Aiko: I am vindicated

"She’s a home-wrecker!"

Of course, you guess right who’s talking and who she is referring to.

"She took away not only my husband but also our future as a family."

As you can see, the woman talking is furious–nay, fuming mad!

"I believe in the law of karma and it will soon catch up with her."

Those were some of Aiko Melendez’s parting shots Sunday night before she took a PAL flight to San Francisco where she’s staying for treatment of some muscular/joint ailment. According to The Buzz staff which cornered Aiko at the departure area of the Centennial Airport, Aiko, who was travelling alone, was smiling as she talked but "you could see the pain and the hurt behind her smile."

Aiko was reacting to recent TV interviews with Ara Mina and Jomari Yllana who, for reasons only they know, decided to dig up an issue – and the hatchet buried with it–that was starting to rot in the graveyard of gossip. While before the lovers (well, they very obviously are, if you believe that action speaks louder than words) were denying to death that they had an affair and insisted, looking straight at the camera, that they were "only friends" (how many love children have been brought forth to this earth behind that convenient alibi?), they are now more open and more brazen, maybe because Aiko and Jomari’s marriage had already been annulled, pretending that they never had an affair when, as a showbiz-observer aptly puts it, "even the deaf and the blind could hear and see that they have."

"Ang wish ko lang," continued Aiko, "is for them to come out in the open and make a clean breast of it. Jomari knows very well that his affair with Ara was one of the grounds for the annulment case I filed against him. Malakas ang loob nilang mag-affair-affair pero ayaw namang umamin. Their recent interviews have vindicated me. Now, everybody knows that I wasn’t just imagining things, that I wasn’t just being paranoid. O, sige, umamin na sila at tigilan na nila ang dramang pa-cute-cute!"

Ara and Jomari (who has broken her "vow of silence" and turned overnight into a blabbermouth, spewing statements which he perhaps wrongly thinks will hit only his ex-wife Aiko and not their son Andre) appear to many people (this one included) as if they’re euphorically celebrating his newly-found freedom, with Ara even calling him Tatang and Jomari calling her Baby (he used to call Aiko Babes).

"Paiyak-iyak pa siya (Ara) sa TV," added Aiko, "kunwari nagpapaawa. Instead of burying her head in shame or just keeping quiet, siya itong malakas ang loob tumawag sa akin ng sinungaling. Now, tell me, who’s telling a lie? Ngayon lang ako nakatagpo ng babaing nanira na ng pamilya ay may mukha pang humarap sa TV at mang-away sa babaing ninakawan niya ng asawa."

Strong words, those. But if you were in her shoes, you wouldn’t blame Aiko, would you?

"It was they who reopened the issue," said Aiko. "Now, I’m talking.The court has dissolved my marriage. I leave it up to the law of karma to hand down its verdict."

No further comment.

Joey Albert Doing Well

Funfare readers have been asking how Joey Albert has been doing since she was scheduled for surgery after a malignant growth was found in her colon during her regular every-six-months check-up (since she recovered from cancer of the uterus more than five years ago).

The good news, according to Maribi Garcia (a good friend of Joey), is that Joey successfully underwent surgery at a hospital in Vancouver where she and her family (husband Ting Pacis and their children) are based.

Here’s Joey’s latest text message to Maribi: Thank you, Maribi, my adopted Ate. I’m home now, recovering well. My hubby is my nurse. He, he, he! Have to do chemo afterwards, yuk! But it’s okay with me if God wants it. Take care...Maribi, you are one of God’s answered prayers to my dreams through the album Presence that waited for nine years to be realized. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May the graces gained from each soul drawn closer to God through our album flow to your family and to Universal Records. May Presence also be a timeless album.

Incidentally, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay sent the following get-well-soon message to Joey:

Dear Joey,

It saddens me to know that you were diagnosed to have a growth in your colon which, I hope and pray, is harmless. I just can’t believe this is happening to a good friend of mine.

Knowing you to be kind and friendly and a person with a strong faith in God, I know you will take this challenge in stride for He does not give us anything that we cannot handle. I am sure you will not be alone in this trial for I, with your friends and countless fans, are with you.

On behalf of my family, my fervent prayers are with you for your well-being and that may God grant you strength for your early recovery.

Very truly yours,
JEJOMAR BINAY
Makati Mayor

What’s Up?

• Calle 5 Food Zone, a special place where special people meet, will feature Aleck Bovick in a solo concert during its 20th-anniversary celebration on Aug. 27, with special guest Lukas (the voice behind Namumuro Ka Na). Also featured are Calle 5 regular performers AGS Glitters, First Edition and Jarzle. The show is sponsored by San Miguel Draft Beer. Calle 5 is located at 1328 A. Mabini St., Ermita, Manila.

• A must-see movie today at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 2 (in connection with the ongoing Makati CineManila Filmfest): City of God by award-winning Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, at 4 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Meirelles. City of God was Brazil’s official entry in the Best-Foreign Language Film category in the recent Oscar Awards. People have been raving about it.

• Several readers, including Leonor Villanueva and Calvin Millado (of San Diego, California), want to know the name of the super anti-oxidant mentioned by Ricky Reyes when he guested several weeks ago with Vicki Belo on Morning Girls. According to Vicki, it’s called Glutathione (250 mgs), to be taken with Lipoic Acid (250 mgs.).