HEART: says no to 'marital sex'

She may be 100 percent sure about Jericho Rosales being the right guy for her, but Heart Evangelista is not about to let her heart control her head. Marriage is not in the cards for the two. Jericho can't shirk his many responsibilities, while she has dreams to chase.

"We have to be both stable first before we settle down, although the thought is there," Heart says during a presscon of Genesis Entertainment. But one thing she assured us: If they're finally getting married they won't keep it a secret.

Heart is also quite firm about pre-marital sex: "I don't believe in it. I believe we would get blessings if we got married first."

ABS-CBN has not lined up as many projects for her as before, but she's not complaining. She likes the pace her career has taken. She has more time for herself. She's taking review classes at the Messiah Foundation in preparation for college. The past seven years had been hectic for her.

"I was so immersed in work. It was so draining. Now I'm at peace with myself and living a good life. I like it this way."

She's still a video jock at MYX and regularly appears in ABC-5's Philippine Idol. She has renewed her commercial contracts and will cut an album for an Australian recording company, Gromic, which she hopes would be released before the year ends. The album will contain all original songs.

Heart will also do a movie with Dennis Trillo. She was supposedly cast in 'Wag Kang Lilingon, a horror flick by Star Cinema, but she begged off. She says she doesn't do horror films because she doesn't want to imbibe negative vibes. She has in fact turned down two such films.

Heart recently launched The Heart Can, a fundraiser for underprivileged kids with asthma.

Heart herself is asthmatic. During the taping for Panday, a nurse was standing in case Heart suffered an attack.

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I received a statement from Ms. Lisa Gokongwei concerning the issue of YES! Editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon. It seems that there were reports that Gokongwei's family business, Summit Publishing, was suffering because of Jo-Ann case against Claudine Barretto.

Ms. Lisa disputes the reports:

Jo Ann Maglipon is a very important member of Summit Media and a close personal friend of the Gokongwei family. She will never be a burden to us. YES! is the third most read-local magazine in the Philippines today according to the Synovate Media Atlas Study, and Summit's second most profitable because it is a fantastic editorial product. We are proud of Jo-Ann and her team and will support her without any second thought any day. o0o

Talking about horror films, I was impressed with Jesse Lucas' musical score for TXT starring Angel Locsin, Dennis Trillo and Oyo Sotto. Director Mike Tuviera was right in choosing Jesse for the scoring. Jesse is a low-key figure who doesn't trumpet his accomplishments. But he has a lot of awards to show.

He won the award for Best Music Score in the 2006 Los Angeles International Horror Film Festival for Sigaw (The Echo). He has also won an Urian award for Babae sa Breakwater and the Maria Clara plum for Can This Be Love.

Jesse is also scoring for Channel 2's newest show, Maging Sino Ka Man.

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ABS-CBN's News and Current Affairs Group's TV Patrol World, The Correspondents and XXX: eXplosibong, eXklusibong eXposé are among nominees in the prestigious Asian Television Awards (ATA) 2006.

The three were chosen from 1,400 entries from 15 countries in Asia.

The Correspondents' entry "Juvenile Injustice" showed the dark truth about how child offenders are treated in two of Manila's city jails. The Correspondents is nominated under the Best Current Affairs Programme category.

XXX: eXplosibong, eXklusibong eXposé is also nominated under the Best Current Affairs Programme category. The program features three fierce exposés about a government hospital, two generations of incest and a big-time swindler victimizing jewelers in Batangas.

The winners will be announced at the ATA gala dinner event on November 30 to be held in Singapore.

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Madonna's adoption of a 13-month-old Malawian boy is not going as smoothly as the Material Girl would want it to be.

The Human Rights Consultative Committee has challenged the adoption, saying adoptive parents from overseas are required by law to live in the country for 18 months.

The 48-year-old US singer had the boy, named Banda, flown out of Malawi on Monday to join her in London.

"I know they are provocative and I prepare myself but I did not expect the media, the government or any human rights organizations to take a stand against me trying to save a child's life," Madonna said in an interview with People magazine.