PRIOR TO last Saturday (May 25), showbiz reporters were expecting that it was Jed Salang’s turn to give his side of the story.
Ang inyong lingkod ang naatasang magsulat ng script using Ai-Ai de las Alas’s revelations on The Buzz as springboard ng mabusising paglalahad ng nasabing programa.
The creative team confidently banked on its contact person whose son has direct access to Ai-Ai’s husband. Waiting on the wings lang kami, since it was likely that Jed would grant us an interview perhaps thinking that his side would be treated with utmost fairness (although niliwanag naman ni Boy Abunda na bukas ang The Buzz para sa kanyang panig).
Miyerkules, May 22, ‘yon. The Startalk team prayed hard for the story. We pursued it as hard as we could, but we were told na nasa proseso raw si Jed sa pangangalap ng mga ebidensiya bilang depensa sa mga paratang ni Ai-Ai.
Jed’s wanting to gather substantial amount of evidence only meant he was most likely consulting with his lawyer. Although it would entail time, sige, matiyaga pa rin kaming naghintay sa go-signal ni Jed.
Came Friday, May 24, ang aming aligagang talent coordinator na si Manay Jopay Manago couldn’t feel any relaxed. Ayon sa kanyang kontak, pinagbawalan umano ng amain (stepdad) ni Jed na magsalita ito. Hayaan na lang ang isyu na maaaring kusang humupa even if Jed never came forward to take the cudgels for himself.
From this writer’s end, in-anticipate na naming Jed or without Jed ay tuloy pa rin ang aming binalangkas na two-part feature story tungkol sa kanilang paghihiwalay ni Ai-Ai.
But at the back of our mind, we doubted Jed’s “lame excuse” na mag-iipon daw muna siya ng mga kaukulang katibayan to refute Ai-Ai’s statements. Anong ebidensiya was Jed’s camp talking about?
Sa aminin man niya o hindi, Jed is in a no-win situation, hindi lang naunang nagsalita si Ai-Ai. After all, this is not a hundred-meter dash between two sprinters who gets to the finish line ahead of the other. In a matriarchal society, more often than not, the public sympathy is towards the aggrieved female partner.
And in fairness to Ai-Ai, she’s not drawing attention to herself. Inilatag lang niya ang kanilang mga problema ni Jed, or Jed’s sole problem for that matter.
Yet given the support na natatanggap ni Ai-Ai from friends, even from a great number of obscure supporters who denounce Jed’s “opportunism,” it cannot be discounted na may ilan ding mga kapanalig ang mokong.
In violent response to the netizens who have branded him as “user,” “oportunista,” “makapal ang mukha” and the likes, here comes his phalanx of defenders. Kesyo mayaman daw si Jed, kung kaya’t hindi raw pera ang habol nito kay Ai-Ai?
Common sense will dictate us that such labels should not ONLY be assigned to the moneyed. At hindi rin porke’t salat sa buhay ang isang tao ay awtomatiko na siyang isang manggagamit. Opportunism—FYI—possesses no social nor economic face. Parang LBM o diarrhea lang ‘yan that attacks both the rich and the poor.
Pero kung kami si Jed, mas mabuting huwag na lang kaming magpainterbyu, not because whatever he might say will already be of no relevance at all. The least that this supposedly decent man can do is to apologize for what he did, and failed to do.
CAREER GOES on for DJ Durano, after all. Sabihin man nating niligwak na siya ng kanyang “soulmate” na si Direk Wenn Deramas (dahil may bago na raw itong apple of the eye sa katauhan ni Jeff Luna?), DJ is not exactly caught with his pants down.
‘Yun ang akala n’yo, ‘no! DJ is one of the celebrity endorsers of Guitar, not the percussion stringed instrumed, but an underwear brand na sumikat noon pang 1960 established by the late Mr. Choa Bengtong.
Hindi lang briefs ang nirarampa ni DJ as Guitar includes a wide array of product lines, mula classic and casual T-shirts popularized by Hollywood legends during the 1950’s. It transcended its status from a mere undergarment to a necessity like denim jeans hanggang sa innerwear shirts to outerwear shirts and sandos, from modern basic briefs to boxer shorts.
Kabilang din sa Guitar family of image models sina Carlos Agassi, Mike Tan, Mike Gloc Carlos at Joem Bascon.
Pepperoni
by Ronnie Carrasco III
