IT’S obvious that the Rita Daniela-Ken Chan love team, now known as RitKen, is one of the most prized tandems of GMA-7. After their pairing clicked by surprise in “My Special Tatay,” they were quickly given “One of the Baes” and also paired as co-hosts who will chronicle the journey of the contestants in the three seasons of “The Clash.” They are also together doing production numbers in “All Out Sundays.”
Now, they get to play their most mature roles in the psychological drama, “Ang Dalawang Ikaw,” where they will play husband and wife. Ken is really so blessed to be assigned the most challenging roles.
He was a transgender in his first starring role in “Destiny Rose” and a mentally challenged young man in “Special Tatay.” Now, in “Ang Dalawang Ikaw,” he will play someone with dissociative identity disorder or split personality.
“I’m so excited by the role but kabado rin kasi new challenge ito for me,” said Ken. “Nagre-research na nga ako tungkol sa disorder na ito. Magiging very demanding for me to play a character with two different personalities. But with Rita there to help me in our scenes together as my wife, Mia, I am confident na maitatawid ko naman ito nang maayos.”
Rita said it’s also a big challenge to play the role of the understanding wife. “In real life, hindi ko ma-imagine kung ano ang gagawin ko kung magkakaroon ako ng husband na may dalawang magkaibang katauhan,” she said. “Nakakaloka siguro. Dito, ang isa pang challenge, dalawa kami sa buhay ni Ken kasi may other woman siya, to be played by Anna Vicente, kaya mas naging complicated ang takbo ng story.”
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Angel Locsin may not have a new big movie or teleserye, only a weekly public service show, “Iba Yan.” Despite this, though, she’s always in the news as she’s a favorite target of Duterte supporters and whenever she expresses anything about the country’s current deplorable situations, “Dutertards” quickly bash her. A few days ago, her social media account got many Cagayan Needs Helps hashtags and she asked help for the flood victims there. A “Dutertard” quickly told her: “Kawawa rin ang mga kabataang nasa bundok na na-recruit ng NPA,” another clear case of red-tagging to make Angel appear like a communist.
Angel quickly answered this: “Oo kawawa talaga na naiipit ang kabataan. Anyone na ginagamit ang kabataan para sa sariling agenda ay kasuklam-suklam. Kahit ikaw sa propaganda, ginagamit mo ang kabataan. Ginagamit mo rin ako at mga kapwa ko artista sa agenda mo, that’s why nakabantay ka sa page ko para mag-comment. I doubt kung ang kaligtasan ba talaga ng mga kabataan ang hangad mo o manggulo lang. Pumunta ka sa korte kung totoong may malasakit ka at mabigyan ng katarungan ang mga pamilyang nawalan. Ngayon, ito ang panawagan para sa mga nasalanta at nasasalanta ng bagyo, hindi ba sila importante enough sa’yo para i-disregard sila at isingit ang comment mo sa panahong ito? Umayos ka.”
A module from the Department of Education that went viral then used her as an example to illustrate obesity, saying: “Angel Locsin is an obese person. She, together with Coco Martin eats fatty and sweet food in a fast food restaurant most of the time.”
An executive from the DepEd Division in Occidental Mindoro clarified that the module is not from their Central Office but only from a physical education teacher for a Grade 10 class. They apologized to Angel and said they will not tolerate nor condone any act of body shaming.
This is the response of Angel: “I don’t mind the insults. Cheap comments do not define who I am. I intended to ignore this issue, but when I read DepEd’s statement, aba teka lang. What bothers me most is apart from teaching incorrect grammar to the students, DepEd seems unaffected that the said teacher is teaching bad conduct and sowing discrimination among the children.
“Anong mangyayari sa future kung ang mga kabataan ay tinuturuan ng pambabastos at pangungutya sa kapwa? This is the more relevant issue, DepEd, that you should be held accountable and must correct. Sa inyo nakasalalay ang pag asa ng ating milyon milyong kabataan.
“The said teacher should apologize to his students and all the students that read the module. I am fortunate that I had teachers who value good manners and right conduct. Every child deserves to have teachers like them.”
Most recently, Angel met personally with the military officer who’s been red-tagging her and her sister Ella. Her lawyer, Atty. Joji V. Alonso, posted a photo of their meeting with the officer and wrote: “In a meeting held today between AFP Southern Luzon Command Chief Lt. General Antonio Parlade, Jr. and actress Angel Locsin, the issues that cropped up these past weeks including the allegations against her and her sister Angela ‘Ella’ Colmenares, were discussed, threshed out and cleared.
