Impossible-to-ignore celebs in a possible romance?

Actor Bea Alonzo did turn up on the second day, 16 March, of the Puregold event at World Trade Center-Philippines. Her appearance there was supposedly much-awaited, mainly because of talks that she is the girlfriend of the Puregold chain of supermarkets’ president, Ferdinand Vincent Co, who was expected to be there, too. 

The journos and the vloggers invited to the event were expecting that if there wouldn’t be a media conference with the beauteous and media-aloof actor, some of them might be able to pull off a quick ambush interview with her. They could quickly ask her if she and Co have been dating. 

Well, it looks like no journo, or vlogger, was allowed to get near her and thrust their cellphone up close to her. We used Google and AI to locate a media or a vlogger video interview with her and didn’t find any. We found one video in which burly male bodyguards surrounded her while she was going up an escalator to get to the event’s specific venue. We found another very short one in which she was in a hall surrounded by some journos and vloggers sidling up to her for a selfie. There was no media and vloggers’ interview with Alonzo. 

The only long video clip Google led us to is Coco Martin’s performance shot by a vlogger. There were other showbiz idols that a publicity yarn enumerated as scheduled to perform in that convention for cardholders of the supermart chain, but we didn’t find videos of them performing, nor were there any filed reports of their appearance in the event. 

And, oh, there is not a single video showing Co nor a filed report about his presence at the local World Trade Center at Roxas Boulevard. 

Let’s face it: Alonzo, 37, and the 45-year-old billionaire Co will most likely never share anything about their romance if ever there’s really one between them. They don’t need it. Admitting to the world anything between them will not increase their value as individuals or even as a couple.

They are already too well off and too successful in so many ways to bother to let the public know they are in love.

But we in media are in the profession of reporting about the most interesting people in both high and low places, and in this era of cyber tech, we get a lot of voluntary help from cellphone users who post on social media of their snap shot selfies with the most interesting humans in all sorts of places and events. It has become the norm for celebrities of all kinds to be photographed and videoed by cellphone-carrying netizens. Those netizens don’t even need expensive hidden cameras. They don’t even ask to be paid by the media for their pics and videos. Some even use aliases in their postings, so it’s not easy to identify their true identity. 

Happily for all of us, no vlogger and other non-media has come up with AI-created postings on aloof celebrities like Alonzo and Co these days in very telling poses and situations. They must be aware that the country already has laws on cyberlibel. Alonzo and Co are too wealthy to tangle with in court. 

One carefree and careless day, Alonzo and Co will surely be caught by some lucky netizen in a pic or video that can serve as incontrovertible proof that they are sweethearts. They don’t need words to admit a romance is going on. 

Several showbiz followers are keen to know the latest on Alonzo’s romance since at 37, she would be labeled in the olden days an “old maid” for being boyfriend-less and unmarried. A moneyed, well-accomplished, and stunningly lovely old maid. In this country, even homely comedians get into love affairs and marriage, or live-in arrangements. 

Alonzo has had boyfriends in the past, but no one was as wealthy as she is. In some of her romantic dalliances, she was even a few years older than her boyfriend. 

Co is not known to have been married or enamored with anyone. He seems to be very good at keeping his personal affairs private. After all, he does not fan adulation. Their Puregold supermarkets have been earning billions, according to business reports. Their supermarkets in the country have become as much of a landmark as the 7-11, Jollibee, and McDonald’s outlets have become over the years. 

Alonzo and Co are just too interesting to be ignored after that initial exposition (supposition?) of a possible romance between them.