"Darna" hardest role for Marian

The whole nation is in mourning with the demise of former President Cory Aquino last Saturday after a bout with colon cancer. We’d like to extend our deepest condolences to the Aquino family, most especially to Kris Aquino, who was thrust into the limelight and eventually became a celebrity when her mom became president.

A huge throng showed up Monday along the main streets of Manila as the remains of the former president were transferred to the Manila Cathedral where it lay in state before the burial today at Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque, wherein the former chief executive and the first woman president of the Philippines will be buried.

The Filipino people would remember with fondness President Cory who was responsible for bringing back democracy into our country. Tita Cory (as she is fondly called by many) is a much admired lady. We remembered having had the chance to have dinner with her at their residence when she was still the president. We were among those invited at the dinner organized by Kris for the entertainment writers who were then covering or helping her.

When we finally met President Cory at the dinner table, everyone turned silent. No one dared to break the ice. President Cory noticed this and said something like, “Bakit hindi kayo nagsasalita? Ang tahimik ninyo naman” or words to that effect. The members of the entertainment press were known to be lively, but suddenly silent when they came face-to-face with President Cory. This was because we were all awed by the presence of the great lady. When Tita Cory finally broke the ice over dinner, we somehow felt relaxed. We even had the chance to have a picture taken with her but since we were too shy and still tongue-tied (it’s not common that you get that close to the President), we even asked our good friend Letty Celi (who was the president of the Philippine Movie Press Club that time) if she could be together in our photo op with President Cory. It was a moment that we would remember and cherish.

The nation mourns the passing of a great lady to whom we owe the democracy and freedom that we are experiencing now.  President Cory will be remembered and forever loved by Filipinos.

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Marian Rivera came out in her Darna costume at the grand press launch of her newest TV show on GMA 7, Darna, held Monday night at the Studio 5 of GMA Network Center.

“I am very thankful to GMA 7 for this big project that they have given me and I hope that the viewers would enjoy Darna as much as we enjoyed doing it for them,” said the Queen of Primetime TV. As Darna is premiering on Monday, August 10, Marian says that she’s more excited than nervous.

“I want to find out the reaction of the people as I take flight as Darna. What would they say when I transform from Narda to Darna? As Tita Celia Rodriguez said, even if we were having a hard time in the taping, we are all eager to work and give it our best. We just make the set livelier by being happy and talking with each other para makalimutan ang pagod,” said Marian who’s probably the sexiest Darna to date.

“I feel this is the hardest character that I have portrayed so far. Doing the fight scenes and being suspended on the harness for my flying scenes were already difficult to do,” she said. “But I was happy to appear before the press in my Darna costume. I am very excited since I am curious on how the press would react seeing me in my Darna outfit. This is the first time I came out in my Darna outfit other than during the pictorial.”

When she was asked if the MTRCB would not react negatively with regards to her sexy Darna costume, Marian said they made sure that the costume would be just right. “We know many people reacted when we tried to make the costume look different and we took note of that. We made the costume with that in mind,” said Marian.