Cristine Reyes' Facebook post went viral as it appears to be a two-in-one greeting about the death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu and her birthday last Wednesday, 5 February.

"Rest in peace, Shancai our childhood favorite. Happy 36th to me today 2-5-25."

That was Reyes' caption on her photo with Hsu which she has since deleted following the bashing she experienced.

“Papansin ka kasi. Gusto mo batiin ka ng happy birthday imbis mag luksa mga tao sa pagkamatay ni Barbie (You just want to be noticed. You want to be greeted a happy birthday instead of people mourning for the death of Barbie),” one guy wailed.

In a social media post, Reyes protested against the criticism thrown at her left and right because of that post.

“Maligayang kaarawan sa akin. ‘Yun na lang… oks na? Kailangan palaging perfect. Bawal magkamali nowadays (Happy birthday to me. That’s all..is it okay? You need to be always perfect. It’s not allowed to make a mistake nowadays),” she wrote.

Continuing, she said: “May kalupitan na kapalit sa mga bagay kapag nagkamali e, di ba? Marahil ako nga talaga ay nag-luluksa ngayong kaarawan ko. Good? Ang daming magagaling sa mundo (There’s cruelty in exchange for things when you make a mistake, right? Perhaps I’m the one mourning on my birthday. There are so many great people in this world).”

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Maris Racal praised for choice and poise

Maris Racal recently earned praise when she was able to guess correctly the mystery singer in the “Hide and Sing” segment of It’s Showtime.

“’Yung number two talaga, may feeling ako na she chose ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ kasi mababa at iniba niya ‘yung boses niya (Because it’s low and she changed her voice),” Racal said.

“Grabe ‘yung kutob ko kay number two. (My instinct for number two is great). Number two is Morissette,” Racal said.

And she was right, as the mystery singer number two turned out to be Morissette.

In another video, Racal was praised for running in stilettos in a recent episode for Incognito.

In the chase scene, she was initially running from Anthony Jennings. Later, they are pursued by a group of Italian gangsters.

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New franchise for ABS-CBN imminent?

It seems there is hope for ABS-CBN to be back on free television soon, almost five years since it lost its broadcasting franchise as Congress conducts a briefing on filed bills related to the well-loved Kapamilya network amid absence of competition and lack of choices for free TV audiences.

During the briefing done by the Committee on Legislative Franchises last 5 February, some members of the House of Representatives expressed support for the grant of franchise to ABS-CBN.

Rep. Johnny Pimentel said: “Kailangan may kompetisyon (There should be competition) not only in one industry and in all the industries existing in the country, much more in the media. Na hindi kailangan dominahain lang ng isang kompanya (One company should not be dominating the market). We should rally to support this bill. The granting of a franchise to ABS-CBN is well-justified.”

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez also expressed his support for ABS-CBN’s franchise and said: “There is a possibility that Chairman Salceda’s bill may be heard by this committee. However, we have June to June 14, we have two weeks, we have six days and I think we should, this Congress should rectify the error and the injustice inflicted on ABS-CBN.” (sic)

The discussion was in light of the recommendation of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to add players to promote a competitive television industry in the country.

The PCC stressed that the Filipino audiences today prefer more choices and diversity.

“We have talked to consumers and viewers as well, because they prefer diversity. They don’t want to just watch only one network. They want various networks to choose from,” said PCC’s Jestoni Olivo.

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Trust issue caused showbiz personality to break up with BF

A popular showbiz personality broke up with her boyfriend because of trust issues.

Even after the breakup, her boyfriend, it seems, has been using her still.

The boyfriend wanted to get into some business and was reportedly still telling his potential investors that he and his popular showbiz personality girlfriend are still together.

But potential investors investigated if this was true.

To their dismay, they learned from family members of the showbiz personality that the couple had broken up for about a month now.