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For the past 20 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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The real casualties of war are not the ones who have died, but the ones who have survived.
We see the lone soldier standing in the middle of his dead friends weeping and beating his chest. What good is it now that he continues to live while all of his comrades lay dead?
_________
When tribulations occur in life, the very first thing that dies is self worth.
You could look at the mirror and see a shadow scoured by tears and broken by pain.
So unrecognizable is your face, that you don’t even deserve a name. You cease to exist and you become an empty breathing machine that only lives for the sake of just being around. Your life reverberates like an empty hall.
It is as if any small amount of pride and joy left in you dissolves along with the faint vapor that is your soul. You become a shell of what you used to be and you have very strong feelings of ending it once and for all.
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The second thing to die after self worth is purpose. You see your future collapsing and you are certain that whatever it is that you do will not make any difference at all. You drag yourself to do even the most simple things like eating and bathing. You stare at tomorrow like you are staring at a blank wall or you never stare at it at all. You close you eyes to the prospect of being there when the sun rises the next day.
__________
Yet somehow, you survive. You manage to pull through and remove the cobwebs that are cluttering your mind.
You see a crack on the shell that encases your worthless self and manage to see light. You close your eyes and and finally something- tomorrow’s sunrise.
You look at the mirror and begin to see the clearing of the glass caused by the humidity of your pain and starts to see an image of yourself starting to rebuild.
__________
It is the love of your family and friends that pulls you out of the raging waters of your depression. Sometimes you fail to recognize their role in your survival, but it is their simple embrace, their warm and loving advice, and their undying presence that provides the raft that would take you to the beach of your peace.
Be forever grateful that you have people who loves you for what you are, warts and all. For only real friends and close family will ever do so. They look after you like they look after themselves. Their love is never fleeting, it is eternal.
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GINA Alajar will no longer share the same surname, Eigenmann, with her three sons, Ryan, Geoff and AJ. Former husband Michael de Mesa forbids Gina from using his real surname, Eigenmann. According to her, this is understandable since their marriage has finally been annulled.
Gina Alajar is just her screen name. Gina’s real name is Regina Alatiit.
Gina said that she had actually planned to ask the permission of former father-in-law Eddie Mesa for her to continue using Eigenmann as her family name. But, in the end, she realized that it’s Michaelís decision which should count.
Gina and Michael have been married for almost 30 years. They fell in love when she was 14 and Michael, 13. They were then doing the movie, “Confradia,” where she played the title role.
It was a few years, after their eldest son Ryan was born, that they got married. It was due to the insistence of Eddie, who has become a pastor of a large congregation in America.
Their relationship, from the start, was never smooth. Yet, they have always managed to kiss and make up until they both decided to call it quits. Gina even made a movie titled “Deborsyada” opposite the late Jimi Melendez (dad of actress Aiko Melendez).
They got back together and had two more sons, Geoff and AJ. The coming of their younger sons according to Gina had a “tranquil effect” on their relationship. They became in demand in their respective careers and were able to buy a house of their own, the same house in Parañaque where Gina and the three boys still live.
They continue to have problems and misunderstandings in the relationship until both thought that it was better that they separate permanently. So they decided that the best solution was to have their marriage annulled.
Funny, according to Gina, but when she told her three sons about their decision to get an annulment, one of them said, “It’s about time.” (MNS)
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KRISTINE Hermosa wants to make it clear that she is not living in with Diether Ocampo. They’ve been on for three years now, but they have separate homes. He has his own house near Morato Avenue and she, a condo in Cubao. They plan to tie the knot, possibly next year, and she wants it to be a garden wedding. Has she seen Diet’s love child, Dream?
‘No, hindi pa,’ she says at the presscon of her first horror film, ‘Wag Kang Lilingon.’ ‘I’ve seen him sa video and sa pictures, but not in person. Ayaw raw noong mommy niya, not yet the right time. But I really want to be close to the boy at nang makapag-bonding naman kami.’ She had a conflict then with Pauleen Luna who admitted Diet wooed her. Pauleen is now being linked to Marvin Agustin and there’s a report that Kristine said something against the two, like ‘Sinalo ni Pauleen ang lalaking tira-tirahan ko na nanligaw pero di nakalusot sa akin.’
Marvin already said that he and Kristine became officially on for a while after they did ‘Sa Sandaling Kailangan Mo Ako.’ What can Kristine say about this?
