Category: Kris Aquino

Celebrities show conscience and heart for the 44 SAF heroes

Ellen Leave a comment

apl.de.ap leads a rousing tribute to the 44 SAF heroes.

apl.de.ap leads a rousing tribute to the 44 SAF heroes.


Wearing black arm bands emblazoned with “44”, apl.de.ap of the international hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas and one of the judges of The Voice PH, led the performance of one the group’s hits, “Where is the Love?” in last Sunday’s episode of the singing competition.

The lyrics were sharply apt: “Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism/But we still got terrorists here livin’….

“Madness is what you demonstrate/And that’s exactly how anger works and operates/…
“Father, Father, Father help us/Send some guidance from above/’Cause people got me, got me questionin’/Where is the love (Love)…

“Makin’ wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends/Not respectin’ each other, deny thy brother/
A war is goin’ on but the reason’s undercover…

“The truth is kept secret, it’s swept under the rug/If you never know truth then you never know love/
Where’s the love, y’all, come on (I don’t know)”

Click here to view performance: http://entertainment.abs-cbn.com/tv/shows/thevoiceseason2/videos/2015/02/01/be-where-is-the-love-by-apl-de-ap-abra-looney-ka-rit-le-nino-jason-f-monique-daryl-suy

Apl said the performance was a tribute to the 44 Special Action Force commandos who were killed in an operation to arrest terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir alias ”Marwan” and Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao by combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

It was a powerful and moving performance which showed that behind the garishness of showbusiness, there are those who have their conscience and heart in the right place.

Social media was also a venue for celebrities with substance to express their condolences for the 44 fallen heroes and disgust over the way the Aquino government handled, rather mishandled, the operation and its aftermath.

Movie director Joey Reyes deep sorrow was felt in his Facebook posts: “My heart bleeds for the loved ones of those who yielded their lives in uniform, images of their bodies mangled on the muddy ground as they expired helpless and outnumbered.

“My being rages at the ineptitude, clumsiness, stupidity and lies, lies, lies that are shoved down my throat under the guise of explanation and demented logic.

“Like so many, I love my country but I am outraged by this perfidy.”

Movie and TV star Judy Ann Santos posted in Twitter her disappointment over President Aquino’s decision to attend the inauguration of a Mitsubishi Motors plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna instead of being on hand to honor the 44 when their remains arrived at the Villamor Air Base.

Judy Ann Santos' loaded tweet: Just saying... Obama knows his priorities.

Judy Ann Santos’ loaded tweet: Just saying… Obama knows his priorities.

Malacañang said the arrival honors for the 44 was not in the schedule of Aquino. As if one schedules a tragedy.

Juday posted the 2011 dramatic photo of U.S. President Obama President Obama arriving at Dover Air Force Base after he cancelled his schedule to condole with families of the 30 Americans that died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Juday’s one-line photo caption was most eloquent: ““Just saying…Obama knows his priorities.”

A certain Ellah de Castro scored Juday: “Unfollowed. Wrong move.Ang isang public personality ay di dapat nagpo-post ng patama against sa ibang tao lalo na sa Presidente ng Bansa. Kung me opinion kang ganyan, sarilinin mo na lang. Di mo naisip magko-cause pa yan ng issue! Epal tawag jan.”

Juday stood her ground. She told de Castro: “I respect your opinion. Lahat tayo ay nagbabayad ng buwis. Kaya lahat tayo ay may karapatang magbigay ng sarilinng opinion at saloobin sa mga bagay na goyerno ang involved. You might want to check other accounts of othe r public figures as well. We all share the same sentiments. Tao lang kami. Kaya may karapatan kaming sabihin kung ano ang naramdaman naming. It is an issue already to begin with.”

Presidential sister Kris Aquino unfriended Judy Ann, reports said.

Who makes more sense?

Who makes more sense?

Grace Lee, the Korean TV personality whom the President once dated, joined Aquino’s critics.

Commenting on Aquino supporter Leah Navarro’s neither here-nor-there tweet “So how many of those people who dissed the President’s absence from Villamor where actually there to condole?”, Lee posted, “There is only one head of the state. Only one commander in chief! You CANNOT compare the value of his presence to the presence of any ordinary citizen then use it against them when they voice out their frustration and anger!!”

