Toujour Pur

for our 31st month together, this was what he gave me:

 

i call him "tero".. LOLS.. only the two of us know how tero came up to his name.. right ngit? hehe.. thank you for everything.. you know how much i love you..  

last night before i said good night to my adem, he let me listen to this song.. i couldn’t help myself but cry.. it was so "swak na swak" to what i felt that moment..  

 

Click Five Say Goodnight Lyrics   

Our seperation has it’s faults
But I don’t wanna leave it all
So write the letters in teary ink
I just need some time to think
And I just need some time to breathe

Baby just say goodnight
I’ll be gone tomorrow
Baby just close your eyes
I can’t take the sorrow
Baby just walk away
You know I can’t stay
There’s no easy way to say goodbye
So baby just say goodnight

We’re in a spell that never ends
The empty hourglass wore me thin
So let the phone do it’s work
Your voice is heaven
But it hurts
Your words are memories
But they burn

Baby just say goodnight
I’ll be gone tomorrow
Baby just close your eyes
I can’t take the sorrow
Baby just walk away
You know I can’t stay
There’s no easy way to say goodbye
So baby just say goodnight

Baby don’t say goodbye
Baby just close your eyes
And dream,tomorrow’s on it’s way
So just walk away

Baby just say goodnight
I’ll be gone tomorrow
Baby just close your eyes
I can’t take the sorrow
Baby just walk away
You know I can’t stay
There’s no easy way to say goodbye
So baby just say goodnight

Baby just say goodnight

 

Whether she’s doing or saying something headline-worthy, or not doing or saying anything at all, Gretchen Barretto makes news - and how!

The latest is the so-called "credit card" incident at a restaurant in Dusit Hotel Nikko in Makati City where, according to reports, Gretchen treated her sister Marjorie, friends Ruffa Gutierrez and Pops Fernandez, and an unidentified friend to dinner one Sunday. When the P4,300 bill came, Gretchen gave the waiter her credit card which was "rejected" when it was swiped in the machine.

Angered, Gretchen reportedly said, "That cannot be; we own the bank." It was a Sunday and there was no way of verifying with the bank (unnamed). Ruffa saved the day by footing the bill.

Did Gretchen tell Tonyboy Cojuangco to rush to the hotel where, still according to the report, they had an argument?

At the presscon last Wednesday introducing Ruffa as the "comebacking" endorser of The Belo Medical Clinic, she explained that, lest she be suspected to have spread the story, she actually kept mum about it, adding that it was no big deal if she paid for the dinner because, after all, the amount was too small compared to what Gretchen has spent for past dinners with friends.

The incident spawned speculations that the relationship between Gretchen and her beloved Tonyboy has been worsening instead of improving.

"It never happened to Ruffa before," said a showbiz-observer, "not even when she and (estranged husband) Yilmaz Bektas were starting to have marital trou-bles - you know, for Ruffa’s credit card to be ‘invalidated’ without her knowledge."

Contacted by Funfare Update for comment, Gretchen simply texted back the following message:

Thank you for your love and friendship. It’s the same old-blown-up story. I’m getting tired living in Manila. My every move is always watched. I will be moving out of this country soon.

No, Gretchen didn’t say where she’s moving to, when and with whom.

Will Daisy run after Danita?

Have you been wondering why it has been all quiet on Daisy Romualdez’s front these past two months?

The reason is that Daisy was in the States, enjoying time away from the messy showbiz scene.

"I stayed with my sisters and relatives," Daisy told Funfare Update yesterday, a few days after she flew back home recharged.

One of her most memorable experiences was meeting California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and having a picture taken with him.

"It happened on a Sunday," related Daisy. "We were attending Mass at Santa Monica and my sister pointed out Schwarzenegger to me. After the Mass, I told my sister that I would approach Schwarzenegger, and I did. I told him, ‘Mr. Governor, I’m from the Philippines and I’m your avid fan; I didn’t tell him that I’m an actress. He smiled and said, ‘Thank you!’ Then, I said, ‘May I have a picture with you?’ He said, ‘Sure!’ And that was it."

Back home, Daisy learned that her prodigal daughter, Danita Paner, is "living-in" with her boyfriend.

"I’m checking if it’s true," said Daisy. "And then I will take the necessary legal action."

