What drives Angelica?

Whether or not she actually said, "I’m not GR. I’m That’s", is not important anymore. She has become famous as GR Jones of The Buzz. If before, she was blathered because of her anemic command of the English language, now, she has turned this anemia into a robust comedic trademark.

And this 20-year-old young woman is having a ball. She’s enjoying every minute of her newfound fame. Nobody would have suspected that this is the same person who cried for justice because at 14, she was allegedly peddled to rich businessmen when all she wanted was to sing and dance on TV and if lucky, she act on film.

And amidst all the nasty fracas she got herself into, her mother, Beth, was never an inch away from her beloved daughter. Beth says the most painful diatribe thrown their way was to be accused that she was selling her own daughter. She vehemently denies this, while finding comfort in the fact that "alam ng Diyos ang lahat. Alam Niya kung ano ang totoo."

These days, mother and daughter are busy with Angelica’s, or rather GR Jones’s hectic schedule. Mother takes care of her daughter’s needs – from clothes to food during tapings. She would even do GR’s hair if necessary. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for her daughter. She would even screen GR’s suitors. According to her, she only wants the best for her daughter.

When they get home, Beth makes sure she and GR watch, review and critique her TV appearances – from the way she looks and how she delivers her lines.

Beth is not only GR’s mother. She is also her manager and worst critic. She is also her best friend. Angelica admits there are times she feels her mother becomes too controlling. But most of the time, she’d rather have her mom around.

In my conversation with mother and daughter for my show Kontrobersyal, GR Jones shed tears when she started thanking her mother for all the love she continues to give her.

Beth looked at her daughter with love and pride. If this were what it meant to be called a stage mother, she is one, she declares.

Awesome Cookie Election

Kids and some of the country’s brightest stars were out in full force as Tini Wini Cookies embarked on an evening mall tour. Billed the Awesome Cookie Election, this exciting event happened at Rockwell.

The event started with a motorcade that traversed around Rockwell Power Plant Mall. Numerous cars plastered with Tini Wini streamers joined the motorcade, led by the "other" president, comedian Ate Glow, with the Tini Wini mascots. Kids assembled inside Rockwell mall, where Ate Glow held a miting de avance – Tini Wini style – where she presented two new flavors of Tini Wini from which the kids will choose which one of the two will be launched and sold side-by-side with Tini Wini’s three top-selling variants: Cookies N’ Cream, Choco Fudge and Very Nutty Butter.

Kids were then led outside Rockwell Mall, where a forest fun-tasy land was set up. Strawberry and Orange Tini Wini Cookies overflowed and kids sampled both flavors and wrote down their choice in an election booth. The fun doubled when some of the country’s hottest stars joined them. Seen were Ai Ai delas Alas, John Lloyd Cruz and Ciara Sotto, ABS-CBN Talent Center artists Alfred Vargas and Robby Mananquil, Brad Turvey, Geoff Rodriguez, TJ Manotoc, Dolly Ann Carvajal, Dessa and many more.

KC Montero and the precocious Heaven Arespacochaga, who were chosen as Tini Wini pitchpersons, and will be featured on billboards and print ads for the cookie company, led the event where they also staged various fun games and activities for kids and their families.

"I’m forever young at heart," says KC, now being kidded as the "Tini Wini Guy."

"It’s all about having fun, and that’s surely what Tini Wini’s Awesome Cookie Election all about!"