Albert dressed up to please MMDA

 It’s final: The Belo Medical Clinic has decided to cover Albert Martinez’s Belo-sculpted body with a long-sleeved shirt and boxers after the MMDA guys banned the original billboard showing Albert in biking shorts, bare from the waist up, leaning on his mountain bike.

Check out the photo (above, right) of the banned billboard. Now, do you see anything “obscene” in it, with it? Albert is endorsing the Belo Clinic’s Sculptor Plus body treatment and it’s logical for him to be shown with his sculpted body.

The Belo Clinic appealed to the MMDA twice but they were turned down. Worried that the “disturbing” (as far as MMDA was concerned) billboard would be torn down like those of the Bench billboards featuring the Philippine Volcanoes, the Belo Clinic had no alternative but to dress up Albert (see lower photo at right) to please MMDA.

Now 50, Albert has been maintaining his looks and body for years.

“I told myself when I was 25 that I wouldn’t let myself grow old physically so I work out at home regularly,” Albert told Funfare Update. “I was really scared of age as a number but now that I am 50, I feel the same way as I did when I was 25. I am even more active now. I bike, I wakeboard, I run. Nothing stops me from doing outdoor activities, aside from working out at home.”

According to a Belo Clinic spokesperson, the Sculptor Plus treatment is a breakthrough non-invasive technology for body shaping.

“It helps contour the body by selectively heating the fat cells underneath the skin, making them secrete liquid fat and shrink in size,” said the spokesperson. “The heating also increases the blood circulation in the area, accelerating metabolism that physically helps the lymphatic system dispose of the fatty acids naturally. The treatment also works to tighten and firm up the skin, as well as improve the appearance of cellulite.”

Anyway, even dressed up, Albert’s beautiful body is still visible in the “toned-down” billboards that you see all over the metropolis.

(Note: For inquiries about the Sculptor Plus treatment, call 819-BELO [2356] or visit www.belomed.com)

Their eyes have it

As a follow-up to yesterday’s story about the late AJ Perez having been tapped as Poster Boy for Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines (EBFP), the foundation’s head Dr. Minguita Padilla sent Funfare Update a list of celebrities who have pledged their eyes or corneas.

The Eye Bank poster with the late AJ Perez (below) was launched the other day at Annabelle’s restaurant in Quezon City, attended by AJ’s father Gerry Perez (second from right) and mother Marivic Perez (second from left), together with recipients of AJ’s corneas John Daniel de los Santos with his mom and Lawrence Gonzales with his dad. Inset: Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines (EBFP) head Dr. Minguita Padilla.

AJ was the newest cornea donor from showbiz, following Jay Ilagan (the very first donor two decades ago), Mico Sotto, Edward James Lim and Cesar Montano’s son Angelo.

Here are some of the celebrities who were featured in the Eye Bank’s Tears of Hope, Tears of Health campaign in 2005, showing them staring at the camera eyes welling with tears (all of them have pledged to donate their corneas):

• Toni Rose Gayda

• Marjorie Barretto,

• Raymart Santiago and wife Claudine Barretto,

• Judy Ann Santos,

• Christian Bautista,

• Jose Javier Reyes,

• Aubrey Miles,

• Juan Sarte,

• Arnold Clavio,

• Vicky Morales, and

• Jun de Leon (who took the pictures) and wife Abbygale Arenas-de Leon.

Dr. Minguita said that those willing to donate their corneas may call the Eye Bank at 302-6282, 302-6786 or 0917-8935995.

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Nathaniel James Alcasid at six months

This is how Nathaniel James Velasquez Alcasid looks at six months inside the tummy of his mom, Regine Velasquez, who is due to deliver presumably by Caesarian section in November. Take a good look and see for yourself who the baby looks more like. The picture was sent to Funfare Update by expectant dad Ogie Alcasid who said that it was taken by 4D.

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Sen. Manny Villar supports Design Council bill

Sen. Manny Villar presides over the public hearing of the bill creating the Design Council which aims to support the stakeholders of the creative design industry. Among the resource persons also supporting the bill are furniture maker Kenneth Cobonpue (center) and Cinemalaya Foundation president Nelson Jardin. Below: Sen. Manny inspecting a piece of furniture by Cobonpue.

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