Quezon City, Mayor Lito Atienza in Manila and mayors of other Metro towns/cities) for his valuable contribution to and propagation of the national language via his enduring komiks serials (such as Bakekang which is now a GMA soap), Donna herself was accorded the same honors by the Komisyon ng Wikang Pilipino at awarding rites marking the conclusion of the National Language Month.
"I’m greatly honored," was all Donna could say, refusing to comment whether or not she’s similarly "honored" by the invitation for her to run for senator.
"I still feel that I can better serve the industry in particular and the country in general by producing movies that not only entertain but help solve crimes as well."
Well said.
Veronica dela Cruz may not yet be in the primetime at CNN, but she sure is the most popular and was even named as among the hottest Asians in America today, along with Vanessa Minnillo of MTV and Entertainment Tonight.
The Fil-Am hottie, a news anchor for CNN Pipeline, CNN’s premium commercial-free broadband video news service which she helped launch in 2005, is regularly featured in the blogs of adoring males in America and the world.
She also has a fan base, including an unofficial fan site, and a Yahoo Group. "Nice looking Asian journalists with brains always make watching the news a little more enjoyable," says one blog.
Veronica also anchors Now in the News, a fast-paced hourly Web- and wireless-exclusive news briefing and .com Desk, regular briefings on CNN/US to feature highlights of CNN.com coverage.
She joined CNN in 2003 and is based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Prior to joining CNN, Veronica worked as an anchor and reporter at the NBC affiliate in Yuma, Arizona. She spent two years as the morning and the mid-day anchor, did liveshots and produced packages for the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.
During her tenure at KYMA-TV, Veronica covered numerous stories on US-Mexico border issues, the nation’s nursing shortage, and the plight of the migrant farm worker. She produced a three- part series on Christian missionaries who spread their faith and risked their lives by smuggling Bibles into Myanmar.
During the 2002 Winter Olympics, she interviewed figure skating hopeful Sasha Cohen. Veronica spent a decade as a competitive figure skater, prior to moving into a career in journalism. Before leaving the station, she produced a series on the homeless, whom she continues to do volunteer work with.
A member of the Asian American Journalists Association, Veronica mentors aspiring broadcast-journalists at the Associated Press Television-Radio Association’s Academy.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)