THE FORMER DENR SECRETARY,  LITO ATIENZA & HIS VALENTINE  BABIES


[PHOTO AT LEFT - Former DENR Sec. Lito Atienza (running for Mayor of Manila) at Home for the Angels]

MANILA, FEBRUARY 13, 2010 (STAR)  FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo - Curtain-raisers:

• Gluta Advance is the major sponsor of Reminiscing Acoustic, the Valentine concert of Paolo Santos and Sabrina slated for tonight at Ratsky’s Tomas Morato (Quezon City), presented by SMA Productions, Inc. For tickets priced at P600 (inclusive of one drink), call 332-2720, 775-2698 or 0917-8632878 (look for Reggie).

• The traditional Valentine dinner-dance of the Christian Family Movement will be held tomorrow starting at 7 p.m. at the Father Mark Horan Hall of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine Parish. Featured performer is Bo Cerrudo. For details, call Carol at 724-6747 or 412-2738. Or visit CFM Nazareth Home on N. Domingo corner Big Horseshoe Drive, Horseshoe Village, Quezon City.

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Home for the Angels (at 2306 Coral St. corner San Francisco St., San Andres Bukid, Manila, tel. 562-8085) is marking its 14th anniversary tomorrow, Valentine’s Day. It’s one of the pet projects of former DENR Secretary Lito Atienza (who’s running for Mayor of Manila) who has so far counted more than 250 babies entrusted to the home since its founding.

“The babies have been abandoned by their mothers,” said Lito. “Many of the babies have found new homes in their adoptive families. We see to it that the babies are well taken care of. Their adoptive families provide them not only with love and care, they also send the kids to the best schools they can afford.”

At present, the home’s 20-man staff takes care of about 70 “angels.”

“It was meaningful that we inaugurated the Home for the Angels on Valentine’s Day in 1996,” added Lito. “The babies are talagang abandoned by mothers whose identities we don’t even know. The mothers never come back to claim their babies.”

One baby was suffering from leukemia when left by its (heartless) mother and was healed. Another one, also abandoned, weighed only 1.2 kg. when rescued, almost the size of its feeding bottle. Both grew up healthy.

“The babies are abandoned, yes, but they are not unloved,” said Lito. “There are always loving parents who want to love them.”

Jose Mari’s Valentine anecdotes

Everyone has a favorite Valentine story. Jose Mari Chan has his own, starting with the one that happened when he was courting Mary Ann Ansaldo who became his wife.

Here’s one:

One year into my courtship of Mary Ann, we had a very simple merienda in their San Juan home and I brought her my Valentine’s gift: a song that I had worked on for two weeks, titled What Is a Sweetheart?

Several years later in my TV Special, I sang that same song to our eldest daughter Liza when she was only four-years old.

Love, indeed, is forever young.

Here’s another one:

Many years ago when I was a sophomore at the Ateneo, I took a girl out on a dinner date at D’Marks Italian restaurant in Cubao. She brought along a chaperone.

After ordering, I realized I didn’t have enough money with me. I calmly excused myself, got into my car and drove home to Makati as fast as the law would allow. I borrowed money from our cook.

Fortunately, in those days it only took 15 minutes one way on EDSA (Highway 54 then) so by the time I got back to the restaurant, the food was just being served. It was my most “whew!” Valentine’s experience.

Incidentally, Jose Mari is reminding lovers out there to get a copy of his Love Letters & Other Souvenirs CD if they are staying home. Otherwise, you might want to watch his Valentine show titled Love Forever Young tomorrow night at The Bellevue (Manila), with Karylle as co-performer, and Jose Mari’s daughter Liza Chan-Parpan and Jennifer Uy as special guests. Tickets are priced at P2,500 (premier) and P2,000 (deluxe). Call 711-8181 for details.

Briefly noted

• Lia Andrea Aquino Ramos (photo), 2006 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe and Miss Photogenic in the Miss Universe Pageant in Los Angeles that same year, has decided to come back to the Philippines to put up Estudio, a holistic academy which focuses on fitness and personality and character development in partnership with Gold’s Gym.

A pool of certified fitness instructors, former beauty queens, top models, well-known stylists, talented photographers, and communication experts, have been tapped to conduct the trainings of Estudio.

The prestigious roster of trainors includes: Earl Jimenez (American Council on Exercise Certified and Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant), Cristy Marasigan (Gold’s Gym Nutritionist), Ana Kalaw (Columnist and Stylist), Bianca Valerio (Model and Events Host), Kelly Misa (Model and Beauty Editor), Kimi Lu (Neuro Linguistic Hypnotherapy Life Coach), Lia Andrea Ramos (Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 2006), Lon Liwen (Photographer) and Frank Hoefsmit, (Photographer), among others.

Estudio has also partnered with Mercator Model Management, Inc., one of the freshest, most dynamic and respectable modeling agencies in the Philippines. Mercator has discovered and molded top models who have graced the runways, fashion magazines, television commercials, and print campaigns in local and international markets. (Note: For inquiries, call [02] 994 2930, look for Luisa Beltran.) — Reported by Funfare’s “beauty experts” Felix Manuel, Joey Cezeare, Francis Calubaquib and Gery Yumping.