More ABC shows to be axed

• Curtain-raiser:

Quezon City councilors Aiko Melendez and Winnie Castello have filed an ordinance extending the payment of business tax in Quezon City until Jan. 31.

"It’s our advance Valentine ‘gift’ to our constituents," said Aiko.

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The "mass slaughter" of ABC 5 goes on relentlessly. More heads are expected to roll and more shows will be axed, according to a Funfare DPA embedded in the station.

So far, 50 employees have been reportedly dismissed and three public affairs shows cancelled, Dokyu, Frontlines and Newsbreak. The streamlining of the work force is allegedly due to the company’s financial situation. But has the government, as it seems, any hand in the axing of the three shows?

"There is strong reason to believe that whoever is feeding the news to media is deliberately putting political color to the cancellation of programs and the alleged dismissal of the 50 employees," said the DPA. "Depending on where the feed is coming from, this can be perceived as an attempt to confuse, mitigate, hide and dilute the real and immediate reason behind these developments."

Headed for the slaughterhouse, added the DPA, are the shows of Joey de Leon, Gladys Guevarra, Ali Sotto and a few others.

The network is reportedly evaluating the regular employees, including the officers. They are next to go.

"ABC is cash-strapped," said the DPA. "It has been losing money in the hundreds of millions. The last straw was when Philippine Idol failed to meet expectations. ABC owner Tonyboy Cojuangco was made to believe that the P100-M franchise would bring in the revenues and the ratings that ABC badly needed. But Idol failed to deliver both. It lost more than P40-M. The accumulated heavy losses of ABC (compounded by Cojuangco’s loss of his PLDT shares) appear to be triggering a network-wide cost-cutting. Unfortunately, the public affairs programs have been undeservedly dealt the first blow for 2007. Then, someone put a political spin to the whole unfortunate situation, throwing in Newsbreak for good measure, and insinuating alleged anti-government content for its demise along with Dokyu and Frontlines."

The three programs had some of the country’s finest, most principled, most well-intentioned journalists, writers, artists and filmmakers.

"It is unfair that the public affairs department is being made a scapegoat for the incompetence of others," said the DPA.

Now, could it be true that Tonyboy is planning to sell ABC? Among the rumored "interested" prospective buyers are Manny Pangilinan and a foreign company.

2005 Miss U ends two-day Cebu visit

Did you know that 2005 Miss Universe Natalie Glebova (of Canada) was in Cebu for two days (Jan. 17 to 19) to sit as judge in the search for Miss Cebu (for the annual Sinulog festival)? Her namesake, Nathalie Tomada (entertainment editor of The Freeman, the Cebu-based sister publication of The Star), did a one-on-one with Glebova. Here it is:

Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova arrived in Cebu Wednesday afternoon and left two days after. She came to Cebu to judge this year’s Miss Cebu.

Her coming was made possible by the Cebu-based company Thai-Phil Intertrade which runs the Krua Thai chain of restaurants (which has eight branches, including one in Megamall and one in Pasay) and the sole distributor of Singha Beer.

Glebova is the image endorser of Thailand-based Singha Corp. which produces not just beer, but other drinks, along with golfer Vijay Singh and pro tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan.

Singha beer was introduced to the country late last year, and according to one of the CEOs of Thai-Phil., Anthony Ballreich, this is part of efforts to strengthen the presence of the said Thai product in the country.

In a one-on-one interview with The Freeman during welcome cocktails at Shangri-La Mactan, she said she agreed to be endorser of the product because of its prestige and reputation.

But according to the Singha Corp.’s deputy CEO Chappy Chaturongkol, who accompanied her in this Philippine visit, they chose her because "I believe she’s a Thai in her past life. She eats Thai food every day and that’s something rare for a foreigner."

As image ambassador, she has promoted the product in the US and other countries, and hopes that it will bring her back to the land of her roots, Russia.

She has been living in Thailand for six months now, after her reign as Miss Universe, which required her to be based in New York, has ended. She has not just fallen in love with the country and fast learning the language since being crowned there two years ago, but has found love as well in a Thai guy. (She said she has always been open to inter-racial relationships, in fact, she revealed that her first romantic interest was a Filipino.)

Actually she has been rumored to be dating tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan, but she is quite uneasy being asked about her lovelife; the only clue she gave was that the guy was not in showbiz and that he was taller than her (she’s 5’11") even when she’s wearing heels.

It was her first time in the country, but she claimed that she’s not exactly a stranger to the Philippines having had lots of Pinoy friends back in Toronto, Canada, where she migrated from Russia at age 12. "I grew up in a very multi-racial neighborhood and studied in a very multi-racial school, and a lot of my friends were Filipinos, who told me nice things about the country," she said.

While in Cebu, according to the people who assisted her, she repeatedly asked for "charity work" and so it was arranged that she would swing by a drop-in center for streetchildren and abandoned kids with Cebu City’s first lady Margot Osmeña. She visibly enjoyed the experience, playing, telling stories and talking with the children.

During pageant rehearsal, she watched the goings-on and mingled with local beauty queens, enthusing, "I really love pageants." After the pageant night, she was mobbed by the audience.

Glebova’s advice to local beauty queens who want to be part of Miss Universe: Define what you want to glean from the experience.

Stressing that her life as a regular girl and student has changed a hundred percent after winning Miss Universe, Glebova said, "For me, I wanted to learn and I made sure I made the best out of it."

Glebova is putting her degree in Information Technology and Marketing to good use; she has just put up her own company Fah Glebova International (Fah in Thai means "blue"), which will soon launch beauty and health products, and she is coming up with a book on Health, Happiness and Beauty in Thailand next month. She hopes to come back to the country and launch her book here as well.

How does she keep herself beautiful? She avoids the nightlife and sleeps a lot.

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