Claudine wants to help abandoned babies

Catherine has two childhood friends: Miguel Castillejos (Diether Ocampo) and Raphael Torralba (Gabby Concepcion). Raphael goes to the States and while he’s away, Catherine and Miguel fall in love. When Raphael returns to their hacienda in Amadesto, Batangas, he learns that Catherine and Miguel are already sweethearts so he keeps his feelings for her to himself. Catherine expects to have a happy life with Miguel, but his mom, Isadora (Cherry Pie Picache), is against their love affair and schemes a horrible plot against her, making her vanish mysteriously. Isadora then forces Miguel to marry a wealthy girl, Scarlet (Angelica Panganiban), but both Miguel and Scarlet realize early on that their marriage is doomed from the start.

Catherine tries to live a new life in Manila with her grandma, Aura (Susan Roces), who becomes her source of hope and strength. A billionaire, Martin de la Rea (Bembol Roco), falls in love with her and proposes marriage. She agrees and it turns out that Martin is the father of Scarlet. She works in Martin’s company and becomes the boss of her former boyfriend, Miguel, whose wife Scarlet, turns out to be the daughter of Martin from his first marriage. Catherine becomes obsessed with revenge against Miguel and his family. Meantime, Raphael continues to hope that his pure love for Catherine will free her from the bitter hatred and anger that envelope her whole being.

Directed by Ruel Bayani and Manny Palo, "Iisa Pa Lamang" will start airing on July 14 on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida. It’ll serve as a Claudine’s birthday treat to her fans as she’ll celebrate her birthday on July 20. She won’t have a party but will do an outreach program for Bantay Bata with hubby Raymart Santiago. "I just want to share my blessings. Gusto ko ngang magkaroon ng own foundation for abandoned babies."

How did Raymart react to her hot love scenes with both Gabby and Diether?

"No big deal. He understands my work perfectly as he’s also an actor."

Well, after all, she even had a rape scene with Rafael Rosell in her last show, "Maligno."

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Rufa Mae Quinto’s new movie for GMA Films with Dennis Trillo, "Italy," is yet to be shown, but she will start shooting her new Viva project, "Civil Status: Single," any day now.

"Italy" is directed by Mark Reyes, while "Civil Status" is by Mark’s uncle, Joey Reyes. She’ll be paired in the latter with Paolo Contis, AlfredVargas, Rafael Rosell, Mark Bautista and Jon Avila. She’s also in four regular TV shows: "Bubble Gang," "SOP," "Showbiz Central" and "Dyesebel" where she plays Amafura.

For a while, she thought of giving up "Showbiz Central." "Kasi, ilang beses ng ako mismo ang naging object ng balita. Parang buong buhay ko, nahalungkat na dun. Sa ibang shows, ‘pag personal na buhay ko tinatanong, laugh lang ako ng laugh. Walang seryosohan. Pero dahil show namin ‘yun, siempre, sasagutin ko ng maayos. May natutuhan din naman ako dahil tumapang ako habang ipinagtatanggol ko ang sarili ko kapag ako mismo ang involved sa controversy. Pero enjoy rin akong magdamit dun, ha. Fashionista talaga, pati sapatos, alahas. E, sa ibang shows, hindi naman ako makapag-display ng ganun, so hindi ko rin lubusang maiwan. Isa pa, enjoy naman ako sa mga kasama ko sa show."

When it comes to her lovelife, is she happy having a long-distance love affair with Latin-American Bobby Lopez?

"Happy naman ako. It’s not a perfect kind of relationship kasi nga, magkalayo kami. At siya, hindi siya basta assigned sa isang lugar lang kundi palipat-lipat. Pero maligaya na rin ako, kasi yun ang binigay ng Diyos. Naiisip ko nga, mas mabuti na rin yung ganun kasi sobrang busy ako kaya siguro ang ibinigay sa’kin, ‘yung nasa malayong lugar. Kaysa ‘yung nandito nga, pero hindi rin kami laging nagkikita at hindi ko rin naaasikaso dahil wala akong time sa sobrang dami ng projects ko. So, okay na ‘yung arrangement namin ngayon mga once a month, he visits me o ako ang nagpupunta sa kanya. Basta masaya akong may inspiration ako ngayon at hindi puro kayod na lang ng kayod."

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Gaby de la Merced was the third big winner in the last "Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition." Does she still get in touch with her batchmates?

"Oh yes, just the other day, I was with Victor Basa," she says. "I also still communicate with the other housemates, like our big winner, Ruben from Davao who now owns a Goodah branch sa corner ng Ortigas and Santolan. He also lives there now."

What’s her most memorable experience in PBB?

"I learned a lot in my stay there. I used to take a lot of things for granted, but in my conversations with Mommy Yayo Aguila, I realized I’m just too busy with a lot of stuff so I learned that it’s not nice to grab everything but be more focused on your own direction in life."

