Versatile, unrestrained and face-malleable, Eugene Domingo is the funniest Filipino actress alive. Sorry Pokwang and Ai Ai, but Eugene is probably contemporary Pinoy showbiz’s fledgling Dolphy. I say “probably” because I’m not a fortuneteller.

In her latest movie Here Comes the Bride (written and directed by Chris Martinez) fortune, eclipse, geography and magnetic field join forces to wreak havoc on the lives of five, equally interesting characters.

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Yet again, we are dragged into it.

Fuming and orange-clad, millionaire TV host Willie Revillame slammed showbiz columnist Jobert Sucaldito for allegedly being in the habit of sharply criticizing his noontime show Wowowee. Like helpless PCOS machines forced to participate in a nationwide bid for power, noontime televiewers were helplessly enthralled by Revillame’s bid for rightness and self-worth in his classic melodrama/argumentum ad misericordiam style.

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“Unexpected” celebrity pregnancy announcements (UCPA, for short) are always, as expected, heralded unexpectedly. But what always dawns upon me more unexpectedly is the feeling of non-surprise.

No matter who gets unexpectedly pregnant and no matter who unexpectedly got the pregnant pregnant, I am not shaken at all. Whichever part of my brain is tasked to respond to shock value stimulus must be dispatched for not doing its job. Maybe I don’t care. Or maybe I’ve gotten used to it.

Camille Prats. Jennilyn Mercado. Valerie Concepcion. Carlene Aguilar. And the list can hit infinity.

The first and only time a UCPA got me gasping in unbelief—at least based on my pop culture consumption databank so far—was when...

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Everybody wants to be President.

On the eve of last day of filing for the 2010 polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received 99 certificates of candidacy for president. Among them were a quantum physicist, a retired teacher, an insurance agent, some politicians, and many other characters ranging from genuine to Jokerish (and it’s the Heath Ledger-type!).

For many, it’s not easy to pinpoint who among those who run for office are sincere and who are just fooling around. But that’s secondary.

Supremely important is an electorate that is not fooling around with the leadership standard it upholds. More than ever before, Filipinos must be dead serious on not committing another mistake of bequeathing the reins of power to another two-faced megalomaniac who will treat the Philippines as his/her own moneymaking corporation.

After two EDSAs (and their corresponding triumphs and disappointments), we’re supposed to be wiser by now. But I’m afraid wisdom that depends on pure human information alone is frail. No matter how wisely we think we have voted, the Philippines would still head south if our concept of “voting wisely” precludes inquiring of God’s will.

God’s will is often sought on a personal level. “Who is God’s will for me to marry?” “What college course is God’s will for me to take?” “What career path is God’s will for me to tread?”

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Intercession is the last thing I would imagine myself writing about.

Prayer’s fine with me. You know, asking providence for today’s breakfast, lunch, and supper; for courage when deadlines draw nigh; for supernatural strength in times of siesta while I’m at work; and for many other needs critical to my growth and survival as a human being.

But intercessory prayer has always been something too hard for me to act upon and, honestly, to believe in.

For starters, intercessory prayer (or intercession) is a kind of prayer in which one continuously lifts up the lives (the needs and predicaments) of other people to God. It involves pleading on behalf of others, for others.

It’s hard to do. My family and I have enough trouble to consume much of my precious prayer time already. So why bother praying for a classmate who is heartbroken or a workmate who doesn’t know Christ yet?

It’s also hard to believe in. If God were sovereign, what’s the sense of continuously praying for people? Can’t I just pray once for them, and rest assured that God has it on record already?

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I don’t know which is harder to believe: that icebergs are now heading to New Zealand according to glaciologists or that there’s still hope for the Philippines according to our politicians.

To remain hopeful for a nation dominated by a dynasty of surnames under which leadership it has become the most corrupt in Asia is not worth the imagination. It’s a waste of our precious Filipino intelligence.

And then 2010 is coming. Elections. What is supposed to be a chance for us to hope once more is also a chance for the ambitious to propel themselves to the pinnacle of political power. Now this isn’t hard to believe: There will be bloodshed. In the Philippines, the quest for public office is a violent, self-centered, animalistic adventure.

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