Meet Your DARNA SUPERSOLDIERS

Watching Darna lately? You've seen how she took care of the enemies right? Well that's about to change this month as she encounters a new throng of SUPERSOLDIERS ready to take her on.

We talked to them this afternoon and was glad to see Dawn Chang play MAISHA, Simon Ibarra, Kim Rodriguez who plays ISHNA, Eric Fructoso who plays PINEDA, Young JV who plays ANDRE, Marc Manicad plays ALI, Josh Colet plays SIGFRIED. 

Make sure you watch DARNA on ABSCBN, Kapamilya Channel, and other assets during primetime because the story is getting quite interesting. And they say it's just the start.

Is This The End of GMA's #KimKo Loveteam?

I witnessed a budding relationship back when we first interviewed them for "My Mother's Secret" about a year ago when that show aired on GMA. Thing is, I liked them together, they looked good too and if there's something that we'd want to happen, is that they'd end up together in real life. I was here for an interview for their new show "Hanggang Makita Kang Muli", but was quite surprised about how she reacted when I asked about Kiko Estrada. She balled right in front of us, we felt she was hurt and sad about it. I apologized then for asking about it, but she said she's fine.

Here's our interview with Kim Rodriguez on video:

 Part 1

Part 2 talks about the real score in Kim Rodriguez and Kiko Estrada's relationship.

 I guess you know what that means. They now have to concentrate on work, hopefully this isn't the last time you'll see them together.

What I'm actually glad to hear is that, it was real.

For more information about their artists:

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Kim Rodriguez Celebrates Birthday at Grace to be Born in Pasig City

We were with Kim Rodriguez a few days ago to celebrate her birthday in Pasig City. I haven't been here before but the place we went to called Grace to be Born is a shelter fully dedicated to the temporary care of expecting mothers no matter what age or demographic they may be. 

Ladies from the shelter personally made Kim Rodriguez's birthday posters. That part was very touching!

According to Ms. Esther the shelter's Social Worker "We do temporary care, facilitation of adoption and foster care. We're being supported by Light of Jesus Community which is also being ran by Brother Bo Sanchez. It's one of the ministries of Brother Bo Sanchez and at the same time is the Pro Life Ministry under the Rosary for Life Ministry. For now we have 13 mothers in the shelter, 9 are pregnant and 4 have already given birth. The other babies here, their parents have opted to place them for adoption but we're not a child caring or placement facility primarily, we just facilitate. Hopefully we'll be in that state  as soon as we open up another Grace to be Born facility in Pampanga soon. So we'll have 2 facilities, Pasig and Pampanga. There are a lot of maternity homes but our admission of pregnant women is only for those in the first trimester. It's because we provide counseling, we also give them three options to take care of the baby, temporary care and adoption. We're the ones to help them with that. After Grace to be Born, they have one month to recuperate and stay after they give birth. Everything is provided, everything is free from Vitamins, from checkup, so that's why babies are healthy when they're born. People who want to help us are usually referred by NGO's, government agencies, some walk in, and we screen all of them too. Grace to be Born has been here for 6 years already and we're blessed to be still operating til now, we get help with people like you, like Kim Rodriguez and GMA, and we don't get permanent help but get by with donations. Light of Jesus family helps us too in so many ways." You can also get in touch with them on their Facebook page here if you want to help.     

It was also nice to see some of Kim Rodriguez's sponsors helping the cause. Big shoutout to Artista Salon who gave livelihood starter kits to expectant moms. They taught and had some of them cut hair and provide services, a thing that they could do to earn a living after their stay here in Grace to be Born. They also received goodies from Unisilver Time and Aquabest. You could see the faces of the women in the shelter light up when they played games and small contests, it kept them entertained while we were there. You could also see Kim's reaction on how she got to interact with the women and how her contribution will go a long way to the care of them, they absolutely need your help too. I remember what Ms. Esther told us during our visit, some people just appear on their door with 2 sacks of rice, they need that to feed everyone in the shelter and when they need it, people just go there and help.

 

 Now here's a short interview we did during that event:



Happy happy birthday Kim! Stay blessed!

