Ruffa is newest uncoupled celeb

Ruffa Gutierrez has joined Kris Aquino in the back-to-singlehood club.

The television host-actress’ nine-year marriage to Turkish Yilmaz Bektas was annulled last week by a Taguig City court.

Ruffa gets custody of their two daughters, Lorin Gabriella and Venezia Loran, and Yilmaz has been granted visitation rights.

The two tied the knot in a fairy-tale wedding in 2003. Just four years later, Ruffa was tearfully revealing on television that they had separated because the marriage had become an ordeal for her, even hinting that her husband had beaten her up.

Now that she’s certified single again, I’m sure won’t be lovelorn for long.

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The love affair of Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho is beginning to look like one long roller-coaster ride.

Last year, the two joyfully announced they were finally engaged, putting behind the ugly episode involving Hayden’s sex videos. But just last month, Vicki “gave away” Hayden to singer-actress Nancy Castiglione and flew to New York to spend Valentine’s alone. Hayden was left desperately tweeting denials about his liaison with Nancy.

Meanwhile, word was going around that Hayden had felt that Vicki was getting too close to her hunk of a yoga instructor, Al Galang.

Last week, however, Philippine Star Entertainment Editor Ricky Lo wrote that Vicki and Hayden “have kissed and made up, with Hayden admitting having wrongly suspected Vicki of having an affair and asking forgiveness and Vicki’s heart melting like ice-cream in the summer sun.”

It’s about time Vicki and Hayden got off the roller coaster. Marriage is a surefire way to get their feet planted firmly on the ground.

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Another teenager of Filipino descent is shaping up as an early favourite in the newest season of American Idol.

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Sanchez, who is half-Pinoy, half-Mexican, has made the final 24 of the hit talent show. “This is the biggest thing that happened to me. I’ve been watching this show since I was little. And I made it. It’s crazy,” Jessica gushed.

It is not the first time Jessica has stepped into the limelight. She was only 11 when she joined America’s Got Talent.

American Idol has been a showcase for Filipino talent through the years. Last season, Fil-Am Thia Megia was among the 12 finalists and performed in Manila during the Idol’s Asian tour.

Other ‘Idolized” Pinoys were Jasmine Trias, Ramiele Malubay, and Camille Velasco.

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Yam Laranas’ horror film, The Road, has been booked for showing in about 50 theaters in the US and Canada starting in May.

Laranas believes The Road is the first film to be released for commercial showing in North America. Despite the film’s short run here, it got the local critics’ nod.

The Road stars Marvin Agustin, Rhian Ramos and TJ Trinidad.

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On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 quake struck Japan and triggered a tsunami that devastated the country’s eastern coast.

This year, GMA-7, together with Japan’s TV-Iwate revisits ground zero for a major documentary special filmed entirely on location in Iwate, Japan. Iwate was one of the worst hit during the quake and tsunami of 2011 and TV-Iwate was among the first on the site during the catastrophe. 

GMA’s flagship documentary program I-Witness – in collaboration with TV-Iwate’s production crew and director – films the aftermath of the quake and the efforts being undertaken to rebuild the devastated areas in a special I-Witness episode dubbed "Pagbangon ng Japan ."

TV Iwate’s footage of the tsunami – as it engulfed homes and villages – will serve as a powerful reminder of what transpired on that fateful day. And as veteran documentarist and George Foster Peabody awardee Kara David set foot on these “ground zeros” a year later, viewers will witness the rebuilding of lives and homes after the great quake.