MANILA, Philippines — We heard that Grace Lee’s career has been on the upswing since her association with President Noynoy. A source disclosed that aside from receiving invitations for interviews left and right, she has snatched at least three endorsement deals as of this writing – Belo, Bench, and Ever Bilena. Avon, they say is also part of the growing list of would-be endorsements. To top it all, Grace’s hosting fee reportedly jumped up from P80,000 per gig to P140,000. No wonder she has upped the ante without hesitation, by obliging to do interviews left and right, something that no other woman linked to the President has ever done before. For Grace, high profile is the name of the game. Our take: Enjoy it while it lasts. As my wannabe political analyst friend always says, “When the smoke clears in the political arena, so will the smoke shrouding the President’s lovelife.”

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‘Anna Banana’ Video Peddled By Cute Stage Mom

We chanced upon this “plea” from a certain Mama Berns on her internet blog http://bit.ly/mamaberns. She has a young son Derek who made a video and posted it on Youtube for a song he wrote and sang called “Anna Banana.” No, we didn’t find the video or the song excellent, but what we found cute was the young mother’s effort to ask for views for her son’s video. She said, “He is trying to get one million views. It may not be the greatest video in the world but wawa naman kung walang makakita sa hard work niya di ba? So please click www.youtube.com/annabananaDSL so you can make one kid happy and one mom very, very proud.”

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Ricky Reyes Makes-Over Own Show

“Life and Style with Ricky Reyes” (airing every Saturday 10-11 a.m. on GMA News Channel) is cooking up a relaunch on Feb. 25. The beauty expert is revamping the entire show to give way to a more exciting magazine show. Incidentally, he will be celebrating his 18th anniversary as a tevision host this year.

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James Yap Richer By P70M After Annulment?

How true is it that in the aftermath of the annulment case between Kris Aquino and James Yap, the latter took home no less than P70M and that amount is exclusive of attorney’s fees. A good friend couldn’t help but mutter, “Some guys have all the luck.” To which, another friend reacted, “That amount is good enough compensation for James considering the work he was able to accomplish in Kris’s image at the time of their marriage.”

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Wally-Jose Concert Tickets Selling Fast

Tickets to the concert of Jose Manalo and Wally Bayola slated on March 2 at the Araneta Coliseum are selling like hotcakes. We heard that as of Feb. 5, ticket sales are already at the millionth mark.

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Rico J. Puno Mixes Love Songs And Humor

Total entertainer Rico J. Puno is bringing a twist to the Valentine celebration on Feb. 14, which also happens to be his birth anniversary, at the Newport Performing Arts Theater by providing humor on top of romantic music.

The show, “The Best of Rico J. Puno: A Valentine Concert,” marks Rico’s first appearance at the venue alongside guests Verni Varga and Katya Santos.

A Viva Concerts and Events production, the show has ABS-CBN as its official TV partner. Tickets are now available at Resorts World Manila and at Ticketworld (891-9999).

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Karylle Goes Ultra-Feminine

Karylle is the brand- new endorser of a high-end feminine napkin called Jeunesse. The owners say they handpicked Karylle to be the image model of their brand because of her versatility.

Jericson San Agustin, the brand’s sales and marketing head, said. “We have always admired Karylle. She can sing, dance, act, host, and he’s also into health and fitness. Her versatility makes her the perfect choice for our product.”

At the press conference, Jeunesse made a demonstration for the sake of the media, by pouring the same amount of liquid to two different pads, one of which was Jeunesse. The result was very satisfactory for Jeunesse, turning the liquid into gel while the same pad was soaked into a glass full of water.

What made us even more curious was the scientifically-formulated Anion strip in every pad that helps reduce odor and feminine discomfort because the Anion helps circulate oxygen more efficiently. If you ask us, that is every woman’s dream pad.

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Lea Salonga Causes Ingram Concert Ticket Sales To Go Up

When the local producers of James Ingram’s post-Valentine concert (on Feb. 17 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum and then on Feb. 18 at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel) started spreading the news that world-class singer Lea Salonga has agreed to grace the concert event, we heard that the ticket sales for the said show climbed up.

Considering the stiff competition this season of shows, Lea was naturally elated hearing the news and said that it is a great honor and privilege for her to be sharing the stage with a world-class artist whose body of work she respects and admires a lot.

Lea said she will be rendering two duet production numbers with Ingram as well as a spot number for herself during the show. “We haven’t determined which songs will it be but whatever he agrees to do, I will be more than willing to oblige,” Lea added.

The show is a production of That’s Ntertainment owned by Joed Serrano and Cora Rodrigo. Ticket inquiries can be coursed through Ticketnet and at the Waterfront Hotel.

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Claudine Manager Strongly Refutes Columnist’s Story

We personally feel sad that this conflict between a colleague Dolly Anne Carvajal (who writes for Inquirer) in one corner and the Ace Saatchi, Carmina Villaroel, and Claudine Barretto’s manager Shirley Kuan in another corner, turned into a conflagration.

So far, Dolly has written three column items on the issue (the last came out on Feb. 8) and some Facebook posts, standing her ground while on the other side, Ace Saatchi has written Dolly a letter to refute the item in her column; Carmina Villaroel came out on ABS-CBN’s “The Buzz” last Sunday to deny flat out that there ever was any story like that. Shirley also had her statement read out on GMA-7’s “Showbiz Central” last Sunday.

Last Wednesday night, Shirley felt the need to address the issue once and for all and met with the press. She said the agency didn’t want her to hold that press con but: “I am not here to pick a fight. I am not even asking for a retraction of her story. I just want to inform the public of the truth. I am speaking in the interest of correcting the lies that have been sown, knowing that a lie which goes uncorrected soon becomes the truth.”

“There is absolutely no truth to the article that came out Jan. 29, in reference to Carmina Villaroel walking out of a shoot because of Claudine’s alleged misbehavior. The last time Claudine and Carmina worked together for a product endorsement was about three years ago and even in that event, nothing like that happened,” she added.

Shirley said she feels no need to burden Claudine with this matter or ask her to comment on it as she is travelling in Europe, vacationing with her husband. She also dismissed the idea of a legal case against Dolly Anne. “I am not after her retraction. I just want to tell the truth.”