Briefly noted

* Back in school at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran where she’s a Masscom scholar, Rebecca Lusterio has many interesting stories to tell what she did last summer back home in Bohol. "I have the best vacation break I ever had," Rebecca told her good friend and fellow Boholano Leo Udtohan. While in Bohol, Rebecca modeled for fashion designer Maximiel Tallo (nephew of former actress Rebecca del Rio) at a Santacruzan. "I felt like a queen," gushed Rebecca whose dream is to star in a teleserye.

* From San Francisco-based Funfare Update contributor Bradford Adkins, this brief report: Charice wowed a big crowd in downtown San Francisco during the Fiesta Filipina celebration two Sundays ago. She sang I Will Always Love You, among other songs, with the same fervor as she did when she guested on Ellen and Oprah, never mind if there was some mix-up in the minus-one, leaving the song unfinished. Instead, Charice sang Ikaw ang Lahat sa Akin, followed by Ako Ay Pilipino. Both songs elicited defeaning applause.

i miss home..

President Gloria is in Mati this day. our city is graced by her presence because she will lead the opening of our newly-built and long-anticipated public market. her visit is also in-line with the 1st citihood of mati. it was a month-long celebration for the matinians which involved many activities including bangkarera, motocross, beauty pageants, basketball league and night shows at the Baywalk.

weee.. wish i am there to partake in all the exciting activities.. too bad im in city to study.. huhu.. 

BOSTON - With Russell and Havlicek sitting courtside, and Red surely lighting up a victory cigar somewhere, these Boston Celtics returned to glory like the great teams before them.

Dominant in every way.

On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners hung in the rafters two decades back, the Celtics won their 17th NBA title and a first one _ at last _ for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen _ their Big Three for a new generation.

After 22 long years, the NBA has gone green.

Lifted by ear-splitting chants of "Beat L.A." early and cries of "Seven-teen" in the closing seconds by their adoring crowd, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday night.

"It means so much more because these are the guys, the Havliceks, the Bill Russells, the Cousys," Pierce said. "These guys started what’s going on with those banners. They don’t hang up any other banners but championship ones.

"And now I’m a part of it."

With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.

Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the finals MVP who shook off a sprained right knee sustained in Game 1, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first title since 1986.

Rajon Rondo had 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals as the Celtics, who built a 23-point halftime lead and obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals.

They didn’t stand a chance.

Boston’s 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA finals.

In the final minute, Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth _ a tribute to Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise’s first 16 titles.

Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court and then found Russell, the Hall of Famer who taught him the Celtic way, for a long embrace.

"I got my own. I got my own," Garnett said. "I hope we made you proud."

"You sure did," Russell said.

Rivers pulled Pierce, Garnett and Allen with 4:01 left and they shared a group hug with their coach, who was nearly run out of town last season. Rivers lost his father at the beginning of this remarkable run, a season no one expected.

By the time Rivers was handed the Larry O’Brien Trophy, it was June 18 _ his late father’s birthday.

When the game clock reached zeros, Rivers reflected on his dad.

"My first thought was what would my dad say," Rivers said, "and honestly I started laughing because I thought he would probably say, if you knew my dad, `It’s about time. What have you been waiting for?’"

It’s was Boston’s first title since the passing of Auerbach, whose presence was the only thing missing on this night. Even Auerbach, who died in 2006, got some satisfaction. Led by Rivers, Auerbach’s beloved team denied Lakers coach Phil Jackson from overtaking him with a 10th championship.

The Boston-Los Angeles rivalry, nothing more than black-and-white footage from the 60s and TV highlights of players wearing short shorts in the 80s to young hoops fans, remains tilted toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Celtics are 9-2 against the Lakers in the finals.

Boston missed its first crack at closing out the series in Game 5, but the Celtics didn’t miss on their second swing, running the Lakers out of the gym.

Bryant, the regular season MVP, finished with 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting.

He started 4-of-5 from the field and seemed intent on forcing a Game 7. But he missed seven shots in a row and everywhere he went, L.A.’s No. 24 ran smack into a wall of Boston defense as high as the Green Monster.

"They were definitely the best defense I’ve seen the entire playoffs," Bryant said. "I’ve seen some pretty stiff ones and this was right up there with them. The goal was to win a championship, it wasn’t to win MVP or anything like that, it was to win a championship."

