Two hunks and their exes

This week in Pinoy showbiz, we witnessed macho actors Derek Ramsay and Tom Rodriguez going soft and gentle about their private lives. 

Ramsay was tearful on his 49th birthday as he express his gratitude for his estranged wife’s sending over their only child to his birthday dinner with his family and some close friends. 

The estranged wife is, of course, the feisty ex-actress Ellen Adarna, and their only child is one-year old Lilah. 

No, the always alluring Adarna didn’t drop by the dinner party at the Metro Manila residence of Ramsay’s friend, the super wealthy ex-politician Luis Singson. 

Ramsay is reportedly preparing to revive his grandeur in showbiz by signing up with MQuest Ventures and TV5, both owned by business mogul Manny V. Pangilinan. 

As for Rodriguez, he has just professed that he has forgiven ex-wife Carla Abellana who accused him of many guilts as a husband. Those guilts may have been the reason she never allowed herself to get pregnant during their live-in years and marriage for many years. 

It’s Rodriguez who managed to have a son in the US where he divorced Abellana. He later admitted that he was in a secret romance during the last two years of his short-lived marriage with Abellana. They actually had longer years together as live-in partners than during their legitimate marriage. 

Rodriguez announced his “forgiving” his ex-wife during a media huddle to promote his 2025 Metro Manila Film Festival “Unmarry.”

So there, two machos of many love affairs momentarily going soft and, hopefully, truthful. 

Sentimental songstress goes nationalistic

Meanwhile, “Asia’s Sentimental Songstress” Imelda Papin has just launched a new song, specifically an anthem she herself co-wrote with veteran composer Mon del Rosario: “Pilipino Tayo.”

The soaring anthem has mostly aspirational lyrics that encourage Filipinos to think and behave their best for the sake of the nation which has easily lost billions of pesos to corruption resulting from the connivance of politicians and government officials with private contractors who must have been brought up by their parents without shame and conscience. Some of those thieving private contractors are kins in varying degrees of heartless politicians and government officials. 

The anthem’s lyrics are written in noble Tagalog fit for the good old Balagtasan. Papin and Del Rosario must know that corruption in government halls is a failure of parents to breed conscience into their children. What parents wittingly or unwittingly taught their children was pretend nobility and concern for their fellowmen in the guise of religiosity. 

The anthem’s opening stanza goes: “Ako ay Pilipino, malalim kung magmahal... Sa aking mga magulang, ako ay magalang/ Sa kanila’y aking natutunan, dangal at kapayapaan (I am a Filipino who loves deeply. I treat my parents with respect/ It is from them that I learned dignity and peace).

The chorus is worth heeding: “Pilipino tayo... di mo mabibili bakal ang paninindigan... Pilipino tayo, yayakapin ang apoy para ipagtanggol Inang Bayan (We are Filipino. We can’t be bought we have iron-clad principles. We are Filipino we will embrace fire to fight our country).”

So what about the Filipino’s faith in God? 

The anthem proclaims: “Pilipino ako. May ibang lakas... Diyos Ama ang kinakapitan (I am Flipino. I have a unique strength. I cling to God).”

The anthem calls for Filipino pride: “Pilipino ako! Aking isisigaw: Pilipino ako! (Pilipino tayo). 

Those lines are followed by Verse 2 and another Pre-Chorus. 

Verse 2 speaks about eyes ever watchful, unsilenced. We are allegedly always ready to fight when there are people clamoring against hidden dangers. The second pre-chorus sing about having intensified bravery when wounded, unyielding, always ready to rise. 

Papin’s publicist, Edilberto “Obette” Serrano, shared with us that it was Papin who drafted the lyrics, sent them to composer Mon del Rosario for the melody and additional lines to fit the melody.