A ‘double victory’ for Dennis Trillo

If Dennis Trillo seems to be on Cloud 9 these days, it’s because of two good reasons. First, he won (his third victory in four months ) in last week’s controversy-laden 21st Star Awards of the Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) which named him Best Actor for his role as a cross-dresser in Ashite Imasu 1941 (the same movie that won for him the Best Supporting Actor plum at the recent Golden Screen Awards of the PMPC breakaway group ENPRESS and at last December’s Metro Filmfest); and, second, his girlfriend, Carlene Ang Aguilar, was named 2005 Bb. Pilipinas-World at last Saturday’s pageant. It’s sad that Dennis wasn’t at the Araneta Coliseum to share Carlene’s "moment in time" because he was busy shooting.

It was in a sense a "double victory" for Dennis.

Dennis and Carlene have been going steady for more than a year now. They met and fell in love more than a year ago when Carlene won as Miss Earth-Philippines. Sharing many things in common (both stand 5’8" and are half-Chinese), Dennis and Carlene are "lying low," agreeing to give each other time and space so they can concenrate on their respective careers. Carlene is competing in the Miss World contest in China end of the year and her ability to speak Chinese (Mandarin, etc.) will be among her aces, for sure.

Now, if Dennis seems to be insulated from the unresolved controversy surrounding the Star Awards, it’s because he said he has a clear conscience and he’s convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that he deserves the award.

"I’m glad that the judges of both writers groups trusted me and believed in me," Dennis told Funfare. "I never expected to win in both awards but I’m happy that I did."

The ENPRESS choices got the nod of most everybody, untainted by any accusation of "vote-buying" or some such anomaly that marred the Star Awards and only a handful raised a howl why Dennis was categorized as Best Actor by the Star Awards and not, as ENPRESS and the Metro Filmfest did, as Best Supporting Actor. (PMPC president Joe Barrameda said that Dennis’ role as Erlinda Marikit, turned down by Onemig Bondoc, is a "lead.")

Asked to comment on the alleged vote-buying (at the Star Awards) in the Best Actor category, with supporters of also-ran Piolo Pascual (for Milan) pointed to as those behind it, Dennis kept mum. True to form.

"All I can say is that I am thankful for the honor," said Dennis, hinting that he didn’t shell out a single cent for it.

As Funfare surmised, the brouhaha over the Star Awards will soon die a natural death (so what else is new!?!). The PMPC has issued an official statement, admitting that there was an attempt at "bribery" (13 PMPC members were reportedly offered P5,000 each "not to forget" Piolo during the voting) but the "instigators" didn’t succeed.

Rikka Dylim, PR manager of the ABS-CBN Star Magic (sister arm of Star Cinema, producer of Milan which won, among other Star Awards, Best Picture and Best Director for Olivia Lamasan) has officially washed her hands, denying that she was behind the "bribery" attempt.

Maloli K. Espinosa, VP for Government, Corporate Affairs and PR of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., also sent an official statement which reads:

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation is saddened by the alleged vote-buying scam in the recently-concluded 21st Star Awards for Movies. It is unfortunate that such allegation routinely surfaces after every awards ceremony regardless of parties, to the detriment of the industry. For the record, ABS-CBN has not tolerated and will never tolerate such practice. The network has always espoused the principles of professionalism and integrity, and this extends to playing fair in any industry-related activity, including the Philippine Movie Press Club’s (PMPC) Star Awards.

Anyway, it’s Holy Week and whoever are guilty should fall on their knees and atone for their sins. Better still, they should subject themselves to flagellation and vow never, never to commit the same "crime" again.

No More Showbiz For Jhezarie Javier

Barely 15 hours after she won as (the first) 2005 Miss ASEAN Saturday night in Jakarta, Jhezarie Javier breezed back home early yesterday afternoon, still heady from the hectic two-week-long activities of the beauty contest which, unlike the usual, featured no swimsuit competition in deference to the participating Muslim countries (including Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia).

A former member of the ABS-CBN Talent Center’s Star Circle Batch 5, Jhezarie said that she has "retired" from showbiz and would rather concentrate on helping in the family business.

Two years ago, she represented the country in the Miss International contest where she placed 16th (only 15 were chosen semi-finalists). In the Miss ASEAN contest, first runner-up was Miss Indonesia and second runner-up was Miss Thailand.

Why the rush to come home?

"After the pageant," Jhezarie told Funfare, "I attended the press conference and the post-pageant party. Then I went back to the hotel to pack up and rush to the airport. I was really scheduled to come back yesterday, win or lose."

But she’ll go back to Jakarta to start her reign as Miss ASEAN third week of April. She’ll help promote tourism in the region and foster closer relationship among ASEAN countries.

During the contest period, the contestants went through a series of interviews and given a familiarization tour of Indonesia (Bali, Jogjakarta and Makasa).

Since the Miss International contest, Jhezarie said she has been living a "normal, quiet life." But as Miss ASEAN, she’ll be busy travelling.

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