The statement of former Tourism Secretary and Miss International Gemma Cruz was through the classic poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” written by Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1854 about the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!/ Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew/ Someone had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply/ Theirs not to reason why/
Theirs but to do and die/Into the valley of Death/ Rode the six hundred.”

Yes, someone had blundered.

Aquino sisters wanted Abad out; Hyatt 10 came to his rescue

Ellen Leave a comment

The Aquino sisters attend the birthday party of Vice President Jojo Binay.

The Aquino sisters attend the birthday party of Vice President Jojo Binay.

From our always reliable source : A few days after the Supreme Court declared parts of the Disbursement Accelerated Program or DAP unconstitutional last July 1, the three presidential sisters- Ballsy Cruz, Pinky Abellada, and Kris Aquino (Viel Dee didn’t join them) talked with the President to let go of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.

As we all know by now, DAP– the issue that has shaken the otherwise Teflon presidency of Benigno Aquino III–was the brainchild of Abad.

The Supreme Court’s vote was unanimous (13-0) stunning Malacañang who had thought it would be 7-6 in their favor.

At the time his sisters talked to him about Abad, Aquino had not issued any statement on DAP yet. The source said the President appeared convinced by his sisters.

Abad’s comrades in the cabinet were alarmed and they took action.

Hyatt 10 coreSocial Services Secretary Dinky Soliman; Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima; Teresita Quintos Deles, presidential adviser on the Peace Process, and Mely Nicolas, chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (the core group of the 2005 Hyatt 10) went to Aquino and appealed for Abad’s retention.

But it was a loaded appeal because they told the President if he let go of Abad, they will all resign.

(ABS=CBN has a report that Deles denies forcing the President to retain Abad. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/08/14/hyatt-10-deny-forcing-pnoy-retain-abad)

The President gave in. On July 11, during the cabinet meeting on the 2015 budget, he announced that Abad will stay. “To accept his resignation is to assign to him a wrong. And I can’t accept the notion that doing right by our people is a wrong,” he said to the applause of members of his cabinet except Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is part of the cabinet as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

The next day, July 12, Abad released a statement disclosing that he tendered his resignation July 10. On the President’s rejection of his resignation, Abad said: “Although I was wholly prepared to relinquish my post, I am grateful for the President’s expression of his continuing trust and confidence in my leadership of the Department. I have thus chosen to defer to his better judgment and stay.”

The presidential sisters attempt to influence the President’s decision on Abad brought to fore once again the great divide in Aquino’s political family.

It is known that the Aquino sisters are lukewarm to the Mar Roxas faction, where Abad belongs. In the 2010 elections, the sisters were with the Noy-Bi (Aquino-Binay) faction.

That’s why it’s not surprising that Kris Aquino likes the idea of his brother endorsing Binay in the 2016 presidential election to the horror of Liberal Party stalwarts, who, up to now, pin their hopes on Roxas.

That was another masterstroke that Binay did last Monday: announcing that he has received information that the ruling Liberal Party was considering adopting him to be its standard bearer in the 2016 elections. (The other masterstroke of Binay was infiltrating the Liberal Party campaign in 2010. In the same building where LP had their headquarters, there was a room distributing Noy-Bi campaign materials.)

Senate President Franklin Drilon, LP vice- chairman vehemently denied Binay’s claim. LP issued a statement underscoring that the party is against “corruption, patronage and self-serving ambition.” The unwritten message:Binay is the epitome of what they are fighting against.

But Kris Aquino said she and her sisters are open to Binay succeeding her brother: “Kami ng mga sister ko naman pinag-uusapan namin yan. Sinasabi namin puwede naman talagang magkaroon ng unity at puwedeng kung ano kasi hindi naman kami magkaaway. At kung ipagpapatuloy naman niya lahat ng nasimulan ni Noy, why not?(My sisters and I discussed this. We said it’s possible to have unity and we are not really fighting. If he (Binay) would continue what Noy has started, why not?),” she said in her TV show.

In a separate TV interview, she said:”I don’t make a secret of the fact that one of my closest friends is his (Binay’s) daughter Anne, and we pray together.”

