'Bedtime stories' for 'blind' readers

It’s Christmastime. As the song says, let your hearts be light. While waiting for the misa de gallo, let’s play a little guessing game calculated to tickle Funfare’s “blind” readers — I mean, readers of “blind” items.

• A certain actress always has a “medical” alibi when she doesn’t want to report for a shoot (whether for a movie, a TV show or a commercial). She would call in “sick” while enumerating the symptoms of an ailment from a medical book. When the producer or director checks it out, true enough the “symptoms” match the actress’ supposed “ailment.” Very original, very imaginative, very resourceful, isn’t she?

• Could it be true that a young couple broke up because the over-generous actor got fed up with the actress’ “bilmoko” habit — you know, bili mo ako nito, bili mo ako n’un? Isn’t he too young to be, ehem, a Sugar Daddy?

• A TV host/actress acts exactly the way she looks —”anti” (as in “antipatika”). That’s how the flight attendants of a certain airline describe her. “Ill-mannered.” She doesn’t know how to say “Please” or “Thank you.” She doesn’t even know how to smile! After every meal, she would just motion to the flight attendant to take away the plates — “Con todo simangot,” complained a flight attendant. “That’s why we have stopped watching her shows. Eh, ano kung nakatira siya sa ‘malaking bahay’?”   

• Another “airline-sourced” tsismis: One time, a very popular personality and her equally very popular boyfriend flew business class. Everytime the lady went to the lavatory, she didn’t have any inkling that her boyfriend would get (as in “make kupit”) $200 (or maybe more!) from her bag. Oh well, with the huge amount of money she carries around, that’s peanuts...barya lang po ‘yon!

? Still another “airline-sourced” tsismis: When another popular couple went abroad, it was usually the wife who chose items from the menu, for her and for him. During breakfast, the wife was so sleepy that she didn’t want to eat, leaving her husband “helpless.”

Recalled a flight attendant with a laugh, “Naku po, nataranta siya; hindi malaman kung ano ang gagawin.” You guessed it: He ended up not taking breakfast at all.

• A “wide-awake” item: Did you know that Bong Alvarez and his wife Almira Muhlach are migrating with their children to Australia anytime now? No wonder they sold their house in Green Park Village, Pasig City, located right next to the house of Carmina Villarroel and Zoren Legaspi.

(Okay, time to attend the misa de gallo. That’s all, folks!)

Julius builds ‘GK’ houses

Cheers to Julius Babao and his wife Tintin Bersola, together with their artist friends, who made Christmas more meaningful to residents of Gawad Kalinga Village in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. They turned over the first batch of 30 houses to the beneficiaries of Julius’ birthday project, ART 40 art auction and exhibit, last July 20 which raised P2.5-M.

Angelika dela Cruz, who is five months pregnant, and her boyfriend Orion also joined the event. Angelika is also active in charity work. 

Said Julius, “We are happy because this Christmas, the beneficiaries will start living in their new homes. What makes our Art 40 Village unique is that the houses have artworks painted on them. I invited a group of graffiti artists to spray-paint the houses.”

Eighteen more houses will be turned over to the rest of the beneficiaries in January next year, the target completion of the project. Julius and Tintin have tapped the support of Tesda which will give skills training in preparation for the livelihood projects for the GK families.

Aside from the success of ART 40, the couple has so much to thank for this year. Julius was awarded Best Male News Anchor for the sixth consecutive time by Star Awards for TV organized by the Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) and for two straight years now, was voted No. 1 Favorite Male Personality by Anak TV, a yearly top-of-mind nationwide survey being conducted by the Southeast Asian Foundation for Children and Television.  

On the other hand, Tintin received a special citation from the recent Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) for her book The Story of Christine. She made it again to the list of Top 10 Most Favorite Female Personalities by the Anak TV Awards (her fifth from Anak TV since it was launched five years ago).

They look forward to more blessings in the Year of the Ox. 

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