More showbiz stories of 2002

The other day, I enumerated the plot points and the various characters, who played importnant and not so important roles in the aftermath of Rico Yan’s mysterious death last summer. This time, let us go over the highlights of another big showbiz story in 2002 – the Jules Ledesma-Assunta de Rossi romance.

There is this alarming report that Assunta de Rossi is missing. Some people think she has been kidnapped by an ardent politician-admirer. This proves to be false – for she willingly went with the man who later turns out to be her beau, Jules Ledesma, a congressman from San Carlos City in Negros Occidental.

It is confirmed that Rep. Ledesma is really the boyfriend of Assunta. Although he had been a politician for the longest time, people generally have no idea how he looks like. Movie talk shows, fortunately, are able to provide video footage of the congressman.

The real drama begins when Assunta’s younger and feisty sister Alessandra angrily denounces Rep. Ledesma for his supposedly not-so-nice attitude toward her, their mother and even the househelp. He becomes an instant villain in the story.

The public sympathizes with the mother of Assunta and Alessandra because she is torn between her two daughters. Although she admits disliking Jules personally, she cannot completely turn her back on Assunta.

Rep. Jules Ledesma defends himself by accepting interviews on television and even opens his ancestral home and vast hacienda to a TV crew and its host. This works for him because the public realizes that he’s not so bad after all.

Alessandra doesn’t budge. She maintains her resentment toward Jules. Instead of being happy on her 18th birthday. she feels miserable and tells everyone that Assunta had taken back the vehicle that she usually uses for work.

Alessandra takes a break from all the intrigues and flies to Canada to attend the Toronto Film Festival, which features her two films, Hubog and Munting Tinig. Assunta is also supposed to grace the same festival, but opts to just stay behind and work on her TV commitments.

The story takes on a different twist when the nation is startled by the kidnapping of Rep. Ledesma’s two young children: Carlos and Cristina. Jules and Assunta shun interviews and hole themselves up in their posh Alexandra condominium unit. Their silence spawns all sorts of speculations – some bordering on the absurd. One theory has it that Jules himself had his own children kidnapped.

Alessandra softens up a bit and sympathizes with Assunta and even with Jules about the unfortunate turn of events.

The Ledesma kids are rescued and everyone – to this day – suspects that there had been a pay-off. Rep. Ledesma denies this and cites a "sure-fire" formula that still has everyone guessing what it really is and how it works.

Assunta severs ties with manager Manny Valera and branded an ingrate. Manny demands that Assunta buy-off the five-year contract to the tune of P10-M. Assunta decides to settle things amicably with Valera, who doesn’t exactly take home P10-M, but a little less than that – enough for him to be very happy on his birthday last October.

The managerial issue doesn’t end here. Assunta is back in the news because she gets June Torrejon to manage her. This move raises a lot of controversies because June is the president of the Professional Artists’ Management, Inc. (PAMI) and some members insist that this is a breach of professional ethics. The issue is settled and June stays as Assunta’s manager.

Since Assunta has to promote her movie Bahid (which did badly at the tills), she open herself up to new issues regarding her personal life. The press chooses to focus on her wedding plans. She is left with no other choice but to discuss some details about the wedding publicly.

Assunta surprises everyone by signing up with ABS-CBN, leaving behind GMA-7, which gambled on her when she wasn’t the big star that she is today.

The civil wedding finally happens in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. The wedding doesn’t turn out to be so big and so grand after all. Alessandra and their Mom don’t show up. The live television coverage does not rate as expected.

Maybe everyone just got tired tuning in to this romance between Juls and Assunta.