Category: gossip

the real rigodon

peque gallaga always emails interesting stuff that i usually open right away, except for one last week with two fwds on gloria’s junkets, thinking, so what else is new. but today i clicked on it, by mistake? and i’m so glad i did. because while the first was indeed something i’d received before, the second by perry diaz was new to me. especially the last half of it which was all about how gloria celebrated her last (it better be) independence day in the palace.

i had the blues that day, almost forgot kasi, working day kasi, no celebration kasi, whereas gma pala had a very exclusive, very grand ball behind closed doors, at our expense of course:

During the 110th Independence Day last June 12, Arroyo cut the cost of the Independence Day program at the Rizal Park to show the people that she’s willing to conserve money at a time of rising food prices. However, on the night of June 12, Arroyo hosted a glitzy reception at the Malacanang Palace for the diplomatic corps and the country’s elite.

What is appalling was the ostentatious display of pomp at the Malacanang reception, especially the revival of the elitist dance, the “rigodon de honor.” Arroyo handpicked the 20 couples — the country’s rich and famous or, I might say, the cream of Gloria’s “Enchanted Kingdom” — who participated in the rigodon.

It is interesting to note that the last time the rigodon was performed in Malacanang was on June 30, 1981 during the third inauguration of President Ferdinand Marcos. When Cory Aquino ascended to the presidency after Marcos was overthrown, she prohibited the rigodon from being performed in all official functions, an oblique rejection of a dance considered to be fitting only for the high and mighty ruling elite. After 27 years of not performing this unnecessary display of power and affluence, Gloria revived the rigodon at a time when the people are in dire need and impoverished.

After all the speeches at the June 12th reception had ended, the media people were unceremoniously told to leave. Thus, nobody from the media witnessed the “rigodon the honor” except one — outgoing Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye. Bunye disclosed and described the rigodon in detail — including the names of the participants — in his weekly newspaper column. Arroyo should have told him to leave the reception too.”

at once i googled “toting bunye rigodon” and found that he has a website pala where the column was supposed to be posted but i couldn’t find it, LOL, recently deleted maybe? so i clicked on manila bulletin online instead and there it is: history & rigodon de honor in all its decadence.

…For the revival of the Rigodon for this year’s Independence Day celebration, the President handpicked the participants and took the time to occasionally drop in on their rehearsals. At one rehearsal, I understand that she also gamely learned the steps, partnering with Secretary Art Yap.

The twenty couples who performed the Rigodon were:

Congressman Albert Garcia and Congresswoman Carissa Coscolluela
Mayor Freddie Tinga and Ms. Zareen Baqir
Chairman Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III and Ms. Abby Ramos Claudio
Mr. Butch Ramirez and Mayor Jenny Barzaga
Congressman Mark Enverga and Congresswoman Mitch Cajayon
Mr. John Gaddi and Ms. Joanne Reyes
Ambassador David Pine and Ms. Assunta de RossiLedesma
Governor Leo Campos and Ms. Angie Cadungog
General Arturo Lomibao and Ms. Elizabeth Lee
Congressman Robbie Puno and Atty. Patricia Bunye
Mr. Sonny Tanchanco and Ms. Paula Locsin Bondoc
Congressman Martin Romualdez and Ms. Dawn Zulueta-Lagdameo
Mr. Nestor Jardin and Ms. Tessa Prieto Valdez
Mr. Alex Macapagal and Ms. Anna Marie Periquet
Congressman Joboy Aquino and Ms. Marissa Andaya
Congressman Dato Arroyo and Mayor Kimi Cojuangco
Secretary Arthur Yap and Ms. Lani Mercado Revilla
Former Senator Tito Sotto and Ms. Mons Romulo Tantoco
General Generoso Senga and Congresswoman Rachel Arenas
Secretary Peter Favila and Ambassador Kristie Kenney

The entire Independence Day reception and Rigodon de Honor was directed by Ms. Lupita Kashiwahara. Choreography was by Ms. Bujing Danao and Ms. Dalah Pia, assisted by Mr. Renato Delgado and Mr. Jerry Mercado. Music was by Gloria Gatmaitan and her band.”

my, what a star-studded extravaganza. so, did the choreographers change the steps a little, jazz it up a little, or was it faithful to the old boring quadrille? so, what were the women’s ternos like? sinong winner sa coutouriers? and the best family jewels must have been out on display, patalbugan blues, palakihan, pakinangan ng diamonds at pearls, among themselves lang of course, then back to the vault, hora mismo. so who was the belle of the ball, dawn zulueta? asunta de rossi? lani mercado? tessa prieto? rachel arenas? kristie kenney? o talbog silang lahat kay glory glory hallelujah? i would have loved to watch the show, kahit sa tv lang, di ba. for a sense of history, why not?

deadly mabuhay kills chikatime

interesante ang nagaganap sa gossip corner of the blogosphere. akalain niyo, napa-shutdown ng isang gucci gang blog-girl ang chikatime.com, the notorious gossip blog that dared cackle in nasty bading-speak at celebrities and other society climbers, and not from some ivory tower a la kitty go but from the mean, and i mean MEAN side of the tracks, a long way away from the red carpet:

The site claims to receive 4,000 hits a day-even on days when no updates are posted. Chikatime’s claim to fame-or one of them-is breaking the Brian Gorrell-DJ Montano story before Gorrel put up his own blog.

