SPARKLE with Sanya Lopez, Gabbi Garcia, Ysabel Ortega, Bianca Umali, Derrick Monasterio, Ruru Madrid, Miguel Tanfelix, Khalil Ramos and Mr. M

Spent the evening with some of GMA's brightest stars as they talk about the huge change that happened with GMA Artist Center, they now call it SPARKLE. This was launched during the Kapuso Countdown which is their annual new year's celebration. Today, Mr. M chose a handful of them so we could get to know them more.

Sanya Lopez says "Of course when Sparkle leveled up, I'm more excited to also level up our talents. The name might have changed, but we continue to grow, they will be there to guide us all. It's a little nerve wracking, but I hope I get to work with the others because I've only worked with Gab, Ruru and Derrick. For me, I believe if you are a good person, that's already a Sparkle. Your attitude, your being humble, you feel that grow through other people because you have a good heart. For me, First Yaya I feel made me Sparkle the most.


Miguel Tanfelix on the other hand adds "If I would say something to my younger self, I won't spoil anything. I'll just say you're doing good. Being part of this will make it better, they're there to guide us to work on our craft and to constantly push us. They will drive us to even better things. I want to also work in a film with Khalil, I really learned a lot during our talks off cam. I am grateful and excited. I feel people forget what we do, but if you do it wholeheartedly with the right intentions, you'll inspire people."

Ysabel Ortega says "We're working hard to level up ourselves, super excited to be part of this family. They will make us level up as well, to meet that standard, to work hard, inspired and motivated. I have only worked with Miguel, so seeing them here I want to work with them all."

Good looking man Khalil Ramos adds "Put all your money in bitcoin. I'll tell my younger self to brace for the ride of your life, to look at your beginnings and spend more time with family. In this evolving industry, it's nice to have a team with Sparkle, they believe with I do and the skills I posess. In terms of work, I now have a lot of people to work with. I look forward to have a productive year with Sparkle. The one I have only worked in this group is Gabbi, hopefully that will change and perhaps create content one day, we have a lot of things to do.

Bianca Umali says "To all the dreamers, we all want you to know that anything is possible. This is a milestone for all of us, we have our own paths, but they're not here to change, but to lay more roads and have more discoveries which we cannot do alone. I have nothing but a grateful heart, I want to work my compatriots here because I've only had work with Miguel and Derrick, so it's going to be a nice opportunity to do that now. Aside form Mano Po, I have a series with HBO, hopefully to premiere this year so I hope people watch that. I'll also have a soap by the end of the year, and I've launched my own YouTube channel so I can share more of myself with everyone. I hope I get to work with Ruru."

Gabbi Garcia shares what she feels sand says "I'm excited to see more collaborative work. Us 8 we are pretty close off cam and I'm excited to grow this year! They give us the right direction and I am blessed to be part of this group. I am grateful for my team for trusting me, it's a big deal, I want to work more with them in a show, I haven't worked with Miguel, Bianca and Ysabel. I've known them for years, but haven't had the chance to do that, hopefully this year. Encantadia for me was where I sparkled the most, because I was the youngest there. After that, I was stronger, a lot better because I learned from them."

Ruru Madrid says "If there's something that I would say to my younger self, is to never stop dreaming. Even if you fail, you'll get there, you'll never stop learning. It's just a challenge and you'll appreciate it more when you get it. It's a challenge for all of us, because it's  a huge thing to trust us with this. We need to give our 100 percent in inspiring more people, entertain them, and give us the challenge to step up. The ones here are very talented in their respective shows, it's a big thing to be here, it's a challenge to prove myself, I want to explore more with the projects that I accept and I'm sure with Sparkle it'll happen. I haven't worked with Bianca, Khalil and Ysabel, I am excited if we could do that, it'll be something fun. Lolong is a really hard project, I have prepared for that a lot. I made my YouTube channel a venue to talk to my co actors, to learn from their hardships and struggles, to put up businesses, to inspire people. Hopefully I'd be able to work with Bianca because she's very talented, very professional and I'd like to learn from her too. It's a challenge for all of us to leave something for people who watch our shows, I want to show something different everyday. I don't want to stop learning, to only live with what I have, I want to give inspiration to others and even other artists of Sparkle. I was initially shocked about being part of this project, for me, I just want to bring back their trust, to work harder, there are a lot more good looking people out their but they gave us their trust."

