How Mark stole the show from Jumbo

It was his love for elephants that got Mark Gil into trouble – and landed him in the headlines – but he didn’t regret it, not even if that Thai trainer spat at his face.

"At least," Mark now recalls with a smile that unfortunate incident last week when he inadvertently stole the show from Jumbo, the wayward elephant, "I was able to touch the tusk of Jumbo and it was a big thrill for me. It was actually my first time to ever touch an elephant, a dream come true."

Because of that "spitting incident," the reverberations of which were heard around the country, everybody learned that, yes, Mark is an elephant lover. In fact, for the last 10 years he has been collecting elephant figurines now numbering only 29 because many of them were broken during their constant house-moving.

"Besides," says Mark, "I don’t know where to display them anymore."

Some of the figurines were given to him by friends – "Even by strangers," adds Mark – and some he bought in his wanderings around the country.

His big dream now is to visit Bangkok and watch the famous elephant show there.

"It must be exciting to ride on one," gushes Mark. "I’d volunteer to be lifted by the elephant with its trunk."

That’s why when he noticed a commotion last week somewhere in the intersection of Kamuning Road and EDSA in Quezon City while he and his family (wife Maricar and their seven-year-old daughter Stephanie Cherie) were on the way to Makati, Mark got excited when he was told that the elephant named Jumbo had escaped from its cage at the Araneta Center where an elephant show was going on.

"I quickly pulled over and rushed near the elephant," recalls Mark. "The Filipino trainers let me in because they recognized me and I started taking pictures of Jumbo. After I touched Jumbo’s tusk, the Thai trainer tapped me somewhat hard on the shoulder and, of course, I tapped him in return. And then he spat at my face. Instead of hitting him back, I just turned my back and walked away. Had it happened 10 years ago," Mark laughs, "he wouldn’t be alive today."

Mark and his family had just dropped by ABS-CBN to deliver a gift to Dennis Padilla and were proceeding to Makati for the taping of Tessie Tomas’ show (where Stephanie was guesting) when that memorable encounter happened.

Anyway, the Thai trainer has since apologized to Mark but his mom, Rosemarie Gil, and siblings (Michael de Mesa and Cherie Gil) were hardly appeased. Calling from the States where she’s on vacation, Rosemarie told Mark, "That guy deserved a harsher lesson; his apology wasn’t enough."

Oh, well, Mark has decided to charge everything to experience and opted to remember only his close brush not with the Thai trainer but with Jumbo.

Asked why he loves elephants, Mark says, "Because they are such gentle giants." He also loves horses but not as much as he loves elephants.

At home, besides elephant figurines, Mark the animal-lover keeps three dogs – a pug name Ginger and a charpe named Amber, after porno stars Ginger Lyn and Amber Lyn, and a Golden Retriever named Maestro (after his brother-in-law Roni Rogoff, husband of Cherie, who gave the dog to Mark).

Mark has become such an expert on elephants – well, sort of – that he always tells friends to get, if they care to, elephant figurines with the tusk turned upwards (means good luck) and not those with tusk turned downward (bad luck).

One of these days, Mark and his family are hying off to Bangkok for a well-deserved holiday.

"I’ll bring home a live elephant," jokes Mark.

Incidentally, Stephanie Cherie (named after Cherie Gil) is the sixth child of Mark who has five others by other women, namely Gabby (with Irene Celebre), Ura and Timothy Maxine (with ex-wife Bing Pimentel) and Andrea (with Jaclyn Jose).

Allan K takes on the Big Dome

If I have to gauge the show of Allan K tonight at the Big Dome on his performance during a STAR Christmas party two years ago, I must conclude that it will be a riotous show worth the admission price.

In that party, Allan K held everybody’s attention with his stand-up act, especially his "beauty-contestant impersonation", which made people develop bellyache from laughing and laughing (gas pains, yes!).

In tonight’s show, Allan K has big surprises in store for everybody and I wish everybody will be there for more than two hours of pure (I didn’t say "unadulterated") fun and entertainment.

Can Allan K take on the Big Dome?

I’m sure he can, he could! My other gauge that Allan K has his own "market" and audience is the number of people asking for complimentary tickets.

Okay, see you tonight at the Big Dome!

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