But Brian and DJ aren’t the only subjects of Chikatime. It has targeted almost everyone, from celebrities and fashionistas to columnists, editors and socialites. They have “leads” coming in from everywhere-even supposedly industry insiders.

The blog seems to be this era’s weapon of mass destruction. It could be a greattool of expression and creative prose, or it could be a means of anarchy and vendetta.

It could be the hoi polloi’s voice from outside the red carpet, the other side of the velvet rope.

Chikatime entries range from eyebrow-raising to downright nasty. Bouncing checks, gate-crashing, backstabbing, locker-room embarrassments-the blog is packed with enough dirt to make the Upper East Side sound like Pleasantville.”

sabi rin ni kitty go:

Chikatime has a GREAT FORMULA no one comes close to:
1) a great sense of humor
2) a hilarious command of Taglish and Bading-speak
3) graphic photos
4) magnificent moles”

of course, imbiyerna ang mga pa-altasyudad na natatampok sa chikatime, like the gucci gang fashionista shoppingera blog-girl who says puro kasinungalingan at panlalait ang sinasabi dito, which, come to think of it, is exactly the gucci gang’s complaint re brian’s dj blog. but brian is out of reach in australia (or is it canada now), while the blogger behind chikatime, the gucci gang blog-girl found out, is taga-makati lang pala and making less than 20 kiyaw a month (smalltime!) so she threatens to out him unless he deletes, retracts, apologizes, and creates a link to her site – susmaryosep! you wonder what she’s really after. chikatime’s traffic? no wonder chikatime shut down na lang.

but gossip, like hope, springs eternal. if the gucci gang blog-girl thinks she’s home free, she has another think coming. unless she shuts down, too, of course.

brian’s blog 2

interesting developments on delfin dj montano’s blogspot.

upon the importuning of fans, brian gorrell is now accepting donations. and the expectation seems to be that when the $70,000 has been raised, he would should consider himself paid.

meaning what? that brian must call a halt to donations? shut down the blog?

parang hindi tama. what the generous ones are doing should be meant to benefit not the alleged swindler ex-lover but the swindled and heartbroken victim who has HIV. it should not let the alleged scoundrel off the hook – where’s the justice in that? kung sinong maysala, siya ang magbayad, di ba.

and don’t say that being crucified on the blog is punishment enough. i don’t think so. i mean, how do we know? until the guy comes forward or puts up his own blog (maybe named briangorrell.com) to either confirm or deny brian’s story, we won’t even know that he’s been punished justly or unjustly, much less that he’s been punished enough.

i suppose this is why there are libel laws, to protect the alleged swindler. kung pinoy si brian, tiyak meron nang restraining order. i suppose also this is why kitty go, a jetsetter lifestyle writer who has written two small books dissing the alta syudad’s shameful decadence, herself stops short of naming names. check out this great review:

And even if I read it voraciously from cover to cover, I can’t helpbut wonder if I only found it interesting because I already knew the people you were talking about. And if people don’t kinda realize that apparently these purported characters were supposedly Antoine Saint Diyego, Aryel Losada, Emilee and Selene Lopes, Josiefene Knocks, Andrue Gan, Jonattan Matthi, Meelet Manankheil, Sary App, Gretsen Bareto and Teena and Ryko O’campoe, would the book be just as interesting to them? And some parts are a little too harsh I have to say. Ok, perhaps the stories about some of the characters’ penchants for embezzlement and backstabbing might be a cause for alarm, but a lot of people you mention in the book only suffer from the harmless inborn crime of being baduy* at the very most. One could turn the tables and think of it as a case of the kulangot** calling the other one grey here. Because if you are going to start picking the noses of these folks, then I certainly hope your nostrils are clean too.”

sey ni kitty sa tv patrol interview where she expressed support for brian: that if brian hadn’t told all, she would have written about it in her next book. really? would she have been as brave as brian kaya? brave enough to name names? which would mean she might never come home?

in defense of gossip

the supreme court has ruled that romulo neri is right to invoke gma’s executive privilege and to refuse to answer questions that might could would implicate his president and her fg in the nbn-zte bribery scandal.

as a result, there is no way now that we can get to the truth of the matter. so biglang all the talk about gma and her fg’s involvement in the corrupt deal is reduced to the category of gossip, as in tsismis lang, because it is unproven or unconfirmed, and never natin mapu-prove o maco-confirm. unless of course the court reconsiders and reverses itself, which seems quite unlikely.

well. let’s look at the bright side. at least all the anti-gma nbn-zte tsismis is an improvement on showbiz tsismis that’s mostly petty and personal. how great that we’re swapping stories not only about gretchen & tonyboy, piolo & sam, sharon & kc, but also about political figures gloria and mike, luli and joey, jun and cory, the bishops and romy, on matters of national importance.

the thinking about gossip is right:

. . . gossip can be a form of political resistance to undermine entrenched systems of power and domination. Getting the scuttlebutt about salary discrepancies, executive perks, kickbacks, nepotism, conflicts of interest and the like ”benefits those excluded from power more than it helps those who exercise power since the former have less to hide.”

sometimes, gossip is our only revenge. just as it might be brian gorrell’s only revenge on the sosi peeps who he says lied to him and cheated him and stole from him.