Curtain-raisers:
• Could it be true that a very much married actor (with several children by different women) and an actress (who lives in a separate unit but in the same condo building with her estranged actor-husband) are playing footsy during meal breaks on the set of their soap? One time, the actor was spotted by the Funfare VDPA (Very Deep Penetration Agent) with his foot tickling the actress’ sensitive part — surreptitiously done under the table, of course! In another instance, the actress finished her scenes early (as in 8 p.m.) but she hung around the set purportedly just, hmmmm, shooting the breeze. It turned out that she waited for the actor to finish his scenes (at 1 a.m. the next day) and then off they went together in the actor’s car to, well, some “heavenly” place. How would the actress’ actor-husband react if (ever!) he learned about it? Nonchalantly, I suppose. After all, they are living separate lives, aren’t they?
• Sad to hear that a well-loved couple (the guy is a talented singer/songwriter and the wife has some connection to theater) has broken up. Reason: The guy squealed to a gossip columnist about what he suspected to be his wife’s “illegal” deals. Why would he do that? According to another Funfare VDPA, “He’s back on drugs and in rehab.” Sad, isn’t it?
• Did you know that a pretty, beauty-titlist singer (divorced from her American husband) is back in the arms of her first love? Luckily, the man is also separated from his celebrity wife (from a prominent family of beauties) who is linked to the estranged husband of an equally lovely socialite-columnist. No wonder, the singer has decided to come home for good with her kids.
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Sino ang senador na hiwalay na sa asawa n’ya dahil sa isang third party? Minsan, may nakakita sa wife sa isang mall na may kasamang guwapong foreigner?
That blind item was aired by Ruffa Gutierrez on TV5’s Paparazzi last Sunday and, later, by a radio announcer who said that the senator’s four-letter first name has a “z” in it.
Before you jump to conclusion, let me hasten to add that the senator referred to is not who may be in your mind but Migz Zubiri and the lady who is supposed to have been seen with a “guwapong foreigner” is Migz’s wife Audrey Tan.
“It was Ruffa herself to told me that those in the blind item, which first came out in a tabloid, were actually Migz and me,” Audrey told Funfare yesterday, getting the record straight. “Ruffa promptly denied in her Twitter that something is wrong with my marriage. She even named Migz and me. I thanked Ruffa for that denial.”
Just the same, Migz said that Audrey was so bothered by the blind item that she could hardly sleep especially after worried friends and relatives started calling them up.
The truth is that Migz and Audrey, who are blessed with two beautiful children (Adriana, two; and Juanmi, one year old), are celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary on Dec. 17 this year (they went steady for five years before they got married), and their marriage has always been stable, untainted by any rumor — well, until that blind item which was spawned by mistaken identity.
You see, Migz’s sister Stephanie Zubiri (who writes a column for The STAR’s Life Section) is Audrey’s carbon copy. They have the same build, the same looks, the same height and the same complexion.
“In fact,” said Audrey, “we are often mistaken for each other. When people would say ‘Hi, Stephanie!’ to me, I would smile and say, ‘I’m Audrey!’ And when people would say ‘Hi, Audrey!’ to Stephanie, she would also smile and say, ‘I’m Stephanie!’ It happens all the time.”
One time, somebody must have seen Stephanie at the mall with her German boyfriend Jonathan Crespi, put one and one together and promptly told a tabloid columnist about it.
“I don’t even go out,” said Audrey. “If I did, it’s always with Migz and the kids, or with my friends, or with my mom. I’m never seen alone, much more with another man.”
Audrey is an only child while Migz has four siblings, one of them Stephanie.
“We want to assure everybody that we are happily together,” said Migz.
Briefly noted
• If Karen Davila is “missing” in ABS-CBN’s late-night newscast Bandila (with Julius Babao and Ces Oreña-Drilon as co-anchors), it’s not because she has been, as some people must be suspecting, “suspended” but because she’s on a three-week leave while taking a short course on “Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century” at Harvard Kennedy School. She’s been there since March 22. She’s the only Filipina and one of only three delegates from the Philippines invited to the program which is exclusively for the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders of 2010.
• The first death anniversary of Oscar Obligacion last March 5 was marked by the family and several stars, including Susan Roces, Amalia Fuentes, German “Kuya Germs” Moreno, Anita Linda, Mila del Solo, Delia Razon, Caridad Sanchez, Gloria Sevilla, Perla Bautista, Marita Zobel, Liberty Zobel, Lilia Dizon, Minda Morena, Pempe Rodrigo and Terry Tambunting. Pastor Bong Saquing shared a message, while Yojee de Jesus and Mon Escobar sang. German recalled his days with Oscar while he (Kuya Germs) was a janitor at the Clover Theater. Oscar’s wife Myrna Obligacion and sons Neville and Glenn also dedicated songs to Oscar.
• Here’s Fr. Joey Faller’s healing schedule for April: April 1, 12:15 p.m. at Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, SM Megamall…April 2, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine in Lucban, Quezon; and 5 p.m. an Anticipated Mass also at the Shrine…April 3, 6 a.m. at ABS-CBN; 7:30 a.m. at NBN Channel 4 and 9 a.m. at SM North The Block…April 6, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine and 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Iyam, Lucena City…April 9, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine…April, 9 a.m. at SM Bacoor, Bacoor, Cavite…April 13, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine and 4:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish and Diocesan Shrine in Dolores, Quezon…April 16, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine…April 17, 7:30 a.m. at NBN Channel 4…April 20, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine…April 24, 9 a.m. at SM Bacoor, Bacoor, Cavite…April 26, 9:30 a.m. at Buklod ng Pag-Ibig Healing Center, Balete Drive Extension, Quezon City…April 27, 9:30 a.m. at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine…and April 29, 12 noon at Export Bank Building, Buendia, Makati City; and 7 p.m. at San Jose de Trozo Parish, Masangkay St., Sta. Cruz, Manila.
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Big Apple Consul General Cecilia Rebong back home
Welcome back Consul General Cecilia Rebong (right), the well-loved and well-liked Philippine ConGen in the Big Apple for the past six years, who has just completed her tour of duty. She will be at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila for the next two years before she gets her next assignment abroad. Meanwhile, she’s succeeded in New York (a prime post in the diplomatic world) last March 1 by the equally brilliant and friendly diplomat, Consul General General Mario de Leon (left), who served as the Philippine Ambassador to South Africa prior to his New York assignment.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.phor at entphilstar@yahoo.com. You may also send your questions to askrickylo@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos visit http://www.philstar.com/funfare.)