In all of Manny Pacquiao’s many fights and many wins, we really couldn’t concentrate much on the glory of his victory this time around.

The reason is we read more and we hear more about his alleged “love affair” with young actress Krista Ranillo more than anything else and how Krista’s father, Mat Ranillo III and their family seem to “accept” all of it.

It is appalling to some extent already because the rumors are becoming worse and worse by the day. To be accused of causing a marriage to break is no small deal at all. Couple that with Jinkee’s display of emotion during the thanksgiving mass offered for her husband’s latest victory, the public counts two and two together and arrives at an unforgiving stance. At least as far as Krista is concerned.

Nevertheless, we all are still waiting for a word from Krista’s family. We feel that the time to defend their daughter is now and indeed, today is the most opportune moment to try to redeem their name.

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Pacquiao-Krista is hot topic in ‘myFoursome’

There are so many details circulating about this “love triangle,” the hottest in the rumor mill this season. And we got full account on all angles when we got together with our colleagues from the different publications (Ricky Lo of Philippine Star, Dolly Anne Carvajal of Inquirer and Isah Red of Manila Standard Today), when we sat down to shoot for the latest episode of our  show “myFoursome” in myView channel for PLDT MyDSL’s Watchpad.

The four of us were actually reeling from the onslaught of showbiz news that reach us day by day, just for this specific topic. In that episode alone, we realized 30 minutes of showbiz chat was not enough to cover everything – from the alleged text message sent by Jinkee to some people, to the alleged $2-million gift, to an incident in Baguio City, to sneaking for a clandestine rendezvous after the fight, to financing a political campaign, to a facebook status that generated mixed reactions, to other names linked to the same actress, etc. The stories are endless and we predict this will go on for a few more weeks, while of course, Manny, the champion, is still on front- page news.

You see, this is what happens in “myFoursome.” Four entertainment writers get together and talk about their work, their day to day grind and their day to day finds. What the four of us didn’t realize was that our topics make for interesting news to most people. Thus was the birth of “myFoursome,” the brainchild of PLDT MyDSL big boss Gary Dujali who is a self-confessed showbiz aficionado. He told us, “I find your stories interesting, and I am always in awe when I sit down with you guys and talk about showbiz the way you do.  I realized a show that makes the public eavesdrop on your conversations will be much.”

“myFoursome” has been airing on the myView channel of PLDT MyDSL’s Watchpad for a few  Saturdays now. If you are a PLDT MyDSL subscriber, then this service comes free with your subscription. You just have to register to the www.pldtwatchpad.com portal to access it. The great thing about this is that Watchpad now has an archive of the past episodes. You can check out the first few episodes as well.

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Danny Tan defends La Diva’s version of ‘Lupang Hinirang’

Aside from the fight itself, the one thing that most people look forward to and talk about right after in all of Manny Pacquiao’s boxing bouts is the rendition of the Philippine national anthem by the Filipino artist handpicked to perform in that particular fight.

Almost always, every singer who gets the chance to sing before any Pacquiao fight, finds himself at the center of controversy – with the National Historical Institute (NHI) charging them of “desecrating the national anthem” because they didn’t sing the song “the way it should.” Last year, it was Martin Nievera who had to defend himself. This year, it is La Diva.

Last Saturday, GMA’s homegrown trio La Diva (Jonalyn Viray, Aicelle Santos and Maricris Garcia) wowed the crowd with their excellent rendition of “Lupang Hinirang.” They sang the melody with beautiful blending and harmony based on the arrangement of their musical director Danny Tan. No doubt, La Diva’s version left many in awe of their magnificent voices and ranges. We got several text messages commending the trio for the beautiful way they sang the national anthem. And the fact that they, too, were dressed very nicely in the colors of the Philippine flag was another plus factor.

But as expected, NHI refuses to get swayed by the praises. Instead, they voiced out their “concerns” about La Diva’s alleged blatant disregard of the law – to them, the girls simply didn’t sing  the prescribed version of “Lupang Hinirang.”

We know for a fact that La Diva, who is coming back this week from Las Vegas, sang the song the way they were instructed to, following and rehearsing the arrangement given to them. That is why, we spoke with Mr. Danny Tan, the best person to deal with the criticisms because he was the one who created that magnificent arrangement that La Diva performed.

Danny is not happy at all. He sent us the following statement to address the accusation:
“La Diva sang the Philippine National Anthem in marching tempo and the melody was intact from beginning to end. The melody was alternately sung by Jonalyn Viray and Maricris Garcia with Aicelle Santos singing the alto part and at times soprano 2.

The ‘birit’ part in the end does not violate any law because the melody was still intact. The melody ’...ang mamatay nang da-...’  was sung by Jonalyn Viray (soprano 1) and Maricris Garcia immediately picked up ‘...-hil sa iyo.’ Maricris is usually soprano 2, but in this last part, she was alto, Aicelle sang the soprano 2 part.

The arrangement was a very creative way of complying with the pre-requisites in singing our Anthem without sacrificing musical integrity, originality and harmony to fit the interpretation of a female pop trio.

La Diva performed the Philippine National Anthem with so much fervor and patriotism. And as their vocal arranger and musical director, I must say that  La Diva’s performance made each one of us very proud!”

Danny Tan also answered some technical points raised by the NHI. He said that NHI posted in their official site samples of how the Philippine National Anthem was to be sung.  He questions, “how come their instrumental version is different from the vocal version? They have been using their instrumental version as the accompaniment of the soloists. ‘Sa dagat at...’ part has an extra note on the word ‘sa.’ A grace note or an ornamental note is played by the instruments but not sung by the vocal soloists.

Second, Danny points out, “the solo piano version of Mr. Raul Sunico is not in consonance with the instrumental version played by the UST Wind Orchestra because Mr. Raul Sunico slowed the tempo in the last measure of his version. Nag ‘retard’ or nag ‘slow down’ siya.”

Thirdly, “Mr. Ambeth Ocampo says the law states that ‘Lupang Hinirang’ must be 49 to 54 seconds long. Kyla’s version was 1 minute and 19 seconds. Mr. Ocampo says La Diva’s version was slow because umabot daw ng 1 minute and 30 seconds. NHI said Kyla’s version was in accordance with the law and La Diva’s version violated the law. How very inconsistent they are.”

Lastly, Danny Tan lets out steam by saying that somebody should take a stand and do something about that law. “It has to be repealed very, very soon because it encroaches our freedom of expression. We are not a nation of robots. We are a very passionate nation especially when it comes to singing,” he ended.

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PLDT MyDSL’s 25 Days of Christmas and UBB promos

And speaking of PLDT MyDSL, this company was the very first to greet the press with a Christmas treat when they launched their “25 Days of Christmas” and the “Ultra Broadband Blowout” promos.

Just like in the past year, the much-awaited “25 Days of Christmas” gives away a laptop a day to winners, plus much, much more. They have decided to make their giveaways this year extra grand. Multi-media packages (music, gaming, lifestyle and movie showcases) are at stake each week along with P125,000 cash prize in the final draw. Winners are being announced daily on “Eat Bulaga” and can be streamed live via Watchpad’s myView channel. To join, a PLDT subscriber just needs to register in Watchpad and that automatically qualifies you in the raffle draw leading up to Christmas.

To bring more cheers this season, the biggest PC and broadband event, Ultra Broadband Blowout, is back. Still with the best PC/laptop deals with free PLDT MyDSL for certain packages. Catch the UBB this weekend, Nov. 20-22 at SM North Edsa and then on Nov. 27-29 at SM Bacoor.