‘He’s turning 56 on November 5, but his partners now are even younger than his eldest daughter, KC, who turned 35 years old last April.’
GABBY Concepcion has been staying a lot in his farm in Batangas during the lockdown but he returned to Manila last weekend to join the “Bawal Judgmental” segment of the longest-running noontime show, “Eat Bulaga.” And it’s worth the trip as he won P50,000, making him the first showbiz personality to get a perfect score in that popular contest.
Gabby is truly so lucky these days. After Marian Rivera backed out from their project, “First Yaya,” the soap about the romance of the president with his kids’ yaya, is finally pushing through.
And his leading ladies are getting younger and younger since he joined GMA. He’s turning 56 on November 5, but his partners now are even younger than his eldest daughter, KC, who turned 35 years old last April.
He was first paired with Carla Abellana in 2015 in “Because of You.” Carla was then 28 years old. Then he was paired with Sunshine Dizon and Ryza Cenon in “Ika-6 na Utos” in 2016. Sunshine was then 33 and Ryza was 27.
He was last paired with Jennylyn Mercado in “Love You Two” last year when Jen was 32 years old. Now, he will be paired with Sanya Lopez, who is only 24 years old. Sanya then will be his youngest leading lady and his age now is more than twice her age. Gabby’s edge is that he has managed to preserve his youthful good looks so well and we’re sure he will similarly have a good on screen chemistry with Sanya, just like he did with his past leading ladies.
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Dimples Romana is thankful that ABS-CBN gave her the go signal to do “Oh My Dad” with TV5 while she still has no assignment with them.
“Ang tagal ko na ring bakante since the lockdown,” she says. “Nanibago lang ako kasi lock in taping kami kaya matagal din akong nalayo sa family ko. Na-miss ko talaga ang husband ko’t mga anak ko and the more I realized that family is everything. Wala nang magiging mas importante para sa isang tao kundi ang pamilya niya.”
She’s thankful Brighlight Productions got her to play the role of Ian Veneracion’s love interest in “Oh My Dad.” “Wala akong masasabi, pati kay Atty. Joji Alonso ng Quantum Films na supervising producer namin, alagang-alaga nila kami sa set. Actually, very comfortable kami kasi we’re all in one location. Hindi kami sa tent lang nagpapahinga kundi may aircon rooms talaga kaming lahat.”
Dimples play the niece of Gloria Diaz in the story. Gloria’s boyfriend is Ariel Ureta, who is Ian Veneracion’s dad. Ian tries to woo her but she’s cautious as it turns out he has three grown up children he is not aware of: Sue Ramirez, Louise Abuel and Adrian Lindayag.
“Our director is Jeffrey Jeturian at ang galing-galing niya,” said Dimples. “The show is very heartwarming and imparts good values about family, love and acceptance so don’t miss it when it starts airing this coming Saturday, October 24, 5 p.m. on TV5.”
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Rhian Ramos does not mind being the third wheel in the romance of real life sweethearts Dennis Trillo and Jennylyn Mercado in the story, “Truly. Madly. Deadly,” which is now aired on GMA Telebabad’s “I Can See You.”
“Maganda naman ang role ko bilang Abby, dating best friend ni Jennylyn, who plays Coleen, na naging mortal enemy niya dahil may gusto pala ako sa kanya,” she says. “We shot on a lock in location for several days, kaya nagkasama rin kami ng matagal at doon ko nakita kung gaano sila ka-sweet talaga sa isa’t isa.”
And, of course, she can’t help it if she would feel some heartache because she has just broken up with her Israeli boyfriend. So how is she now, still nursing a broken heart?
“I feel much better na,” she said. “I’m doing well now kasi it helps to be able to get back to work and to your usual routine para malimutan mo whatever pain you are feeling. Working again is really the best way to move on and I’m glad kasi balik taping na rin kami ng primetime drama namin ni Carla Abellana na ‘Love of My Life.’”
Rhian guarantees viewers will be thrilled and entertained by their show. ““Sure akong kikiligin kayo sa reel and real love affair nina Jen and Dennis dito,” she added. “Ang sweet talaga nilang tingnan. Naiinggit nga ako. Hahahaha!”
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Ritz Azul is back to TV5 where she started her showbiz career in “Star Factor.”
“Noong umalis ako, I didn’t burn bridges naman with TV5 at naging masaya naman sila sa paglipat ko kasi nawala ang entertainment nila that time,” she said at the media con of her new show, “Sunday Kada, Kada Sunday.”
She was jobless after the lockdown when ABS-CBN lost its franchise. “It’s nice na ngayon, nagkaroon uli kami ng oportunidad na makapagbigay ng saya sa viewers sa kabila ng pandemic. Masayang-masaya ako sa nangyayaring ito na walang network wars.”
She’s happy to be reunited with her former directors, Edgar and Frasco Mortiz, and with her co-stars.
“Sa ABS-CBN, I learned so much mula sa lahat ng mga nakasama ko sa ‘Banana Sundae’ and I’m so happy to be reunited with them dito sa bago naming tahanan. ‘Sunday Kada’ is guaranteed to make your Sunday afternoons full of laughs with my co-stars Jayson Gainza, Miles Ocampo, Jerome Ponce, Daniel Matsunaga, Sunshine Garcia, Badji Mortiz, Jhen Maloles, Wacky Kiray and Josh Colet.”
On the big screen, Ritz has finished a horror movie for Regal Entertainment with Joseph Marco, “The Missing,” filmed on location in Japan. They don’t know yet as to when it will be released due to the pandemic lockdown.
