No show, no award?

Now it can be told:

When the 2005 FAMAS Awards unfolds tomorrow night (July 15) at the UP Theater, Vic Sotto won’t be around to receive the FPJ Lifetime Achievement Award (first recipient was Marichu "Manay Ichu" Maceda). In fact, he won’t even get to touch the trophy originally intended for him.

Here’s why:

According to the Funfare DPA, the FAMAS notified Vic that he was chosen as recipient of the memorial award (as prestigious as, among other special awards, the Dr. Jose R. Perez Memorial Award).

Somebody from Vic’s side told FAMAS that, so sorry, Vic wouldn’t be around because he was abroad accompanying his daughter (with Angela Luz) Paulina at a golf tournament, and suggested that Vic’s daughter Danica would receive the award on her dad’s behalf, she (Vic’s "spokesperson") was told that, because Vic wouldn’t be personally present anyway, the FAMAS would just give the award to – drum roll, please! – Eddie Garcia!

I’m happy for Manoy Eddie, of course, and I sincerely believe that the award is long-overdue for a great actor-director who’s a FAMAS Hall of Famer (Best Actor category). But then, is the FAMAS observing a "no show, no award" policy?

That makes Manoy Eddie (who’s only 77 and not 85 as many people suspect) a double special awardee. When the Manunuri’s Urian Awards gives out its own 2005 awards (better late than never) on Aug. 3, Manoy Eddie will mount the stage to receive the Gawad Urian (Lifetime Achievement Award). You see, when it pours...

Incidentally, Armida "Tita Midz" Siguion-Reyna has also been chosen as recipient of another special award but since she and her family are vacationing in Europe, Tita Midz has requested Pete Lacaba to receive the award on her behalf. No problem nor objection from the FAMAS. Oops! A case of "double standard"? What’s good for the goose is not good for the gander?

‘Missing’ Bb. Pilipinas-World resurfaces

In 1999, Bb. Pilipinas-World Lalaine Edson (one-time Eat, Bulaga! co-host) created quite a stir when she failed to come home from London after competing in the Miss World pageant. She was tagged as "missing" until a few years ago when she emerged from wherever she was hiding, "flushed" out by Funfare "beauty expert" Felix Manuel who was then in London (working as a nurse).

Four years earlier, in 1995, Bb. Pilipinas-World Reham Snow Tago (one-time Face of the Week of The STAR’s Allure section) also disappeared as if into thin air after she competed in the same international pageant, also held in London. So whatever happened to Snow, who was the subject of all sorts of unsavory speculations (you know, that she couldn’t pay a large sum she owed somebody, etc.)?

Trust Felix Manuel to tell us the true story.

The Funfare "beauty experts" (including Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib) met with Snow at her posh Ayala Alabang house. Snow said she has been keeping a low profile since she came back last year.

So whatever happened to Snow during the days when she was reported "missing"?

Here are among Snow’s "confessions" (from her first ever interview):

• "I was depressed after the Miss World Pageant because I felt that I disappointed the people who expected a lot from me. I was only 17 then. I decided that living abroad was the best thing for me to do at that time. It took me six months to recover from my depression."

• "I finished a degree in Political Science, major in International Relations, at the American University in Cairo. I graduated summa cum laude and I felt proud; that completely restored my self-confidence. I was also an editor of an Egyptian magazine called Enigma. I own an events company in Cairo where I hosted an arts show for Arab Radio TV based in Rome."

• "Yes, it’s true. Four days before the Miss World finals, I was involved in an accident onstage when my shoe got stuck in a hole on the floor, twisting my feet. I was in so much pain that the son of Mr. Eric Morley (deceased, who with his wife Julia was behind the Miss World pageant)had to carry me out of the venue and rushed me to the hospital. A few days later, Miss Spain broke her toe and also had to be hospitalized. Our feet in cast, we were featured in tandem on the front page of a newspaper."

• "Will I join showbiz? I would leave showbiz to my friends Ruffa Gutierrez (1993 Miss World Second Princess), Donita Rose and Ana Roces. I was offered to host a newscast by a local channel but I’m still thinking about it. You see, I have to travel to Egypt to attend to my business there."

Briefly noted:

• Kris Aquino and James Yap celebrated James’ win as Most Valuable Player by having a quiet dinner with close friends Monday night after the awards. On Saturday, they will host a thanksgiving dinner for sports writers.

• Birthday greetings to another "MVP" – Manny V. Pangilinan, that is – who’s turning a year wiser (and richer) today. Last night, executives from MVP’s companies all over Asia put together a birthday concert at the Meralco Theater featuring Regine Velasquez and Lani Misalucha, backed by a full orchestra conducted by Gerard Salonga. Today, the much-awaited MVP Cup 2 opens at the Araneta Coliseum, featuring China’s Lin Dan and Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat. Tickets are priced for as low as P250 for upper box (and if you are a PLDT or Smart employee, even for less). MVP is also spending part of his B-day with the students and faculty of a small school in Catmon, Malabon, which he has been supporting for many years.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])