But his uncouth ways cannot be apparently quashed. This time, Willie is being accused of a different case. He did stop his vulgarity on noontime TV, but Willie is reportedly guilty of sexual harassment, as complained by a 19-year-old dancer of the program.
One of the GoGirls dancers of "Wowowee" cried foul and complained to her manager that Willie has been sexually harassing them, especially in out-of-town shows of "Wowowee," where the TV host-comedian would ride with the dancers in one van. The father of the girl is said to be thinking of formally filing a sexual harassment case in court against Willie.
The comedian, however, has kept mum about the issue. Willie is neither denying nor confirming anything. We wonder how the ABS-CBN executives would react to this latest misbehavior of their comebacking talent. Willie has been given his nth chance to regain lost ground in showbiz and be seen on TV again – and in a giant network yet. Too bad, but he seems to be always blowing his chance.
Taping in Saigon
Maricel Soriano will be torn between two good-looking leading men – Jay Manalo and John Estrada – in the upcoming soap series, "Vietnam Rose," which will start taping this month. The production team behind the series is even set to go to Saigon to tape a few episodes there. Now, talk about authenticity.
Jay and John are just two of the powerhouse cast members that make up "Vietnam Rose." Also starring are Ricky Davao, Gina Alajar, Chanda Romero, Assunta de Rossi, Angelika Panganiban, AJ Dee, Ilonah Jean and Rosa Rosal.
"Vietnam Rose" marks the first soap series of director Joel Lamangan. The award-winning megman earlier directed a primetime legal-drama series for ABS-CBN, "Your Honor," led by Richard Gomez. But "Vietnam Rose" is Direk Joel’s first venture in directing a soap opera. No less than Ricky Lee acts as the creative manager of the series.
Maricel, Direk Joel and selected cast members of "Vietnam Rose" are set to go to Saigon late this month to tape episodes for the series. Maricel plays a Vietnamese girl traumatized by the Vietnam war and later gets adopted by Chanda Romero. Hence, she grew up as a Filipina.
We heard the series even has a language instructor on the set to teach the cast members to speak Vietnamese, which is essential in the flow of the story, especially in the first part.
Reader’s feedback
Anna Rowena Castro of Baliuag, Bulacan noted that the new fantaseryes that GMA-7 has been launching lately has shades of "Panday." Obviously, GMA-7 wants to pre-empt "Panday." The network even airs a teaser of the sword, when we all know that Panday has a sword for his weapon. And "Panday" is airing soon on ABS-CBN.
For feedback, please e-mail showbizmister@yahoo.com or entertainment@mb.com.ph