Garnett and Allen were All-Stars in other cities, stuck in Minnesota and Seattle, respectively, on teams going nowhere. But brought together in trades last summer by Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, a member of the ‘86 Celtics champions, they joined Pierce and formed an unbreakable bond, a trio as tight as the club’s lucky shamrock logo.

They resisted being called The Big Three, a nickname given to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish two decades ago.

"This is the reason we came here," Garnett said. "This is the reason we got together, and Danny made it go down. This is it right now."

With Garnett scoring 17 points and Pierce adding 10, Boston built a 58-35 halftime lead, and unlike Game 2 when they let the Lakers trim a 24-point lead to two in the fourth quarter before recovering, the Celtics never stopped.

They pushed their lead to 31 in the third, and with Boston still up by 29 after three, plastic sheets started going up in the Celtics’ locker room in preparation for a champagne celebration.

No team had to work harder for a championship than these Celtics, who were playing in their record 26th postseason game after being pushed to seven games by Atlanta and Cleveland before taking care of Detroit in six to win the Eastern Conference title.

They entered Game 6 slowed by injuries as Pierce, Kendrick Perkins (shoulder) and Rondo (ankle) were less than 100 percent. There was also uncertainty surrounding Allen, who stayed behind in Los Angeles following Game 5 after his youngest son became ill and was diagnosed with diabetes. The Celtics needed three planes to get back from L.A. and didn’t get home until late Monday night.

But there were no excuses, and just as they had while winning 66 games during the regular season, the Celtics got plenty of help from their bench as P.J. Brown, James Posey, Leon Powe and rookie Glen "Big Baby" Davis came in and contributed.

It was a group effort by this gang in green, which bonded behind Rivers, who borrowed an African word ubuntu (pronounced Ooh-BOON-too) and roughly means "I am, because we are" in English, as the Celtics’ unifying team motto.

The Celtics gave the Lakers a 12-minute crash course of ubuntu in the second quarter.

Boston outscored Los Angeles 34-19, getting 11 field goals on 11 assists. The Celtics toyed with the Lakers, outworking the Western Conference’s best inside and out and showing the same kind of heart that made Boston the center of pro basketball’s universe in the ’60s.

House and Posey made 3-pointers to put the Celtics ahead by 12 points and baskets by Pierce, Garnett and Rondo put Boston ahead by 18.

In the final minute, Garnett floated in the lane, banked in a one-handed runner and was fouled. His free throw made it 56-35, and after Perkins scored, the Celtics ran to the locker room leading by 23.

On his way off the floor, Garnett screamed, "That’s that."

And so it was.

Notes:@ The Lakers had won their previous eight straight Game 6s in the finals. … Since the finals began in 1947, 16 have gone seven games, the most recent in 2005 when San Antonio had to go the distance to beat Detroit. … It was the second biggest margin in finals history behind Chicago’s 96-54 win over Utah in 1998. … The Celtics went 48-7 at home, including 13-1 in the postseason.

MANILA, Philippines–Kidnapped television reporter Ces Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo were freed late Tuesday night, nine days after they were abducted in Sulu province.

Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon confirmed the hostages were released at around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

"They were picked up by Jun Isnaji and secured by four policemen at Sitio Danasi, lower Sinumaan, Talipao, Sulo and brought to the house of Mayor Alvarez Isnaji," Razon related in a text message. Jun Isnaji is Haider Isnaji, the mayor’s son.

"Ces Drilon and company are in good condition but they will immediately be given medical attention and appropriate nutrition. A plan for airlift to Zamboanga, and a reunion with family are also being considered," said Razon.

He said the three will have to first undergo a debriefing in Zamboanga City before they are flown back to Manila.

Drilon, Encarnacion and Dinampo were with another ANS-CBN cameraman, Angelo Valderama, when they were kidnapped in Maimbung, Sulu, on June 8 while they were on the way to interview a top commander of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.

Valderama was released on June 12 after a P2-million ransom was reportedly paid for his “board and lodging.”

In a phone interview Tuesday night from Zamboanga City with reporters in Camp Crame, Razon denied that any ransom payment or concession had been made to the kidnappers who were believed to be Abu Sayyaf members.

He said the negotiators had built on the goodwill developed with the kidnappers since the release of Valderama last week and the “cancellation” of Tuesday’s noon deadline for the payment of P15 million.