For more information about their artists:

Official GMA Artist Center

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Visit their official website

http://gmanetwork.com/artistcenter

Kiko Estrada's Birthday with Undernourished Kids

Kiko Estrada

It's Kiko Estrada's birthday and GMA Artist Center knew exactly how he wanted to celebrate it. We went to Pook Amorsolo in Brgy. UP Campus in Quezon City and had around 200 malnourished kids from nearby communities so he could spend time with them, play games, give nutritious food as well. To help with the cause, the good people from Philrice also gave the kids organic brown rice and had Pandelton (producer of baked goods) donate 2 weeks worth of special moringa bread for the kids. It's so nice to see even the volunteer employee organization of GMA called GMA GIVES also helped to manage the activities together with GMA Artist Center. 

 

The kids also had fun with comedienne Tess Bomb hosting the event and it was nice to see the kids faces light up whenever she cracks a joke or two during the morning. These kids are from different communities and their respective health organizations monitor the kids weight and take the initiative to see if they're actually improving their health. Growth stunting is prevalent in kids in the Philippines and to be able to be more tall and healthy, they need the right amount of nutrition that they can get from supplements or food. I saw some really small kids, thin ones in the crowd and I fear these are exactly the ones that shouldn't happen when they're still in the stage of growing up. We all know we need to see them in their full potential, I even saw Kiko and gorgeous Kim Rodriguez help get metrics from some of the kids.

Kiko Estrada Admits Courting Kim Rodriguez

I've seen these two blossom into some of GMA's most promising love teams and the shows they've been in are proving to be a gauge of how the network trusts their talents, their work and worth. Kiko Estrada, son of former stars Gary Estrada and Cheska Diaz has pretty much shied away from the shadows of his famous parents and built a following of his own by appearing in shows like Tween Hearts, a couple of shows from the other station, Strawberry Lane, Yagit and the very controversial Magpakailanman episode where he played as a callboy who had his father become his customer. Kim Rodriguez on the other hand did shows like Tween Hearts, Biritera, Coffee Prince, Kakambal ni Eliana, and Strawberry Lane where she got pretty close with now love team partner Kiko. The two good looking artists are appearing in the show My Mother's Secret as Craig and Nerissa "Neri" Macapugay. The romantic spin is about to become more serious as Kim's character finds out more serious things about her mother in the show. 

Kim is 20 whilst Kiko is 22. They look good together and when asked about their relationship, we got the shock of our lives when we heard Kiko suddenly admit he's courting Kim Rodriguez in real life. 

He says "Hahah, It's our first week on the series but we're now doing week 3. I don't think I'm in a lead role, but I'm here to support her 100 percent. The story revolves around Kim's family in the show and we're not really super conscious about the ratings. If we do our job well and do our part, then it's good, if not, we have to do something about it. I worked with Ms. Lotlot during a Magpakailanman episode and I feel so lucky to have been able to do that. Craig loves Neri so much in the show, a physical therapist, he doesn't want to stay with his family because they're always talking about money. Craig is a very simple man and he doesn't want that. I also got to work with Christian Bautista and learned a thing or two about singing and modulation (then he goes on singing a few lines) and now I can sing! It's like a concert in the set sometimes but we're just having fun. Neil Del Rosario is our current relationship because we're pretty much stuck doing these roles first. I don't look like my Dad, I like watching movies and drama shows, Indie movies and acting pieces. The Magpakailanman episode I had rated really high, they also said good stuff and I felt that. I like that even before they say I'm good looking. My dad told me to watch really good films even before and I think I got inspired from that. It's the substance of the script, I love teeny bopper roles still but all the shows I did have stories. I knew that before I accepted them. I find happiness in acting. Some might be not commercially successful but that's what I wanted. I don't want to follow paths, I look up to Jericho Rosales, sometimes it's just natural I think. I had a hard time talking in Tagalog because we didn't have that luxury when we were growing up. With all the humility in the world, I just want to be the best actor in this industry and I hope GMA makes me achieve that. I hope they know my passion for acting is huge. We finish each others sentences now, when we worked during an Indie film and I chose Kim during that time. I went crazy about her replies because I wanted to talk to her. I was very makulit, but I am courting her. I hope she feels the same and tell me soon, but I do feel secure, I feel assured. I don't doubt myself, and I think I'm humbly sure of myself. She's very pretty, but she's very beautiful inside... and I love her."

