Will lady producer junk the sexy star?

Curtain-raisers:

• According to unimpeachable Funfare DPAs, it’s "95 percent sure" that FPJ will run for President in 2004 – with Sen. Loren Legarda as running mate? Well, nothing is for sure until FPJ himself makes an announcement. Meanwhile, the guessing game – is it a "yes" or a "no"? – goes on. But the answer won’t take long in coming.

• Could it be true that Junjun Santiago, ex-husband of Sherilyn Reyes (who’s getting married to PBA player Chris Tan, her live-in boyfriend and father of her months-old love child), is courting sex kitten Diana Zubiri? No problem, after all Junjun is legally a bachelor again. Let’s hope that Junjun finds somebody better than his ex-wife.

• Yes, the F4 is coming for a concert sometime in November. An executive of ABS-CBN (which is producing the concert) is now in Taipei to sign the contract. Barbi Xu (Shan Cai in the Meteor Garden chinovela) might do for ABS-CBN a teleserye (not a Star Cinema movie as Funfare earlier wrongly reported) with Piolo Pascual.

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Several issues ago, Funfare reported that a sexy star has grown swell-headed, something which she denied. But then, her actions speak louder than her words.

Ask the lady producer who spent millions in building her up and the angry (find out why by and by) producer will tell the whole world that, yes, it’s true, the sexy star is now wearing a hat much too big for her head. (A "swollen" head can easily weigh a star down the drain, so she should beware!)

A few days ago, the lady producer scheduled a shoot for the sexy star with her young co-stars. She did report to the set but disappeared soon after – "For a while," she said.

She never came back.

The suspicion was that when she reached home, she found her rumored boyfriend, a TDH actor (as in Tall, Dark and Handsome), waiting for her. Neighbors of the sexy star said that the actor has been sleeping in her house and the two are virtually living-in.

Anyway, the sexy star sent word that she suddenly felt "indisposed" so could she please beg off from the shoot?

The lady producer, who has seen symptoms of swell-headedness in the sexy star, didn’t take that sitting down. Did she pack up the shooting? No, she didn’t. What she did was promptly send the following text message to the sexy star (quoted here verbatim):

You are not professional. I’m spending more than P350,000 for the shooting tonight. You pretend to be sick. Niloloko mo lang kami. If you don’t appear now, I will go to your show (name of show deleted) to fight you. You should know that it was R___l which made you a star. Don’t take me for granted. I will not take this sitting down. You always put the blame on your manager when you are the problem. Your co-stars are waiting for you on the set. If you don’t come, you will have to pay for my losses.

Lumalaki na ang ulo mo. Hoy, hindi ka pa superstar, ano! Wala kang konsiderasyon sa kapwa mo artista. Remember that we’ve been covering up for you. We even kept your "secret". Sige, if you don’t behave, I will be forced to reveal everything about you.

Oops! What "secrets" could the sexy star be hiding? Is it the one being mentioned every now and then in "blind items"? Just because she’s co-hosting a show, does she think that she can already, well, throw her weight around? Isn’t she aware that if the lady producer decides to drop her like a hot potato, she’ll be as good as a washout?

Guess what the sexy star did as soon as she received that "urgent" message – yes, she showed up on the set in a jiffy! No, she wasn’t sick at all. It wasn’t known if her actor-lover waited for her or if she asking him to come back some other day for what was suspected to be their own "shooting" schedule.

Moral of this incident?

Simple: Don’t mix business with pleasure – and keep your feet firmly planted on the ground.

Ate Vi Certified ‘Gold’

Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos will be a Golden Girl on Nov. 3 and she’ll mark the day with a grand public (but not lavish) celebration with what she loves to refer to as "my constituents" (the Lipeños, you know) right at the city plaza with the "live" telecast of the ABS-CBN noontime show MTB. It’s the Lopezes’ birthday gift to Mayor Vi.

On the night of the same day, Mayor Vi will preside over the traditional lighting of the giant Christmas Tree also at the city plaza. Expected to be with her are her husband, Sen. Ralph Recto who, while denying a report that she has a "mistress," insists that everything is okay with him and his wife. "Such rumors don’t bother us anymore," Mayor Vi herself assured the public.

The biggest question is whether or not Mayor Vi is making any announcement about her plans for 2004. Is she running for reelection? Or is she aiming for a hugher office (as Batangas Governor)? Or, will she quit politics altogether?

The Lipeños, and Vilmanians, will know on Mayor Vi’s birthday what the real score is.

Rita Avila Now Married

Yes, it’s confirmed: Rita Avila and her boyfriend, TV director Erick Reyes, have gotten married in civil rites last January.

"But we decided to put off our church wedding supposedly scheduled end of this year," said Rita.

You see, according to Rita, there’s a new church policy not to marry a pregnant bride.

"Erick and I want to have a baby as soon as possible," added Rita. "I’m not getting any younger, you know. Having a baby is our priority."

Rita and Erick met – and fell in love –on the set of an ABS-CBN soap she was starring in and he was directing.

"I’m virtually on vacation right now," said Rita. "But I hope to be back in circulation soon."

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