Lovi Poe sacked from ‘Love & Lies’

Lovi Poe has already been sacked from ‘Love & Lies’, a drama series on GMA-7 where she was supposed to revive her team-up with Richard Gutierrez, one of today’s hottest matinee idols.

This develops following talks that she was not going to renew her contract with the Kapuso Network, as GM-7 is colloquially known, and that she would be hopping over to TV5.

It is rumoured that Andrea Torres will be replacing Poe in ‘Love & Lies’, as Poe’s transfer is already a done deal, where TV5 will reportedly pay her 35 million pesos (Dh3.15m) per year.

One of the TV5 talents who are going to be paired off with Poe is Derek Ramsay, star of the fantasy series ‘Kidlat’ (Lightning).

Gutierrez, meanwhile, is savouring his showbiz moments with Marian Rivera as they are going to team up in the movie ‘My Lady Boss’.

Rivera told entertainment writers recently that the movie promises many torrid kissing scenes between her and Gutierrez.

Besides Poe, two other GMA-7 talents will transfer to TV5 as they are not going to renew their contracts with the network as well.

These are Solenn Heussaff and singer-comedian Ogie Alcasid. The French-Filipino Heussaff also has existing recording contract with MCA Universal Philippines and movie contract with Regal Entertainment.
 

Party Philippines: Singer-actor-model Bautista set to rock

The multi-platinum artist Christian Bautista has signed an exclusive contract with GMA Network Inc, paving the way for his participation in the musical variety show, ‘Party Pilipinas’ (Party Philippines).
 
“It’s wonderful,” said Bautista, who joined showbiz after he became a finalist of ‘Star in a Million’, an ABS-CBN reality show, in 2003. “I feel very welcomed and honoured to be here. With all the projects I’m doing, it’s gonna be fun.”
 
Bautista signed the contract in the presence of his manager, Carlo Orosa, and GMA-7 Chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon, President and COO Gilberto Duvait and OIC for Entertainment Lilbeth Rasonable.
 
“We feel the warmth and sincerity of their welcome,” said Orosa, who was looking forward to a bright future for his charge in GMA-7, popularly known as The Kapuso Network.
 
Kapuso colloquially means ‘one heart’.
 
‘Party Pilipinas’ has been on a six-month probation since February by the government censors board over a dance number in one of its episodes featuring the award-winning actress Lovi Poe and Rocco Nacino simulating on a bed what appeared to be a sexual act.
 
Bautista had signed a recording contract with Warner Music Philippines after the 2003 contest, and released the self-titled album ‘Christian Bautista’, which became multiplatinum.
 
The album has established his name as an OPM artist, with songs ‘The Way You Look at Me’, ‘Colour Everywhere’ and ‘Hands to Heaven’ topping the charts.
 
OPM, or Original Pilipino Music, is a song written and sung in Filipino or in any other languages by Filipino musicians.
 
Besides his home country, Bautista also has gained popularity in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Bong’s loss is ‘Unforgettable’  gain
 
The veteran and award-winning actor Phillip Salvador is now part of ‘Unforgettable’, a drama series shown on GMA-7 every afternoon, thanks to Senator and actor Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr.

Production officials of ‘Indio’, GMA-7’s fantasy series starring Revilla, were no longer happy with his acting, as he had reportedly been mimicking the style of Salvador which had made him veer away from his own identity as an actor.

The two actors have become very good friends, and Salvador has reportedly been coaching Revilla on his kind of method acting — which was good, actually, but the producers said that the ‘Indio’ star must maintain his own style.
 
And so GMA-7 gave Salvador a new project, in order to keep him busy with his own schedule and stop tagging along with Revilla to the set of ‘Indio’, whose latest addition to its cast, besides Salvador, is the matinee idol Aljur Abrenica.
 
Directed by the veteran and award-winning actress Gina Alajar, the cast of ‘Unforgettable’ just had their two successive nonstop taping in Tagaytay City, which is just a 40-minute drive from Manila and whose cooler climes attract many visitors.
 
The producers and cast of ‘Unforgettable’ are so glad for having Salvador, in addition to Alajar being at the helm of the drama series.
 
Salvador and Alajar were two of the country’s finest actors from late 70s up to early 90s. He was the star of such masterpieces as ‘Jaguar’ (a movie about the life of an ordinary bodyguard), which colloquially means bodyguard, and ‘Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim’ (My Country: Living at the Edge of a Sword). She did topbill and win major awards for ‘Moral’ and ‘Disgrasyada’ (Disgraced).
 

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