ROSANNA  ROCES  AND  HUSBAND  TITO:  THE  POINT  OF  NO  RETURN?

MANILA, December 9, 2004 (STAR) FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo - Curtain-raisers:

• The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) executive committee, headed by MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, has given the go-signal for the eight entries to open simultaneously on Dec. 25, instead of only the Magic 6 (with the last two supposed to start showing on Jan. l next year yet. Everybody happy? The eight official entries are: Mano Po 3: My Love; Aishite Imasu (1941); Happy Together; Sigaw; Panaghoy sa Suba; Lastikman; Spirit of the Glass; and Enteng Kabisote: Okay Ka, Fairy Ko.

• Billy Crawford’s whirlwind five-day promo visit (for his album, Big City, released locally by Universal Records) ended last night when he flew back to Paris and, from there, to New York. The good news is that Billy is teaming up with Gary Valenciano for a song to be released in a Universal album early next year, also including duets between Billy and other singers.

• If and when Diether Ocampo and Kristine Hermosa would push through with their "secret" plan to wed in church next year (after reportedly getting married in civil rites in Jaen, Nueva Ecija last Sept. 22), I doubt if Paul Cabral will agree to design Kristine’s wedding gown even if Paul is Diether’s bosom buddy and long-time neighbor. Asked why not, Paul said, "Basta lang." Paul is also the best friend of Andeng Bautista, once rumored to be Diether’s girlfriend (something which Andeng denied vehemently).

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2004 is not Rosanna Roces’ year. I’m sure she can hardly wait for it to end so she can bid it "good riddance!"

The past months have seen Rosanna breaking not only her contract with GMA (good for one more year), prompting her to quit as co-host of Startalk, but also ties with old friends, including Dr. Vicki Belo with whom she swapped court cases (only the libel case filed by Vicki against Rosanna has prospered, however) and Lolit Solis, Rosanna’s Startalk co-host (with Butch Francisco) and manager/confidante/Nanay-Nanayan.

The latest sad/bad news, confirmed to Funfare by Cristy Fermin (once Rosanna’s mortal enemy; they have since buried the hatchet and became friends again), is that Rosanna has broken up with Tito Molina, her husband of more than 11 years. It’s sad/bad because the couple has been through all trials, involving both Rosanna’s career and personal life (such as a few years ago when she almost quit over the issue of her being a mother, a secret Rosanna kept as if in a Pandora’s Box), beautifully surviving them together.

"It’s a beautiful romance gone bad," said Cristy.

Rosanna and Tito met and fell in love when she wasn’t a star yet and was only working at Pegasus. Through the years, Tito guided Rosanna, giving her valuable pieces of advice on how to handle not only her career but also her finances. So what, so to speak, broke the camel’s back?

Shabu, according to Cristy, quoting Rosanna herself during an exclusive interview.

"Rosanna said that Tito would take shabu in front of their children," said Cristy. "Hindi ma-take ni Rosanna ’yon."

Also to Cristy, Rosanna admitted that she used to be hooked on the sleeping pill Stylnox, sometimes taking as many as more than a hundred at once (according to Cristy). But, thank God, Rosanna has kicked that habit and she can now sleep without even smelling Stylnox.

"There was a divine intervention," said Cristy. One night, Rosanna just drifted off to slumberland, unaided by Stylnox. "Since then," said Cristy, "never na siyang nag-take ng Stylnox."

Funfare sincerely wishes that the un-couple (who wanted to so much to have their own child; Rosanna has two children from a previous relationship) would iron out their differences and get back together again.

"But I doubt it," said Cristy.

Have they reached the point of no return? A Learning Experience For Marco Alcaraz As the ABS-CBN soap It Might Be You closes tomorrow night, the one person sure to shed quiet tears is newcomer Marco Alcaraz, cast as Axel, martyr husband of Cielo (Bea Alonzo), who does everything (short of pushing Cielo into it) to let his wife see her long-time sweetheart Lawrence (John Lloyd Cruz).

You see, Marco has learned to love the soap so much that his heart is breaking now that it’s about to end.

"The soap has been there for one year but I disappeared for three months," said Marco. "I started taping in December last year but the episodes I was in didn’t start airing until late January.

In the beginning, poor boy Axel (which happens to be the name of a deodorant) bullied Cielo on campus, his way of getting her attention. Then, Axel vanished as if into thin air and when he came back years later, he was a changed man, now the son of the President of the Philippines.

"It Might Be You is my first teleserye and it means so much to me," said Marco. "It started me off in showbiz."

It has also taught him a lot of lessons.

"Before," said Marco, "I thought that acting consisted of nothing but pa-cute lang; I didn’t know that it required hard work and concentration."

The difficult part, according to Marco, is doing drama, especially in scenes which call for him to cry.

"I don’t cry easily, maybe because I hardly have any sad experience in life, not in all my 22 years. I had a happy childhood."

At 22, however, Marco has had several girlfriends, starting when he was 15, and has been broken-hearted twice. Still, it wasn’t enough for him to, as he put it, "draw on" (di mahugutan) during drama scenes.

The eldest among six children, Marco Antonio Alcaraz was born and grew up in Cebu where he finished grade/high school (Don Bosco Cebu) and was into an Engineering course at the University of San Carlos when he moved to San Sebastian College in Manila and shifted to B.S. Management to pursue his dream of becoming a basketball star (he stands 6’2").

"That has been my childhood dream," said Marco, "to be a basketball star. I got into showbiz by accident."

He initially did ramp modelling and a few commercials (San Miguel, Astring-Osol, Chowking, Smart, PLDT. etc.).

"How did I get into showbiz? I auditioned for It Might Be You. There were dozens of us. I came late. I was told to come back for a screen test with John Lloyd and Bea. Then, they asked me to see Malou (Santos, ABS-CBN SVP for Drama and managing director of Star Cinema). Direk Olive Lamasan was there. They asked me, ‘How do you feel right now?’ I said, ‘I feel nervous.’ Then, they asked me to act out all kinds of emotions and I did as I was told. That was about the first acting I’d ever done."

After It Might Be You, Marco is doing his first-starring role in Birhen ng Manaoag, with Jodi Santamaria as co-star, directed by Ben Yalung for Holy Week nexy year. Before that, Marco did a cameo role in Regal Films’ A Beautiful Life, directed by Gil M. Portes. He’s also in the cast of the 2004 Metro Filmfest entry Aishite Imasu (1941).

"In Manaoag, I play a young man about to enter priesthood but loses his faith in God when his mother dies. Jodi’s character saves me. She’s doing a thesis about miracles and it’s she who brings me back to God."

With his acting career doing well, Marco has decided to put his dream of becoming a basketball star "on hold."

"Besides," he said, "I’m still nursing a bad knee injured during a game. I’ve also learned how to enjoy acting more than playing as of now." Correction, Please! Several readers, including Funfare’s "beauty expert" himself Felix Manuel himself who did the report, called my attention to the fact that the aunt (not the mother as Funfare reported) of Miss Peru (named the new Miss World in China last weekend) was, indeed, among the 12 semi-finalists in the l969 Miss Universe Pageant won by our very own Gloria Diaz. It was my fault, not Felix’s and his fellow "beauty experts" Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib. I inserted the wrong info.

Anyway, the 1969 Miss Peru is also named Maria Julia Mantilla. Her maiden surname is Mayer while that of her niece is Garcia (her mother is Maria Garcia).

In the 1969 Miss U, Miss Peru was also among the 10 Best in Swimsuit. Gloria Diaz’s court of honor included Miss Finland (second place), Miss Australia (third), Miss Israel (fourth) and Miss Japan (fifth).

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)