Gina on annulment: It’s a great relief!

"It must be exciting to be a mistress!"

If you hear it from Gina Alajar who, I hasten to make it clear, has never been one, your first reaction is to ask her, "You wanna try it?"

Nope! It’s not in character. Gina was joking with Funfare Sunday night before the presscon for Mano Po 5: Gua Ay Di (Chinese for "I love you!"), directed by Joel Lamangan, where she and Tirso Cruz III reprise their Mano Po 1: My Family roles as a Chinese couple, with Christian Bautista as her son.

The subject of mistresses (yes, plural!) cropped up when Funfare asked Gina how she felt now that her marriage to Michael de Mesa had been finally annulled. As in the first Mano Po, Gina and Tirso deliver their lines in Fookien, which they did with remarkable ease, thanks to their Chinese tutor who stayed on the set.

Does she feel any regret and/or bitterness?

"No," said Gina. "I feel great relief."

You see, the case dragged on for two years (it was Michael who filed the case) and when the verdict was handed down last May, Gina’s children (Ryan, Andrew "AJ" James and Geoff), were surprised. "We thought it had been annulled a long time ago!" Like Gina, they also felt "relieved."

During the whole trial, Gina never appeared in court, leaving her lawyer to represent her.

"Finally," she said, "there’s a ‘period’ to the whole thing. May tuldok na."

Gina (and Michael for that matter) has conceded that it was Michael’s, well, "fondness" for women (Note: Gina didn’t use the word "mistress" to refer to any of them) that ruined their marriage solemnized when they were barely out of their teens.

"Michael and I will always be friends. We talk, we discuss things... okay lang kami. Medyo nagkagulo lang when he declared in a TV show that I could not anymore use Eigenmann as surname. I did ask him for an ‘extension’ while some papers were being processed."

While Michael has had several other women, Gina has remained faithful to him, never mind if her friends were calling her Dakilang Martyr (Great Martyr). But now that she’s legally free, Gina has the temerity to declare, when asked if she welcomes suitors, "Well, I’m not closing any door. I’m opening my heart and my arms and," she added with a laugh, "and ‘something else’ (Actually, she used another word. – RFL)."

So greatly relieved is she that when Geoff celebrated his birthday last year, Gina even asked Michael to bring along his new love (same age as their sons).

Then, the topic of mistresses (again, plural!) came up.

Asked how many of Michael’s women she has personal knowledge of, Gina said, "Marami sila. One time I told my pastor, ‘You know, my world is getting smaller.’ Marami sila – may kumare, may close friend, may uma-Ate-Ate sa akin. I pretended that I didn’t know."

So what kind of a man would make her fall in love again?

"‘Yung hindi babaero; definitely, not a womanizer. Someone who would love me faithfully. He could be separated, legally huh, or a bachelor. But then, if he’s a bachelor, I can’t promise to give him a child."

In the meantime, before the right man comes along, Gina is happily married to her career. When she’s not acting, she’s directing TV shows.

"I don’t have to look for him," she said. "If he’s meant for me, he’ll just come along."

Aspiring model is 2006 Ginoong Pilipinas-USA

Here’s a report from Funfare correspondent Alvin Paris of Mabuhay Beauties.com, direct from L.A.:

A young aspiring model from Chicago, Illinois, Mark Figueroa, bagged the prestigious title of Ginoong Pilipinas-USA 2007. At 22, the multi-faceted guy had achieved so much in terms of his career ambition. A real estate broker and an entrepreneur, adding a title on his line-up of accomplishments did not come hard either. He bested 15 other candidates representing different US cities last Nov. 25 in a pageant held at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California.

He was awarded as the Best in Underwear at the pageant segment sponsored by Bench. His four times-a-week workout routine proved to be all worth it when he bared his 5’11" Greek-god like body. A silent but fierce competitor, Mark has proved during the pageant that with his modeling skills, projection of charisma and confidence, he would be a breath of fresh air in the modeling world.

Mark’s answer at the final interview nailed the title for him. When he sincerely replied to the question, "What has been the toughest challenge you had in life and how do you relate that to your competition tonight?" Being raised in the suburb of Chicago with the warmth of his family, he answered that his being in a position to see his mom go through cancer is definitely a tough call and taught him to value life and every second of it, and to use that as a way of instilling courage and motivation to himself that life may be short. But to be able to embrace it and find meaning to it makes it all worth it.

Mark will soon be doing the rounds of public exposures in the US modeling mainstream and in the Philippine fashion world. His reign will be highlighted by his competition in Singapore for Mr. International 2007. He has signed up with ETalents Management in San Diego and will soon ink a representation amongst the best modeling agency in Los Angeles, New York or Manila.

Reader’s reaction

From Nicasio G. Valderrama of No. 2 Scouter Ojeda St., Barangay Paligsahan, QC:

Dear Mr. Lo,

Your article, Matt Monro Jr.: Worthy heir of a music icon (The Philippines STAR, Oct. 28, 2006) led me down memory lane.

In 1983, when I was Philippine Consul General in Sydney, my wife Mila and I had Matt Monro Sr. and his petite and charming wife Michie as our dinner guests at the Philippine House in Potts Point, our official residence.

After a Filipino dinner, we had a brief but nice soiree. That evening, the Philippine House resounded with Matt Monro’s haunting voice as he sang some of the songs that catapulted him to fame, like Born Free, From Russia With Love, Walk Away and Yesterday. He was accompanied by Filipino pianist Tony Barraga.

Pictures of us together with Matt Monro’s Polaroid camera and autographed by him are souvenirs of that memorable evening.

I am confident that as a chip off the old block, Matt Monro Jr. had a successful concert last night (at Filipino Casino-Parañaque) and will have the same on Saturday (Dec. 9) at Hard Rock Cafe in Makati City.

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