Now partially deaf singer Lani Misalucha (due to a bout with bacterial meningitis in 2020) is an even more spectacular performer these days. 

That’s what we discovered when we watched “Wish Date: Refrain” at the 17,000 seater MOA Arena at the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City last Sunday, 1 June.

Misalucha belted out Natalie Cole’s “Someone That I Used To Love,” the

OPM classic “Saan Darating Ang Umaga,” Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” Basil Valdez’s “Gaano Kadalas Ang Minsan,” and Natalie Cole’s “Starting Over Again.”

The “Asia’s Nightingale” had the tendency to sing unnecessarily louder some lines of all the songs she performed that night, though she easily cooed pianissimo (very soft) many lines, too.  

In short, Lani Misalucha remains singer to contend with if she competes unwittingly with her colleagues.

Wish Date: Refrain is produced by KDR Music House and it’s the 18th installment of the unique concert-within-a-movie format invented by the company to promote the Wish Date radio program hosted by a disc jockey known as “Dr. Clark,” who serves as the voice over narrator of the movie in show.

Refrain’s other singers are Nyoy Volante, Mark Carpio of Empire Records, and  the bands Letters from June, and Over October. 

The movie is topbilled by Kate Yalung and JC Alcantara of ABS-CBN’s Star Magic and by Eisel Serrano and Tyrone Tan.

Yes, "Refrain" is the hit OPM song composed and recorded by Jose Mari Chan and performed at The Big Dome by the very engaging band Letters from June.

The show will be toured in key cities of the Philippines this month and all the way to August. Misalucha, though, has a major solo concert at The Theater at Solaire in August.

Cool endorser

Actually, he has been the only one in the Daikin company in the Philippines since 1999. He was signed up about mid-2019 and his contract must have been good for at least one year. The company never had anyone else after him. 

It was a well-covered event, and Daily Tribune was among the media outlets that turned up at the actor’s launch (https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/daily-tribune-philippines/20190618/282437055741500). The launch was in June 2019 and in December of that year, Muhlach’s Metro Manila Film Fest entry with child actor Xia Vigor would become the top grosser, beating The Mall, The Merrier of comedian Vice Ganda whose MMFF entries usually take in the most cash at the box office.

Daikin seemed to have never needed a celebrity endorser after Muhlach. It eventually emerged among the biggest--selling in the country and in the world. For all we know, Muhlach’s endorsement lingered in public consciousness beyond 2019, contributing to the brand’s ever increasing sales.

Meanwhile, Muhlach seems to be in hibernation from showbiz, and lets his twin children with beauty queen-actress wife Charlene Gonzales hug the limelight. Atasha and Andres Muhlach are both mainstays on TV5’s noontime show Eat Bulaga!. Andres also topbills the youth romantic comedy Ang Muse ng Section E on the same channel, though it was first shown on Viva One streaming platform where it was wildly followed.

Andres has also been signed up as a recording artist of ABS-CBN Star Music.

It was actually the house built by their father in Alabang for the family that Daikin air-conditioning system way before the Aga Muhlach was signed up to be the brand endorser.

Beauty with a purpose

Miss Universe Philippines 2025 Ahtisa Manalo underscored the need for accurate and age-appropriate sexual health education, amid the 500 percent surge in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) cases among young Filipinos.

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier proposed to declare HIV a national public health emergency, noting that the number of cases per day have alarmingly reached 57 from January to March this year.

The beauty queen spoke about this as she shared the DOH’s call through her Facebook page on Tuesday, 3 June.

“As a beauty queen and an advocate for youth empowerment, I cannot stay silent in the face of a crisis that affects the very heart of our future. The 500 percent rise in HIV cases among Filipino youth is more than just a statistic — it is a call to action,” she said.

“This dramatic increase reflects a lack of access to accurate, compassionate, and age-appropriate sexual health education,” she stressed. “Proper education is not about encouraging recklessness — it’s about equipping young people with the truth, the tools, and the confidence to make informed choices about their health and well-being.”