MANILA, Philippines - The Middle East heat index registered 46 degrees celsius but even more sizzling hot was the wild crowd that greeted Kapamilya stars Piolo Pascual, Jovit Baldivino and Giselle Sanchez as soon as they landed in the State of Kuwait last Sept. 9. The Filipino Channel (TFC) sent the three artists to perform for the Filipino community (a big chunk of which were Bicolanos) who were extremely thankful for the stars’ presence since the Hatid Saya in 2006. The group flew to Qatar the following day to the delight of the 3,000-strong audience, mostly composed of professionals, engineers, laborers and service workers.
Both Kuwait and Qatar are oil-rich countries and still generally considered as conservative (absolutely no pork and alcohol) than a couple of its Arab neighbors (Dubai and Abu Dhabi included) so TFC head of events Mickey Muñoz had to “sanitize” some of Giselle’s sexy and double-meaning jokes during the show and asked her to wear black leggings and cover her shoulders (since spaghetti straps and sleeveless tops are forbidden) whenever she is seen in public.
On the way to the show venues, the group maximized the limited time and skipped the merienda break to do a few minutes of sightseeing and photo ops in various landmarks. In Kuwait, they visited the 31-year-old Kuwait Towers which were designed by a Swedish architectural firm and house a two-level revolving observation deck, gift shop and café. The lower globe is a reservoir which stores around one million gallons of water.
In Qatar, they were charmed by the impressive seascapes and turquoise waters of Doha’s Corniche Bay with the green grassy areas, date trees and the Islamic Art Museum at the forefront.
Piolo lost no time in taking still life photos from all possible angles.
Barely one year after his Pilipinas Got Talent win, Jovit, who traveled with his father Larry, can now claim that he has seen the world after doing shows in San Francisco, Toronto, Dublin, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong — and now, the Middle East.
Filipinos and Qataris anticipate Charice’s solo concert at Doha’s Khalifa Stadium, site of the 2006 Asian Games Opening Ceremonies with a capacity of 40,000, on Sept. 29.