The eldest sister, Ballsy agreed with Kris: “You know, he never said anything bad about my family at pati na rin sa ibang partido, kaya ako ay natutuwa na ganoon ang pakiramdam niya. Kung yun din naman ang kanyang hangarin, na maipagpatuloy ang mga nasimulan ni Noy , e di magaling. (…I’m happy that that’s how he feels. If that his desire, to continue what Noy has started, good.)”

I think if Roxas decides to push through with his presidential bid despite low popularity ratings, Aquino will be compelled to endorse him but he will not prevent his sisters, relatives and members of his cabinet like Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa to support Binay.

Under the Binay presidency, Aquino will be amply protected. He will not suffer the fate of Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo.

Aquino will have his cake and eat it too. Some people are damn lucky.

How not to conduct an interview, Kris Aquino style

Ellen Leave a comment

Kris Aquino talked about herself in interview with Andrew Garfield.

Kris Aquino talked about herself in interview with Andrew Garfield.

I’d like to thank Kris Aquino for giving me very good materials for our training of journalists.

Nothing beats her interviews with the stars of Spiderman2 for an example of “How not to conduct an interview.”

An interview is important when doing a story because the writer will be able to present to the readers the person he will be writing about with first hand observations. Through well thought-out questions, he will be able to draw the interviewee to talk about his views which in the first place made him worthy to be interviewed.

In an interview, the star is the interviewee. The attention should be him and the interviewer is just the facilitator, to bring out what can be elicited from him.

That’s not what Kris Aquino did in an interview with Andrew Garfield who played Peter Parker, the Spiderman and Jamie Foxx, the super villain Electro, in Singapore last month.

There’s a Tagalog word for what Kris did in her interviews with Garfield and Foxx: nagkalat.

One, she brought her son, Bimby. So improper . So unprofessional. So Kris Aquino.

Two, she talked a lot about herself- a no-no in interviews.

She bragged to Garfield that the movie of her son, “My Little Bossings,” beat Spiderman in the box-office in the Philippines.

It was neither here nor there. The two movies were not shown at the same time. The gall to compare a Spiderman movie to the inane My Little Bossings. It’s like comparing a painting by Ben Cab to a tarpaulin streamer.

What can Garfield say but “Fantastic… Well, congratulations.”

But in a way, Bimby did something good because while she was telling Garfield how she was “blown away” by the first Spiderman movie, Bimby, who was restless and distracting during the interview,blurted out, “And she was sleeping.” Garfield laughed.

Served her right.

In her interview with Foxx, she bragged that many consider her “the Oprah of the Philippines.”

Foxx replied, “Oh, is that right?”

Kris asked Foxx, who is known to be a good friend of Oprah Winfrey to tell the American TV superstar that she (Kris) is her fan.

Kris Aquino’s conduct was forgivable if she were someone, maybe 15 or 16 years old, who is new in the business. But she is 43 years old and has been in media (she even told Garfield that she is seen on TV mornings and evenings) for years and years.

But thanks Kris. In the next journalists training by VERA Files, I will use the video of your Spiderman2 interviews with the advice:”Huwag tularan.”

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/04/25/14/kris-tells-spider-man-star-we-beat-you-ph

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/entertainment/04/25/14/kris-meets-idol-jamie-foxx

How not to conduct an interview, Kris Aquino style

Ellen Leave a comment

Kris Aquino talked about herself in interview with Andrew Garfield.

Kris Aquino talked about herself in interview with Andrew Garfield.

I’d like to thank Kris Aquino for giving me very good materials for our training of journalists.

Nothing beats her interviews with the stars of Spiderman2 for an example of “How not to conduct an interview.”

An interview is important when doing a story because the writer will be able to present to the readers the person he will be writing about with first hand observations. Through well thought-out questions, he will be able to draw the interviewee to talk about his views which in the first place made him worthy to be interviewed.

In an interview, the star is the interviewee. The attention should be him and the interviewer is just the facilitator, to bring out what can be elicited from him.

That’s not what Kris Aquino did in an interview with Andrew Garfield who played Peter Parker, the Spiderman and Jamie Foxx, the super villain Electro, in Singapore last month.

