WINNING MOMENTS
Wearing her standard jeans, ball cap and AC/DC T-shirt, her obvious effort to go unnoticed, was, of course, a fail, given her superstar status
Angel Locsin strikes again. This weekend, news of the actress flying to the Visayas surfaced. She was not there for vacation. Rather, the Kapamilya leading lady blew into town to help the victims of typhoon "Tisoy," which ravaged many typhoon-embattled provinces in the Eastern Visayas and Luzon regions such as Bicol and Samar. True to her modus operandi, she arrived without any fanfare.
A local official in Samar was just told that a group would be visiting them to do relief operations.
The official was just surprised to see that the group included the actress, recently named by Forbes Asia as among the current top philanthropists, in its Catalyst for Change feature in the region, in the league with billionaire Henry Sy. Wearing her standard jeans, ball cap and AC/DC T-shirt, her obvious effort to go unnoticed, was, of course, a fail, given her superstar status. She was seen buying the groceries for the people of Catarman in Northern Samar. The next thing people knew, social media was abuzz with her latest Good Samaritan act. Most of the groufie and stolen shots were posted after her deed was done. On Wednesday, she reacted to the Forbes Asia citation. Her post read: "I never thought @ ForbesAsia would ever mention my name, lol. Thank you. Filipinos have always been known for 'bayanihan.' I'm nowhere near to being a billionaire, but I try my best to do my part in my own little way. I hope this would inspire other people to help as well."
Angel is consistently consistent, given that she’s fulfilling one of her duties as a volunteer of Red Cross Philippines.
Forbes Asia reported that the actress has had, so far, donated P15 million to volunteering and relief causes. That amount might be little compared to the hefty sum the billionaires in the list donated.
But the case of Ms. Locsin is extraordinary in the sense that she could have chosen not to give any amount at all and feign an excuse due to her showbiz commitments, but she did. She can’t help it if people keep exposing her deeds, even if she tries hard not to publicize her affairs.
Let’s be happy that there’s someone truly living up to her name.
It is sad to see a celebrated athelete, a gold medalist at that, being bashed for an innocent exchange he had with a controversial celebrity.
SEA Games-bemedaled Carlos Yulo was reaping one gold after another when he found himself on the defensive with some Twitter followers.
It came after he posted that singeractor Mark Bautista congratulated his feats, which was followed by the latter’s following his account.
Anyone who read the exchange, and knows how to read contextually, would not come to the conclusion that there was any malice to it.
But some netizens chose to interpret otherwise, probably because Mark is a bisexual.
Yulo then posted a reminder to the public. “It saddens me to see tweets about @
iammarkbautista because of my tweet out of excitement. Kindness, message of encouragement and appreciation is not a sign of flirting. Let’s focus on #SeaGames2019 and winning as One,” his Twitter post read.
Thankfully, Yulo is a disciplined athlete and chose not to be sidelined by showbiz intrigues. By the end of his event, he collected two golds and five silver medals.
He is now en route to Japan, where he will start training anew for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Nadine Lustre’s got good game. The singer-actress flew to Singapore to attend the second Asia Creative Academy Awards (AAA) Gala Final held last Friday at the historic Vitoria Theatre. She was nominated in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category for her performance in the magic realist thriller Ulan.
Walking on the red carpet in a daring, glittery gown, Lustre was a picture of elegance on a night that highlights the best the Asia Pacific has to offer. The award-giving body meticulously chooses who gets to go home with the Golden Goddess trophy.
By the end of the night, Lustre, who won in AAA’s regional round and earned the right to represent the Philippines in the awards, gave way to India’s Shefali Shah, whose series, Delhi Crime, ran away with many awards.
Nadine’s Ulan snagged one trophy for Best Sound out of the seven categories it was nominated in.
ANC’s news presenter Cathy Yang also took home the award as Best News or Current Affairs Presenter/Anchor.
It’s a good thing that Nadine still chose to fly to Singapore, given that she might not win in the heavily contested category. Still, congratulations to her and here’s a thumbs up for being such a good sport.