The fourth of six kids of a family that owns the Guadalupe Commercial Center and the Delta Bldg., she can just take it easy in her chosen sport, racing. After all, she’s one of the few Filipinas who dominate the Asian Formula 3 circuit and was also first runner-up in the Philippine National Formula championship. Now, she’s also determined to pursue her showbiz career. She won as one of the best lifestyle show hosts in 2007 for co-hosting "Living It Up" on Q-11 with Raymond Gutierrez. After PBB, ABS-CBN made her the host of "Gaby’s Xtraordinary Files" for one season.

"I really enjoyed hosting so I hope ABS will give me another hosting job."

Is she open to doing other things like dancing or acting?

"I’m scheduled to do a dance number in ‘ASAP’ soon. That I can do as I’m now into capoeira, Brazilian martial arts na parang dancing din. As for acting, before I venture into that I want to take a lot of acting workshops muna to prepare me. Ayokong basta sumalang nang wala akong alam."

Will she still go on racing?

"Of course, it’s my other passion. I grew up with cars as my dad is in the car business also. I started driving at 16 and racing gives me a sense of freedom. Parang the world is yours at kaya mo lahat-lahat."

Isn’t it too risky?

"Lahat naman ng sports, may risk. You can just play basketball at pag lay-up mo, puede kang maaksidente. And I love to take risk. I love adventure and my stay now in media and showbiz is the latest risky adventure for me."

Gaby is managed by Girlie Rodis, 0917-528-5761, and Jay Salas, 0918-941-4252.

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The new discoveries of "Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus" (Robi Domingo, Josef Elizalde and Nicole Uysiuseng) are joining the cast of "My Girl." Some fans of the Kim Chiu-Gerald Anderson love team are against it and wrote so many letters to various press people asking ABS-CBN not to do it. They feel the "Kimerald" tandem would be enough for the show and they don’t need newcomers at all. Some folks say it’s Kim herself who feels insecure about it. Is this true?

"No, bakit naman ako mai-insecure?" says Kim. "Gerald and I have talked about it and the truth is, we welcome them. Mababait naman sila so mas masaya sa taping. ‘Di ba, sabi nga, the more the merrier? Also, kami ang nauna, dapat lang na hindi kami maging selfish helping newcomers. Kasi kung tinanggihan kami noong makasama ng ibang more senior stars, we also won’t get anywhere."

"Actually, we see ourselves in them when we were also just starting," says Gerald. "Saka si Robi, kaibigan ni Mikee Lee na ka-batch namin sa ‘PBB: Teen Edition.’ Classmates sila sa Ateneo, kaya happy akong makasama namin si Robi with Nicole and Josef in ‘My Girl’."

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Newcomer Bubbles Paraiso is officially being introduced in "My Monster Mom" and she’s glad that her very first movie is a big hit. "Siempre, nakakatuwang ang first screen appearance ko, pinapanood ng maraming tao," she grins.

Like her brother Paolo, she also started as a ramp model. Isn’t she a late bloomer? "Actually, high school pa lang, may offers na akong mag-artista, but I thought showbiz is baduy and I chose to finish my schooling. I was taking up management, pero hindi ko rin natapos dahil I realized it’s not really my line. It was only when Paolo joined showbiz na I got introduced to the people there and I realized they’re all nice din pala. Nawala ‘yung thinking ko na baduy mag-showbiz."

It’s as a TV host that she first forayed into showbiz, co-hosting "It’s a Guy Thing" with Borgy Manotoc on Studio 23.

"Then Tita Annabelle Rama offered to manage at ang first acting job ko was in the ABS-CBN series, ‘Princess Sarah,’ where I was paired with Diether Ocampo. I think I joined showbiz just at the right time. Kasi if I joined it when I was younger, masyado pa akong shy, kulang sa confidence. Modeling and hosting helped prepare me for showbiz and I’m now truly ready for it."

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Below is a report in "Variety" about our country’s participation at the Paris Cinema International Filmfest:

"The 40-film Philippine retrospective at this year’s Paris Cinema Festival reflects France’s long-held esteem for Filipino cinema, which was initiated by the French publicist Pierre Rissient when he introduced Lino Brocka’s masterpiece ‘Insiang’ to Cannes in 1978. The fest will pay homage to the Filipino director Brillante Mendoza whose latest pic, "Serbis," was the first Filipino film to be nominated for the Palme d’Or since Brocka’s ‘The Jaguar’ 24 years ago. All six of Mendoza’s pics are being screened as part of the tribute.

"‘There was a kind of a Filipino New Wave at the end of the 1970s with filmmakers like Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal,’ says Jeremy Segay, an expert on Asian cinema who has assembled this year’s retrospective. "‘Then for a long time afterwards there was a black hole. It’s only recently that Filipino cinema has become rediscovered, in many ways because it has carved out a homosexual niche."

(Italics ours. This shows we are now known for films about homosexuality. Is that a compliment or what?)

"Segay’s biggest challenge was finding enough copies of Filipino films in acceptable condition to be shown on the big screen. While he managed to turn up a copy of Brocka’s ‘Insiang,’ he was unable to find a copy of ‘The Jaguar’ that could be screened.