You can help Maricar win

Oh, yes, you can help 2004 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Maricar Balagtas win maybe not the crown (but with prayers, why not?) up for grabs among 80-plus beauties from around the world now gathered in Quito, Ecuador, where the grand finals of the 2004 Miss Universe Pageant will be held on June 2 (Manila Time, to be covered "live" starting at 9 a.m. by Star World, Channel 25 on SkyCable, with a replay at 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 3), but the Miss Photogenic special award.

It’s the same award won so far by four Binibinis – Vida Doria in 1971, Margie Moran (also Miss Universe) in 1973, Aileen Damiles in 1996 and Abbygale Arenas in 1997.

Here’s how:

1. Go to the official Miss Universe 2004 website: http://www.missuniverse.com

2. Click the "Vote now for Miss Photogenic" link once the page loads. A pop-up window with a globe will load.

3. Click the continent name of the delegate (in this case, Asia/Australia).

4. Go to page 2 to locate the picture of Maricar Balagtas.

5. Click the picture and click the "VOTE FOR THIS DELEGATE" button.

6. Fill in the necessary fields once the page loads (first name, gender, email, etc.). Note: If you live outside the USA, simply type "none" in the ZIP code entry to make sure your vote counts. Also, select "international" in the State/Country entry.

7. Once all fields have been entered, click the "SUBMIT VOTE" button at the bottom of the screen and you will receive a confirmation of your vote.

Hurry up! The voting ends at 4 a.m. (Manila Time), June 2 (that’s tomorrow morning!).

As usual, we keep our fingers crossed and hope (against hope?) that our bet will bring home the Philippines’ third Miss Universe title (after Gloria Diaz in 1969 and Margie Moran in 1973).

In the 52-year history of the pageant, only nine Asians have won the title, noted reader Loreto Bonifacio Concepcion, namely:
1. Akiko Kojima (Japan), 1959
2. Apasra Hongsakula (Thailand), 1965
3. Gloria Diaz (Philippines), 1969
4. Georgina Rizk (Lebanon), 1971
5. Margie Moran (Philippines), 1973
6. Rina Messinger (Israel), 1976
7. Porntip Nakhirunkanok (Thailand), 1988
8. Sushmita Sen (India), 1994
9. Lara Dutta (India), 2000

In the current pageant, added Loreto, 10 Asians are competing for the title. They are:
1. Miss Philippines Maricar Balagtas
2. Miss India Tanushree Dutta
3. Miss Japan Eri Machimoto
4. Miss China Zhang Meng
5. Miss Vietnam Hoang Ngoc
6. Miss Taiwan Janie Yu Chen Hseih
7. Miss Singapore Sandy Chua
8. Miss Korea Yoon-Young Choi
9. Miss Malaysia Andrea Fonseka
10. Miss Thailand Morakott Aimee Kittisara

Will another Asian be "it" (even if early front-runners are reportedly Kathrine Soerland of Norway, Oleksandra Nikolayenko of Ukraine, Shandi Finnessey of USA and Ana Karina Anez Delgado of Venezuela)?

Stay tuned.

Night of Champions at the Big Dome

If you missed the contests in which they emerged as winners, you’ll have the chance to watch the champions up close at a concert aptly titled Night of Champions at the Araneta Coliseum on July 3 (Saturday), 8 p.m.

Featured champions are Erik Santos (of Star in a Million), Sarah Geronimo (Star For a Night) and Rachel Ann Go (Search For a Star), together with their runners-up Christian Bautista (Star in a Million), Mark Bautista (Star For a Night) and Raymond Manalo (Search For a Star).

It would be fun pitting the champions and runners-up against one another. Judge for yourself who will be the "winner" in that Big Dome showdown.

The show, directed by Bobby Garcia (with Marc Lopez as musical director), is produced by Viva Concerts & Events (headed by June Torrejon).

(Note: Tickets priced at P1,000, P900, P750, P400, P250 and P100 are available at all SM Ticketnet outlets.)

Lucy’s ‘ex’ marries Cris Tan’s ‘ex’

A grand "dream garden wedding" was held in Cebu a few weeks back and it was the talk of the region not only because the bride and the groom were from prominent families but also because they were once romantically involved with popular figures. The groom was Francis Llaban, the boyfriend Lucy Torres left for Richard Gomez after going steady for eight years and the bride was Angel Selma, first wife of Cris Tan who is now the husband of Sherilyn Reyes.

Here’s a report from reader Marita del Sierra:

Angel is a scion of one of the most affluent and moneyed families of Cebu, which made money in construction and trucking for the then famous Atlas Mining. Her family is into vertical construction, buying and selling of construction equipment and real estate; and also owns the only Don Henrico's franchise in Cebu.

Aside from this, the Selmas own a number of  establishments (restaurants, restobars, etc.) throughout Cebu. Angel’s father, Segundino Selma Jr. is the younger brother of Rep. Eddie Gullas’ wife Ming-Ming who owns University of Visayas, one of the biggest universities in Cebu.

Until he got married, Francis was Cebu’s most-sought-after bachelor together with Bogo Mayor Tinning Martines (Beth Tamayo’s ex-boyfriend) and  Blake Go (Kristine Hermosa’s ex-boyfriend before Echo).

We salute Francis for mending his broken heart and finding another love. It took him a while to get over Lucy. We'd see him every Wednesday in St. Therese Church praying the Perpetual Succor Novena, sometimes with tears trickling down his face.

The wedding was the biggest and grandest event in Cebu by far, held in the Selmas' 12-hectare residence in Minglanilia (30 minutes away from Cebu). Some 700 guests were present at the wedding officiated by Rev. Msgr. Esteban S. Binay. So grand was the wedding that the couple built a P5-million chapel as symbol of love. Francis is religious, just like Lucy. He believes that in order to make a relationship last, God should be in the center of it.

The reception was held at the manicured rainforest garden next to the chapel. P1-million worth of flowers was flown in from Belgium and Amsterdam by renowned artist Paul Scroft. Thousands of tiny tivoli lights, a crystal wall of flowing water, countless colored doves and butterflies were matched with the burnt fuchsia and orange color motif. It was such a beautiful sight.

During the ceremony, Francis could not help but shed tears of joy. Those present cried as well.

We are all happy for Francis and Angel. Indeed, love is lovelier the second time around.

May they have many, many years of blissful togetherness!

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])