With seeming hesitance, Jericho Rosales did nor categorically answer our query if he and Janine Gutierrez were already a couple.

“I think it deserves a nice announcement or like a prepared announcement if it calls for that.  I don’t know, but we’re happy. We like each other so much. I like her company. It’s going so well,” he said during the finale mediacon for Lavender Fields where they play husband and wife.

In September last year, this writer fearlessly asked the actor about the real score between him and Gutierrez after they were spotted a few times together.

“We’re dating. We’re getting to know each other,” came his reply then.

More than the label, what’s important for Rosales is the fact that they get along well. “I like being with her and she likes being with me.”

Rosales is proud of where his Tyrone character in Lavender Fields is heading.

“Maganda ‘yung kahihinatnan ng character ko dito kasi inaayos na niya ‘yung pagkakamali niya kahit medyo hindi nangyayari, hindi niya naaayos lahat (My character turns out well here because he fixes his wrongs even though it’s not all happening; he’s not able to fix it all),” he said.

By fixing some aspects of his character’s life, Rosales feels there’s some resonance as there are people who “fall” and are “destroyed” in the process.

Fake news

John Estrada called fake news the rumors linking him with fellow Batang Quiapo star Barbie Imperial.

This comes right on the heels of rumors that Incognito star Richard Gutierrez asked Batang Quiapo production to pull out Imperial from the show because of jealousy.

“Unang-una, hindi ko alam kung sino o saan nagsimula ang kalokohan na’ to, na naglilink sa amin ni Barbie Imperial (First of all I don’t know who and where this foolishness started which links me and Barbie),” Estrada said Sunday, 5 January, on his Instagram account.

Estrada explained that he barely knew Imperial.

“Hindi ko kilala si Barbie Imperial, kilala ko siya bilang isang artista pero hindi po sa personal na lebel. Sa tanang buhay ko, minsan ko lang siyang nakita sa Christmas special ng ABS-CBN ng 2021 or 2022 at yun na ho ang huling pagkikita namin sa naalala ko (I don’t know Barbie Imperial. I know her as an artist, but not on a the personal level. In my life, I have only seen her once, during the Christmas special of ABS-CBN in 2021 or 2022 and that was the last time I saw her, if I remember),” he said. 

While Estrada admits they are in the cast of Batang Quiapo, they don’t have scenes together because she belongs to a different group, unit and director.

“Kung sino man nagsimula nito e puede ka maging komedyante (Whoever started this, you can be a comedian),” he added.

In the end, he requested “online newspaper, tabloid or tsismis sites”  to do some research and determine if there’s even 0.1 percent truth before coming out with an item. 

Sofronio Vasquez receives award from OPM

Sofronio Vasquez, The Voice USA season 26 grand champion, was honored with an award by the Organisasyon ng mg Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM) when he guested on It’s Showtime Monday, 6 January.

Singer-songwriter and head of OPM Ogie Alcasid said the award was “In recognition of your historic achievement as a first Filipino to win The Voice USA.”

“Your remarkable talent and unwavering dedication and inspiring journey have brought immense pride to the Filipino people and to our nation,” Alcasid said.

In a big production number, Vasquez sang his winning The Voice USA song, “A Million Dreams” together with Tawag ng Tanghalan hurados and champion.

Vasquez acknowledged the noontime show as his stepping stone in showbiz.  Although he didn’t emerge as TNT champion, Vasquez was asked to work as vocal coach of TNT contestants.