Kris: James deserves it!

Did James Yap win as Most Valuable Player (MVP) because his wife, Kris Aquino, "worked" (as in nilakad) for it?

James deserves it, Kris insists.

"If you’re the wife," she adds, "wouldn’t you do everything you could to help your husband? But you have no right to do that if you don’t have the statistics. James was No. 1, kahit bali-baliktarin nila, kahit anong accusation nila."

Is she, or James, affected by it all?

"No," Kris says. "Inggit lang sila! What made James win was the press vote. James has the majority talaga. How could I make lakad when I’m not close to the sports press? Iba ang sports press sa movie press. The sports writers monitored the games and James was really No. 1, not just once but twice... in two conferences!"

With the non-issue put to rest, Kris and James are set for their US trip end of this month, initially for Kris (and co-star Claudine Barretto and director Chito Roño) to attend the world premieres of Star Cinema’s Sukob in L.A. on July 29 and in Hawaii on July 30 (also slated Aug. 18 in Sydney), with regular showing set for July 26 all over the Philippines (premier night on July 25 at SM Megamall Cinema 10) and in August in several US cities (San Francisco, Las Vegas, Virginia Beach and San Diego on Aug. 4 to 10; and L.A., New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Honolulu on Aug. 11 to 17) and Canada (Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Surrey on Aug. 18 to 24).

From L.A. and Hawaii, Kris and James will fly back to Las Vegas for a five-day R&R, a virtual second honeymoon. – Ricky Lo