Kim says "It's fun doing the series with Direk Neil because we get to have fun. I don't think we even check the ratings of the show because we're more concentrated on what we're doing, on how we act and we think that's more important. Nerisa is a little boyish, I grew up with my foster Mom in this show and I'm thankful she's always in the scene because I always get something from her. Even if we're doing it in the wee hours of the morning we get to enjoy working with esteemed actors and singers like Christian Bautista. We did Tween Hearts and Strawberry Lane before and working now is our priority. Jack is a far cry from Neri because she's still a lady. I haven't been able to have scenes with him yet but am looking forward to. The family is sort of messed up, some relationships here and there, some celebrities, but that's where the babies come in. Neri worked hard, and had to work in an orphanage where we met in the show. There's a secret that's about to unravel later on. I was so happy to see we finally have a billboard, it's like FINALLY we've seen how we worked hard for it. We were a big cast during our past shows, and this one makes it worth it because even though it's hard to maintain ratings, we're always taken cared of by GMA. I even had a whole month done for Maynila. I grew up with my grandma, she passed away in 2011 but I'm so blessed that I'm successful. I don't want to become a big star, but GMA has trusted me so much so I'm just paying it back. We're not competing with other love teams but we wish to achieve more. He was my crush during Tween Hearts but I wasn't showing it that much. He gave me a shitzu, I know he's courting me and during my birthday we had dinner and he gave me a stuffed toy... a dog, then he gave me a real one. His name is Chewy because he looks like chewbacca, super cute. We talked about it before the start of the show and we need to concentrate on work first before we do that thing. This is very challenging, I have feelings, I know how he feels too. We're very close and know each other's problems. He's a gentleman, all the things I want to do, he supports me. He knows I'm alone, he makes me safe, he takes care of me, even goes the mile of getting concerned every day." 

They're a good looking couple, not officially yet but at least there's admission of courtship. Fans should rejoice and help them make "My Mother's Secret" a successful show now that they're looking seriously into their relationship. The show is on it's third week and stars Gwen Zamora and Christian Bautista too. It's going to be shown on GMA Primetime 6PM before 24 Oras.

Boardwalk's Fresh Start

Boardwalk just came out with their best collection yet during the Boardwalk Fresh Start event in Luxent Hotel in Quezon City. The social enterprise and retail giant has come out with lovely and cute shirts, colorful dresses and fashionable basics to start of what seems to be a better year for them already. I've been following them since they've been working with Asia's Most Influential Designer Avel Bacudio and seen how much they've been able to transform the brand into a savvy, classy yet very reachable by the general public because they believe that fashion should be for all. Aside from helping the community by helping them achieve their own businesses, they are also helping bright and promising designers in making them a part of the business model developed in the last 23 years.

Let's watch the show!

They started off with some statement and couple shirts that can be worn both by teens in bright blue, hot pink colors and big graphics in the front. It fulfills the purpose of still being playful, happy and form fitting for those who just wants something attractive yet very simple to use everyday, or when you're going out with that special someone. Some of it can also be used for wedded couples if you would like to show off the ring right after the wedding.

Kim Rodriguez, Jeric Gonzales, K-La Rivera, Anikka Camaya Gives Back To Heroes of Marikina

Kim Rodriguez, Jeric Gonzales, Anikka Camaya and K-La Rivera

It was a nice afternoon and a couple of stars from GMA Artist Center celebrated their birthdays. What better way to spend it but by making sure our heroes from Marikina City gets covered. Kim Rodriguez, Jeric Gonzales, K-La Rivera and Anikka Camaya went all the way here to give needed supplies for the security and rescue personnel of one of the cleanest and greenest places in Metro Manila. We've seen that first hand yesterday.

To tell you honestly I haven't met them before, and this was somewhat an introduction. With a few questions, I was surprised that they are doing projects in GMA primetime, some of them even have crossed over and plan to make shows and an album later this year. It's pretty good they get exposed to charity work early on as I've seen what goodness comes out of it. I've seen the people so happy to meet artists from the Kapuso network too.

Introductions had to be done first, to get a little familiar with them and the rescuers and security teams of Marikina

Barangay Captain Bernard Bernardo says thank you to everyone who attended the event. He also thanked GMA Artist Center who facilitated and chose their community among others in the metro.

They also thanked them for choosing their organization.

The volunteers, the rescuers and security personnel of Sta. Elena Marikina also joined the part where they had to sing with the artists during the event.