‘The truth is I didn’t even know that Marvin is courting her. No one has interviewed me for a long time and I never said anything like that na sinalo or tira-tirahan. If it’s true he’s courting her, sana, seryosohin niya yung bata. I wish them well. (MNS)
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GMA-7 is not getting Jericho Rosales and Heart Evangelista anymore.
Source said that GMA changed its mind as they feel that the sweethearts are just using them to gain more leverage with ABS-CBN.
They were so accommodating to the couple, allowing them to guest in their shows, with Echo even promoting his debut album in their network.
But they found out the loyalty of both stars remain with their former home studio and they’re still hoping they will get a better deal there since they’re really Kapamilya.
There’s now an official order from GMA execs not to guest any ABS-CBN talent in their shows, both for GMA-7 and QTV-11. All scheduled guestings of Echo and Heart in shows like “Bahay Mo Ba ‘To” and “Mahiwagang Baul” have been cancelled.
“The biggest loser here is Genesis, which is now managing Echo and Heart,” said the source. “Kasi sobrang laki ng talent fee that they charge for their stars.”
How come GMA offered to get Echo and Heart when their “Panday” did not really rate? “No, it was Genesis who offered to take them to GMA kasi hawak na nga raw nila ang mga ito,” adds the source. “Hindi sa GMA nanggaling ang offer na kunin sila. But now na marami silang kakiyemehan, thankful ang GMA na hindi nga nila tuluyang nakuha ang mga ito.”
So what happens now to the careers of Echo and Heart? Back to ABS na lang? (MNS)
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MONIQUE Wilson is back with a new hit play from “The Vagina Monologues’” author Eve Ensler. This time, Monique along with Pinky Amador and Juno Henaras, takes on “The Good Body,” a very sensual and hilarious presentantion about the dilemmas women encounter with our bodies.
This is the first time “The Good Body” will be shown outside America. “Eve Ensler has been doing ‘The Good Body’ by herself,” Monique says, “She has been asking me to do a local version of it because she was really impressed with the actresses who did ‘Vagina Monologues when she visited the Philippines.”
Directed by Rito Asilo and produced by New Voice Company (“Aspects of Love,” “Cabaret”), “The Good Body” will have its Asian premiere at the Music Museum on Nov. 10 and 11.
Monique recently received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Rose in “Aspects of Love” in Manila and in Singapore. She recently completed her Masters Degree in Theater from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and will soon be teaching drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Pinky plays the show’s narrator Eve Ensler as Monique and stage actress–performer Juno Henares take on various roles as various women from every corner of the world. Eve based the monologues from interviews and interaction resulting to very peculiar experiences she gathered for “The Good Body.”
“This is actually more difficult than ‘Vagina Monologues,’” Monique observes.
Pinky, an original “Miss Saigon” cast member along with Monique, has established a name for herself not only in theater, but also in movies and TV. Her most recent projects are “Captain Barbell” and “Eternity” while she has done theater projects in Repertory Philippines’ “Oh Romeo” and “The Vagina Monologues.” Aside from “The Good Body,” Pinky will be doing “You Love Me You Really Love Me” at Teatrino also in November.
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IF THE ROMANTIC-comedy “Till I Met You” continues to make cash registers ring, male lead Robin Padilla offers a pretty reasonable assumption.
“All our Muslim brothers left their homes even if it’s Ramadan to watch the movie,” he says. “They also did their part in controlling piracy.”
Traditionally, Muslims come in full force to watch Fernando Poe Jr. movies. It’s no surprise they would do the same to the movies of Robin, who has converted to Islam.
But count in the chemistry between Robin and Regine Velasquez as well.
Make that on and off-screen.
The stars kept joking and flirting with each other on Monday during the movie’s victory party. Ask Robin about his feelings for Regine and he will say he wants to marry her even if she has confessed to being in a relationship with another man.
“Liezl (Robin’s wife) is here, and she would be the one to ask Regine if she’d be my wife,” says Robin.
Regine continues to brush off Robin’s verbal advances, but admits that she’s flattered to be pursued by two men.
“Gusto ko itong pinagaagawan ako (I like it when men fight over me),” she says, jokingly.
Earlier, Regine said that she felt Robin’s marriage proposal was serious. “I have a sixth sense about these things. I feel that he was not joking.”
Robin has been married three times, two ending in divorce. Under Muslim laws, Robin is allowed four wives as long as he could afford to keep them.
But Robin and Regine would be parting ways to move on to other projects. According to the grapevine, Regine is shooting a movie with Aga Muhlach under another film outfit. Robin would start taping for his action-drama series for GMA 7, which would pair him with Angel Locsin.
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