There’s a Tagalog word for what Kris did in her interviews with Garfield and Foxx: nagkalat.

One, she brought her son, Bimby. So improper . So unprofessional. So Kris Aquino.

Two, she talked a lot about herself- a no-no in interviews.

She bragged to Garfield that the movie of her son, “My Little Bossings,” beat Spiderman in the box-office in the Philippines.

It was neither here nor there. The two movies were not shown at the same time. The gall to compare a Spiderman movie to the inane My Little Bossings. It’s like comparing a painting by Ben Cab to a tarpaulin streamer.

What can Garfield say but “Fantastic… Well, congratulations.”

But in a way, Bimby did something good because while she was telling Garfield how she was “blown away” by the first Spiderman movie, Bimby, who was restless and distracting during the interview,blurted out, “And she was sleeping.” Garfield laughed.

Served her right.

In her interview with Foxx, she bragged that many consider her “the Oprah of the Philippines.”

Foxx replied, “Oh, is that right?”

Kris asked Foxx, who is known to be a good friend of Oprah Winfrey to tell the American TV superstar that she (Kris) is her fan.

Kris Aquino’s conduct was forgivable if she were someone, maybe 15 or 16 years old, who is new in the business. But she is 43 years old and has been in media (she even told Garfield that she is seen on TV mornings and evenings) for years and years.

But thanks Kris. In the next journalists training by VERA Files, I will use the video of your Spiderman2 interviews with the advice:”Huwag tularan.”

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/04/25/14/kris-tells-spider-man-star-we-beat-you-ph

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/entertainment/04/25/14/kris-meets-idol-jamie-foxx

How not to conduct an interview, Kris Aquino style

Ellen Leave a comment

Kris Aquino talked about herself in interview with Andrew Garfield.

Kris Aquino talked about herself in interview with Andrew Garfield.

I’d like to thank Kris Aquino for giving me very good materials for our training of journalists.

Nothing beats her interviews with the stars of Spiderman2 for an example of “How not to conduct an interview.”

An interview is important when doing a story because the writer will be able to present to the readers the person he will be writing about with first hand observations. Through well thought-out questions, he will be able to draw the interviewee to talk about his views which in the first place made him worthy to be interviewed.

In an interview, the star is the interviewee. The attention should be him and the interviewer is just the facilitator, to bring out what can be elicited from him.

That’s not what Kris Aquino did in an interview with Andrew Garfield who played Peter Parker, the Spiderman and Jamie Foxx, the super villain Electro, in Singapore last month.

There’s a Tagalog word for what Kris did in her interviews with Garfield and Foxx: nagkalat.

One, she brought her son, Bimby. So improper . So unprofessional. So Kris Aquino.

Two, she talked a lot about herself- a no-no in interviews.

She bragged to Garfield that the movie of her son, “My Little Bossings,” beat Spiderman in the box-office in the Philippines.

It was neither here nor there. The two movies were not shown at the same time. The gall to compare a Spiderman movie to the inane My Little Bossings. It’s like comparing a painting by Ben Cab to a tarpaulin streamer.

What can Garfield say but “Fantastic… Well, congratulations.”

But in a way, Bimby did something good because while she was telling Garfield how she was “blown away” by the first Spiderman movie, Bimby, who was restless and distracting during the interview,blurted out, “And she was sleeping.” Garfield laughed.

Served her right.

In her interview with Foxx, she bragged that many consider her “the Oprah of the Philippines.”

Foxx replied, “Oh, is that right?”

Kris asked Foxx, who is known to be a good friend of Oprah Winfrey to tell the American TV superstar that she (Kris) is her fan.

Kris Aquino’s conduct was forgivable if she were someone, maybe 15 or 16 years old, who is new in the business. But she is 43 years old and has been in media (she even told Garfield that she is seen on TV mornings and evenings) for years and years.

But thanks Kris. In the next journalists training by VERA Files, I will use the video of your Spiderman2 interviews with the advice:”Huwag tularan.”

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/04/25/14/kris-tells-spider-man-star-we-beat-you-ph

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/entertainment/04/25/14/kris-meets-idol-jamie-foxx