"When I went to Canada, I was surprised when a Filipina approached and greeted me warmly. She even told me she enjoyed my shows. It was there that I found out ‘Up Close & Personal’ was pirated," lamented Marissa del Mar, the show’s host.

She also found out about her show’s same plight when she went to Hong Kong and even in the U.S.

"Most them rented out our episodes from video stores while some watched it in restaurants," she said.

Because of her piracy dilemma, she is now pushing for her show’s international release, legally. According to her, she has already spoken to a possibble supplier of her show in Canada and Hong Kong.

"Sayang kasi we’re losing money sa mga pirates and I saw a pirated copy of our show and the quality was bad. They might think that our show has low quality. Hopefully our deal pushes through so Filipinos abroad can enjoy our show the right way," she remarked.

She added that the episodes shown abroad were two to three weeks delayed. But despite that she’s proud to report that her Filipino audience abroad like her show for its informative and public service format. She is not she said pursuing any legal action against the pirates, because that would be a difficult, even an impossible task to accomplish.

On Wednesday, March 28, at 10 p.m. Marissa del Mar will have the president of the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. Francis Chua as special guest. Last March 20, Marissa and her Millicent Foundation signed a Memorandum of Agreement making her an honorary member of the FCCCI.

The recently held debate at the Manila Hotel between Genuine Opposition and Team Unity will also be featured in the Wednesday episode of "Up Close and Personal."

She will be discussing with Mr. Chua the historic trading partnership between the Filipino and Chinese people and how it progressed. The show will also focus on how members of the Chinese communities nationwide despite security threats have remained top business investors in the country.

With a strong network of 170 chambers of commerce, Mr. Chua will also discuss the FFCCII’s thrust and mandates, its relationship with present administration and their future activities.

Upcoming episodes of "Up Close and Personal2 will be Center for Pop Philippines’ President and Vice President Butch and Gwen Albarracin (shown on April 4), Assistant Post Master General Mama S. Lalantao, Al Haj (April 18) and Party-List CIBAK Representative Kim Bernardo-Lokin (April 25).

"I’m praying that the businessmen from Canada would love our show and so our ‘kababayan’ will be updated of the goings on in our country," she concluded.