Derrick Monasterio says "This is just the start for us. All I know is that I'm here to improve, and hopefully it will show in my new projects and movies. I have almost worked with all of them except Khalil and Ysabel, hopefully it'll be easy now to do that in one show, soon. Calling someone by their name, it impacts them, it's something personal, smile at them, these simple ways can make their day change, and it'll be something that could also benefit us in the future. I was driving earlier when I found out that I'm part of Sparkle 8 and I thank the Lord that he gave me strength to be part of this. Hope we flourish in our own little ways."

Mr. M "Get a nice light and put lot of shiny things on you (he kids), you have to do more work, you have to make it shine. We want to rebrand Artist Center and give it a face lift, give it more vigor, make it younger and better. It was already good, but we just want to be more with these artists. We're raring to have more quality work, I suggested it a couple of months ago and Lorenz Tan came up with the name. When I look at someone, I see a spark, you see the garbo, and it's something special, you just feel it when you see someone. After a while you get to know their work, their passion, their commitment and discipline, like these 8 guys and gals, even then I've seen how they have grown in GMA. I've seen that in Dingdong Dantes and Alden Richards. These days, you need to have something in them that make them love their profession. These young men and ladies are just the start, we want to revitalize Artist Center and I think Sparkle just does that. It embodies that change, you can expect a better quality of work from these artists and this system that we work will have them in rigorous training and workshops so we can see them as GMA's brightest stars this year. I don't think things changed with social media, the formula has been the same. We still don't know if it's better or worse, because it has given us more opportunities to enhance the progress of the artist, but also, there are some bad things about it. The system will stay the same, you have to look for the Spark, we try and work with them to complete that. It helps, but sometimes it's buwisit! (he kids)."

There's nowhere to go but up as you see these SPARKLE artists shine even brighter this 2022. Hope we get to talk to them more soon!

LEGAL WIVES Showcases Cultural Differences on GMA

They've been doing good these past few days and with good reason. This is drama, severely cultural and depicts a relationship that isn't much of a norm in conservative Philippines. One man, married to three women, this is a series called LEGAL WIVES. This stars Dennis Trillo, Ms. Alice Dixson, Andrea Torres and Bianca Umali.

We got to talk to the cast a few days ago including Dennis Trillo who plays Ismael Makadatu. In a nutshell, polygamy is something that's a bit of taboo in the country. It's much of a cultural difference really, of understanding how society and these ladies to accept that they can be loved by one man. Aside from that, they're showing a couple of things that are a bit controversial like the harmful "Rido" wherein one clan tries to eliminate the other because of their differences. It will be explained in this series a bit, but not in whole because this isn't a documentary or news item. This also stars Derrick Monasterio, Ashley Ortega, Al Tantay, Juan Rodrigo, Irma Adlawan, Maricar de Mesa, Tommy Abuel, Bernard Palanca, Ms. Cherie Gil, Abdul Raman, Mon Confiado, Shayne Sava, Kevin Santos, indie actor Kiko Matos, Jay Arcilla and Brent Valdez. This is directed by Zig Dulay who also did Bianca Umali's Sahaya in the past.

Watch the show, maybe you'll see how something so crazy like this makes sense.

Bianca Umali, Inigo Pascual, and Enzo Pineda for World Vision’s “Hope Town”

World Vision has been helping kids, their homes and the community for years now. For non sponsors like me, you must be clueless about what they are doing especially if it comes to sponsoring a child through their organization. A few days ago, we got the chance to see it ourselves through a mock child house they call Hope Town wherein they replicated a real life house of beneficiary child called Nica. She lives in a shanty in the ourskirts, off the shores of Cebu.

Their house has a small kitchen, a place to sleep, and a little garden outside their sort of 2x3 meter house (merely a box). I felt claustrophobic and saw how they could have survived in a place that small without that much money to fend for food or schooling. I guess that’s exactly the type of kids that World Vision is helping, and this is nice to understand how it looks like in real life. If you sponsor a child, it would help them get access to education so they can help themselves, so they could work and go have better jobs and help their families. Celebrities like Bianca Umali, Inigo Pascual, and Enzo Pineda joined in and saw the launch of World Vision’s experiential booth. In “Hope Town”, they got to attract a lot of people to join in and understand a bit more about their advocacy, of course it got crowded so fast and people learned about the plight of Nica.

World Vision and their programs a very effective. It gives chance to kids like Nica to excel at school, to eventually have her own success story just like several people who lead the organization too. A lot of them have already graduated, feels like a family as they also get in touch with their donors to personally say thanks about helping them. That is so touching. The Hope Town display is just at the top floor of Trinoma in front of Krispy Kreme, go visit it and perhaps, make it your turn to help a person who would like to go to school like Nica.