•Did Billy raise more questions than answers? •Raymart breaks silence: I never beat up Claudine!

Curtain-raisers:

Some people who themselves are not so comfortable with the so-called King’s Language have been making snide remarks and laughing at James Yap (photo) who was quoted, to describe his pretty Italian girlfriend Michaela Acazzolla, as saying that she’s “support” instead of “supportive.” It was possible that James was misquoted or the last syllable “tive” was not that audible. What difference does a grammatical slip make? What matters most in a person’s character is not so much good grammar as good manners and goodness of the heart. Melanie Marquez is admittedly Miss Malaprop but as she always insists, “Bakit, ‘yang mga namimintas ba na hindi ako mahusay mag-English ay may Miss International crown?” Oo nga naman! In the case of James as it is with Melanie, you know, “Don’t judge me, I’m not a book!” Guess who mouthed that quotable quote.

***

When Billy Crawford cried last Sunday when interviewed by Boy Abunda, making a clean breast of his break-up with Nikki Gil after five years of going steady, he raised more questions than answers, especially when he confessed that he was taking a leave from the ABS-CBN’s It’s Showtime! and joining his US-based family “to find myself” since the problem was with him and not with Nikki.

Some people wondered, “Is Billy gay?” Those close to Billy swore that he is not…definitely!... and, in fact, it must be recalled that he was once married to a choreographer named Maryss (who’s from Paris), the same beautiful girl whom I met personally when I interviewed Billy a few years ago when he came for a show, barely a year before he decided to return and stay here for good. According to follow-up reports, Billy and Maryss got divorced in 2011.

At that time, in 2009, when Billy was already going steady with Nikki, Nikki denied the rumor. But in 2011, a Pacific Rim Press Video titled “In Depth With Maryss From Paris,” posted on YouTube, Maryss was said to have gone on record “to mention that Billy Crawford was her husband and she is divorced from him” and that “she also talks about the new love of her life and how she learned how to speak Tagalog.”

A Funfare DPA said that Billy never offered Nikki marriage even if they were talking to the media about it — you know, “Napag-uusapan.” The Billy-Nikki case is being compared to the break-up of Vic Sotto and Pia Guanio who reportedly “got tired” when Vic never proposed to her even if they went steady for almost (or more than) seven years. Is Vic “marriage-phobic?” Pia is now happily married to Steeve Mago by whom she has a daughter.

Another Funfare DPA (close to Billy and Nikki, who asked not to be identified) said that when Billy came back from a vacation in the US a few weeks ago, he never informed Nikki who only learned that he was back from their mutual friend who saw Billy “with a group” at a bar. Of course, between steadies, small things like that become an issue.

Billy was recently linked to starlet CG (one-time girlfriend of a popular singer’s dancer son) but Billy denied it to death, short of crossing his heart and hoping to die.

Meanwhile, Nikki is mum on the matter, probably nursing a bruised heart in silence.

Stand by for further development.

***

The other day, Claudine Barretto filed a TPO (Temporary Protection Order) against her estranged husband Raymart Santiago to, she was saying, protect herself and their two children from Raymart who, as the petition stated, must not get within 300 feet from his family.

The couple has been reported to have broken up again and again and it was only confirmed several weeks ago by Claudine’s mom Inday Barretto herself in an exclusive/explosive interview with Funfare when she lashed at her other daughter Gretchen.

Silent for a long time, Raymart finally spoke up, even only briefly, by issuing an official statement, quoted here verbatim and as is (in the vernacular): Matagal akong nananahimik pero dahil sa mga mapanirang akusasyon na ibinabato sa akin, napilitan akong sumagot para na rin sa kapakanan ng mga anak namin. Walang katotohanan na inabuso ko ang ina ng mga anak ko. At bilang ama, hindi ako gagawa ng hakbang na ikapapahamak ng mga anak ko. Hindi ko siya pinagbuhatan ng kamay. Maraming mga nakakakilala sa akin na makapagpapatunay niyan. Marami rin ang makakapagpapatunay na may kakayahan siyang gumawa ng kuwento. Again, I strongly deny her accusation. Lalabas din ang katotohanan. Sasagutin namin ang lahat sa korte sa tamang panahon.

It seems so surreal, isn’t it?

It wasn’t so long ago when the now estranged couple were fighting with Mon Tulfo in that infamous airport incident. And now, this.

The plot is thickening.

Again, stand by for further development.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)