Like James Yap, her estranged (and soon-to-be ex-) husband, Kris Aquino insists that she is not dating and hasn’t been dating anybody since her marriage broke up 14 months ago --- that is, despite persistent rumors linking the two of them to other people.
James has been consistently denying ever dating Isabel Oli, saying that they are just friends since they are both Bisaya, and if ever they are sometimes seen together at gatherings it’s always with several people and not just the two of them. The James-Isabel rumor died a natural death, just like the recent one about James and YouTube sensation Marie Digby (also linked first to Jomari Yllana and then to Sam Milby).
Kris herself has been linked to a few guys, including Sen. Chiz Escudero (just because he has been separated from his wife Tintin since December last year), Makati Mayor Jun Binay (maybe because he’s a widower) and Diether Ocampo (who was Kris’ leading man in Dalaw, the 2010 Metro Filmfest entry which she herself produced), plus (which was very unlikely) Coco Martin and Gerald Anderson.
About to board a Manila-bound PAL flight from Bangkok last Sunday morning, Kris texted this message in answer to Funfare’s inquiry: I haven’t dated anybody since my separation 14 months ago.
In subsequent text messages, Kris for the nth time denied any romantic involvement with Jun Binay.
“We are just good friends talaga. I’ve never gone out on a date with him,” adding that in some occasions where they’ve been seen together, they were always, as in the case of James, with several other people.
“Jun and I have mutual friends like Jing Monis and Randy Ortiz, and we’ve had several occasions where we were all together but nothing I’d qualify as a date. Jun and I watched the Justin Bieber concert with his kids and my kids, his Ate Nancy and Pepito, her husband.”
What about Diether? Did Kris, as per tab reports, really give him a million-peso watch? Is she really looking for a house to give to him?
“Like Jun, Diet is a good friend lang talaga. No, I didn’t give him a watch. I went with him and my broker Tita Myrna when he was looking at a house in the Makati area because Diet gave his place (beside Paul Cabral’s former home in the Scout Area in Quezon City) to his mom.”
However, Diether seems to relish the idea of the friendship graduating to something deeper, as he has been insinuating during interviews with the tabs.
“There are actually two men who own my heart and they are not those mentioned in the rumors,” said Kris. “In fact, they were with me in Bangkok where I did an endorsement shoot.”
She’s referring to her sons Joshua and Little James (Bimby).
* * *
She’s coming, she’s not coming; she’s coming, she’s not coming. Really now, is she coming or not?
For months and months now, there have been reports that Nora Aunor is coming home to do this and that project, but so far she’s nowhere to be found — in the Philippines.
Two years ago, she was reported to be coming to promote a beauty clinic in Japan. But as we all know, something terribly wrong disrupted what promised to be a good partnership at the start.
Don’t look now but Nora is finally (finally!?!) arriving on Thursday morning, July 21, via PAL PR 103 from Los Angeles where she has been based for a while after moving around California. She’s leaving L.A. tonight (July 19, Tuesday, 10:30 US Time).
This piece of news was relayed to Funfare by beauty impresario Ferdie Villar who is based in San Francisco.
“I talked to Nora just now and she confirmed that she’s going to the Philippines,” Ferdie told Funfare in a phone chat yesterday morning. “Siguradong-sigurado na daw.”
So what’s Nora coming home for?
According to reports, Laguna Gov. ER Ejercito is getting Nora to play the second wife of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in El Presidente, one of the two movies ER himself producing (the other is a remake of Asiong Salonga, the early ‘60s action-drama that made ER’s Uncle Erap a star, which failed to make it to the list of official entries to this year’s Metro Filmfest).
The role was initially offered to Vilma Santos who politely turned it down due to pressure of work as Batangas governor). El Presidente will be directed by Tikoy Aguiluz, according to reports.
ER was quoted as saying that Nora will stay here for seven to 10 days, the shooting period, and he’s “shouldering her round-trip ticket, hotel accommodation, service car and food” during her stay.
Cynics will say that until they see Nora at the NAIA at 6:00 Thursday morning, July 21, they won’t believe that she’s really coming home.
You bet?
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com. You may also send your questions to askrickylo@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare.)