The twin massive rallies against abysmal corruption in the Philippines held 21 September had no live TV coverage as of 10 a.m. There’s one in Rizal Park (Luneta) in Manila billed as “Baha sa Luneta” and another one at 2 p.m. at the EDSA Shrine dubbed as “Trillion Peso March.”

Did the showbiz stars who had announced a few days ago that they would join what could be a historic event in the country turn up? Anne Curtis and Ogie Alcasid are among those who practically pledged their presence at Luneta/Rizal Park. 

Vice Ganda was reported before Sunday as encouraging the public to join the rally, so we assumed she herself would be at the event. We would certainly love it if several celebrities from the LGBTQIA+ community joined the rally. 

The main host of ABS-CBN’s It’s Showtime has been roundly denouncing in the TV show and on her social media the corruption in Philippine government. She is among the country’s highest tax-paying working citizens in Quezon City. 

Recently, she has practically encouraged people to stop paying taxes because “ipinapanakaw lang ng gobyerno ang mga buwis natin (The government just stole our money).” She further asserted that the people should start paying taxes again after the government has taken back all the money paid to corrupt contractors and government officials and political leaders. 

If showbiz idols of varying magnitudes of popularity flocked to the event, their presence would have become a much-welcomed scene stealer. 

We’re hoping that government officials and politicians with untarnished reputations would be reported to be present either at Luneta or at the EDSA Shrine in Quezon City, which is the venue for a similar rally denouncing corruption in the country. 

Meanwhile, actor-QC congressman Arjo Atayde led relief operations in some barangays in Quezon City, which had been flooded recently. 

Atayde himself publicized his undertaking on his Facebook account, though we learned about from a report at the entertainment website PEP.ph on 20 September. 

Atayde is among the legislators accused by the Discaya couple of having accepted money from them as the infamous contractors that corrupted officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the awarding of multi-billion infrastructure projects in the country, including “ghost” ones. The couple said it was Arjo’s father, the once infamous businessman Arthur Atayde, who received P60 million from them. The older Atayde was jailed for two years in the past for carnapping. 

At the time of his imprisonment, Atayde was already romantically linked to actress Sylvia Sanchez whom he first met as a bar dancer known as “Candy Corrales.”

Arjo’s wife, TV host Maine Mendoza, seems to be unaware of the background of her parents-in-law. She has been mightily defending Arjo and his family from all allegations against them, including their reportedly incredible wealth. Sanchez once revealed in a media interview that they own a house in France and Sanchez brought fellow actress Lorna Tolentino to that house when they took a trip together at the Cannes Film Festival. 

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There’s a former singer-actress whom her ex-husband wants her to be jailed for cyberlibel against him. 

The former singer-actress is Lindsay Custodio and the estranged husband is businessman Frederick Cale. He sued her for cyberlibel in Cebu (where he is based) and the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 11 court there has issued a warrant of arrest for Custodio who is reportedly based in Muntinlupa in Metro Manila. 

Actually, the ex-couple have been “exchanging” suits in court. It’s the preference of Cale over being allegedly maligned continuously by Custodio’s camp through social media. 

Their marriage is “un-annulled,” thus requiring the ex-singer/actress to identify herself in legal documents and proceedings as “Mrs. Cale.”

Custodio is actually a widow with several kids before she married Cale. Custodio was married to Tanauan, Batangas former vice mayor Julius Caesar Platon II from December 2000 until his death from a car accident in November 2018. They had a son and a daughter.  

In May 2022, she married Cale at a civil wedding ceremony in Muntinlupa.

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Reports on global spirituality say that all the shake-ups the world has been experiencing from natural calamities and from greedy and opportunistic personalities are just signs that a new spiritual order is dawning on planet Earth. No, the world isn’t ending. God isn’t about to wipe out the planet. 

The world will survive all the abuses its human occupants have wrought upon it. A number of people have been perishing, but that’s just part of their soul’s evolution. They will reincarnate sooner or later somewhere sometime on this planet as somehow wiser spiritual beings going through human experience for their own spiritual growth.