Pops now with GMA 7

Curtain-raisers:

• No, Cindy Kurleto hasn’t quit MTB. She was "missing" these past five days because she was in Bangkok shooting a commercial. Cindy should be back on MTB today, so stay tuned.

• So how has Cher Calvin been doing as anchor of Fox News (which is beating CNN and other networks in the coverage of the war in Iraq)? Very well, thank you. Reader Mike Hokson e-mailed the following information from the US: I watch Fox 5 News (6 to 9 a.m.) everyday and I want to let you know that Cher Calvin is doing such a great job. She is now a co-anchor of the morning show doing interviews and anchoring the news. She is very articulate, calm and relaxed. I just read in the papers that the regular co-anchor’s contract was not renewed so I think that Cher will be doing it solo.

• More corrections: Reader Peps Villanueva clarified that Evangeline Pascual was not a Miss Philippines but a Miss Republic of the Philippines when she represented the country in the 1973 Miss World contest where she placed first runner-up to USA’s Marjorie Wallace (dethroned). Reader Napoleon de Asis clarified that it was Miss Jamaica (Lisa Hannah) who beat Ruffa Gutierrez in the 1993 Miss World contest and not Miss South Africa (only a runner-up). Ruffa placed third (Second Princess).

Goodbye, ABS CBN! Hello, GMA 7!

And it came to pass that after some hemming and hewing and the guessing game besides, Pops Fernandez has finally made up her mind.

It’s final; Pops is leaving ABS-CBN, her home for many years, and hopping ober da bakod to rival channel GMA 7. Pops signed the contract over the weekend and she was formally welcomed to GMA 7 yesterday on S-Files. (At ABS-CBN, Pops never had any contract, bound to the company only by "word of honor").

Pops told Funfare that she wouldn’t be joining the hosts of the GMA Sunday show S.O.P. (same timeslot as ABS-CBN’s A.S.A.P. where Pops was among the star co-hosts).

She’ll have her own show, that’s for sure, details of which Pops wouldn’t discuss just yet.

From nun to beauty queen

She looks strikingly like Miriam Quiambao. In fact, 21-year-old Noela Mae Evangelista, a 5’8.5" stunner from Iligan City, was one of the crowd favorites during the recent 2003 Bb. Pilipinas Pageant. When she finished only second runner-up (to Carla Gay Balingit, Jhezarie Javier and Maria Rafaela Yunon, Bb. Pilipinas-Universe, -International and -World respectively), a lot of people were disappointed.

Blame it on Noela’s hesitation when she answered the decisive question in the final stage of the pageant when there were only five finalists left.

Because of her hesitation, Noela must have lost the nod of the judges, just like what happened to Miriam who lost the 1999 Miss Universe crown to Miss Botswana when Miriam stopped for a few seconds in the middle of a sentence while answering the question on whether or not a Miss Universe should give up her crown if she got pregnant during her reign.

Noela is a lady of varied interests. Did you know that she actually spent two months in a monastery preparatory to becoming a nun (she was advised by her superiors to think a dozen times when her mother got ill and needed Noela to take care of her)... and passed the written and physical exams at the Philippine Military Academy (but she changed her mind about studying there at the last minute)?

What about showbiz?

"Like Miriam," smiled Noela, "I might give it a try, but only television first."

Noela might represent the country in an international pageant, maybe the Miss Globe or Miss International Tourism or something.

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