The release of the hostages, Razon claimed, was merely "due to the persistent and persuasive efforts of the local crisis committee under Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and Governor Sakur Tan."

Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), also confirmed the release of the kidnap victims but declined to provide additional details.

"Ces, Jimmy, and Angelo are finally all free," ABS-CBN said in a statement. "We are thankful our prayers have been answered and our efforts rewarded."

"Above all, the release of Ces, Jimmy, and Angelo could not have been possible without the cooperation of the people of Sulu and their local government. We thank them and share their hope for enduring peace in Mindanao," the statement added.

Razon meanwhile said he had no idea Senator Loren Legarda was part of the negotiations.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer also learned that Legarda had been involved in the negotiations for the last five days at the request of Drilon’s family and ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., where Legarda was a broadcaster for many years before running for the Senate.

The Inquirer learned that Legarda secured the captives’ release without conditions or payment of ransom but on “purely humanitarian grounds.”

No military or police elements were present in the release operations.

"Ces is free. She is resting. Soon, she will be in the hands of her family," Legarda told dzMM radio.

Legarda said the refusal of the victims’ families to pay ransom, and an imminent military operation, were the breakthrough that led to the release.

"Nung malaman nilang wala silang makukuha [When they realized they won’t be getting anything], they were pushed against the wall. Wala na silang mapuntahan [They had nowhere to run]," Legarda said.

"The military operations in the past few days helped," she said.

The senator said she was in constant contact with Drilon, who put her on speakerphone for her captors to hear.

At one point, Legarda said Drilon told her over the phone crying: "Loren, tell me if you guys can’t do it so I can accept my fate that they will behead us."

Legarda said Drilon told her that Encarnacion’s hands were tied and was being prepared for beheading at one point.

It was at that instant that "I pressured them, I cajoled them, I appealed to them, I even threatened them. They should be freed," Legarda related.

Legarda said Drilon’s group was "very upbeat and calm" though tired from the five-hour-long trek from the Sulu hinterlands.

Mayor Isnaji had been under pressure to secure the release of the captives, except that earlier Tuesday, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan said he had stopped all negotiations with the kidnappers.

Haider Isnaji also said he had been on the phone with the kidnappers around six times beginning with their first call at 6:15 a.m. on Tuesday.

“I told them that no P15 million is forthcoming, that both the government and ABS-CBN have a no-ransom policy,” he said, adding that the kidnappers “finally dropped the deadline.”

He said he was able to convince the kidnappers “to accept a livelihood package instead.”

Razon also said earlier Tuesday the police and military in Sulu were ready for any “contingency” but their “paramount concern” was the safe release of the three hostages.

Razon said that if there was any lesson from the kidnapping, it was also to properly exercise press freedom.

"Ang aral po dito laging sinasabi hindi natin puwedeng i-exercise press freedom na malalagay ang [The lesson here is we can’t exercise press freedom by putting] reporters or journalists in harm’s way, na hawak ng terrorista or criminal elements," said Razon.

just got off from the airport.. i chaperoned my brother there.. at exactly 9am this morning, he’s gonna fly off and be hundred miles away from me, from mama and papa.. time to spread your wings and fly bro! way to go.. we’ll always be behind you..

goodbyes really make me sad.. i was trying my best not to cry in front of him this morning, thinking that it would be awkward.. but i said what i wanted to say.. that would be enough.. he knows we love and support him.. that’s more than enough..  

 

ROME - An Italian man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend from a pub, taking her home and forcing her to iron his clothes and wash the dishes, police said Monday.
 
The 43-year-old man dragged the woman out of a pub in the port city of Genoa, shoved her into a car and took her to his home where he made her iron and wash dishes after threatening her, they said.

Police arrived at his house after being tipped off by a friend of the woman who watched the scene at the pub.

The man, who was apparently furious at his ex-girlfriend for leaving him, was arrested on charges of kidnapping, police said.

last week was spent for total relaxation. almost all 4th year students have extended their vacations. haha. ayt guys? i think we deserve it naman. this last year in college would totally be very draining so a few days off, i think, won’t hurt.

today’s my first time to enter class. i wonder what would it feel like? it’s been 3months ago.. finally im fourth year, super hard earned! at last i am in my last stage of college. hope i do well. good luck to me!