Carlene is ready for the world

ABS-CBN suspends two sexy dancers

FLASH: ABS-CBN has decided to suspend for one month, effective immediately, sexy dancers Cherry Lou and Gem Ramos after the MTRCB called the station’s attention to an incident on the Sunday noontime show ASAP 05 last Nov. 6 where one of the two girls’ breasts were accidentally exposed.

MTRCB Chief Ma. Consoliza Laguardia called ABS-CBN execs to a meeting the other day.

In a letter to MTRCB, ABS-CBN vice president for Talk, Variety and Reality Shows Deo Endrinal expressed regrets over the incident and assured the Board that "we will take the necessary measures to prevent a repeat of the incident."

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Ready for the world.

That’s the assurance from Madame Stella Marquez-Araneta, head of the Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Inc., as far as 2005 Bb. Pilipinas-World Carlene Ang Aguilar is concerned.

Like what she did with past Binibinis before they competed abroad, Madame Stella sent Carlene to Colombia for a three-week training on poise, grace and other social amenities under Colombian beauty experts Alfredo Barraza and Javier Murillo. (Precious Lara Quigaman was trained by previous Binibinis like Maan Bayot and Karen Loren Agustin before she went to Japan where she won the 2005 Miss International title last September.)

Carlene left on Oct. 17 and came back Wednesday night. She left yesterday morning for China to compete in the 2006 Miss World pageant. Miss World is the only international beauty title not won by a Filipina. Traveling with her on the inaugural PAL flight to Beijing was Precious Lara who will grace a presscon in China where the next Miss International pageant will be held. There, Precious Lara will also do commercial endorsements.

Born on Feb. 8, 1982 (to Raul Aguilar and Catharin Ang), Carlene speaks Chinese, an ability said to be an "asset" during the month-long Miss World competition with grand finals on Dec. 10 at Sanya, Hainan Island, also in China. She stands 5’9", weighs 129 lbs. and measures 35.5-24-35.5.

Before she was crowned 2005 Bb. Pilipinas-World, Carlene (romantically linked to actor Dennis Trillo) was the country’s first representative to the Miss Earth pageant in 2001 when the contest started. In 2004, she was Miss Chinatown and finished second runner-up in the Miss Chinatown International contest. This year, she was also named Miss Philippine Airlines and Miss Avon.

Mutya Darlene getting married

Speaking of beauty queens, 2001 Mutya ng Pilipinas Darlene Zimmer Carbungco (fourth runner-up in that same year’s Miss Asia-Pacific Quest) will exchange "I do’s" with Alexander Santos Isip on Friday, Nov. 18, 3 p.m. at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City.

Alex, a car restorer, 33, is the youngest of the seven children of Francisco and Alicia Isip. He finished elementary/high school at La Salle and Ateneo and is a B.S. Architecture UST undergraduate. Darlene, 24, is the eldest of the three children of Armando and Josephine Carbungco. She finished B.S. Nursing at the Angeles University in Pampanga where she and Alex come from. Darlene’s plan to take the board exams was derailed when she competed for the Mutya ng Pilipinas contest.

The sweethearts first met through mutual friends in 2001 at the Ponana Bar (which Alex partly co-owned) in Libis, Quezon City. They met again the following year and started going steady.

Darlene had by then broken up with Mark Lapid (now Pampanga Governor) after more than two years of going steady. She dated Dingdong Dantes (host of the Mutya contest won by Darlene for a while) before she met Alex again.

Showbiz watchers probably remember Darlene as a regular member of the GMA sitcom Beh Bote Nga and as host of the ABC 5 animal show Animal X. She also guested in various TV shows.

Proud to be Pinoy: Hail to the winners!

• Aryana, a contract artist of Universal Records, placed second at the just-concluded Shanghai-Asia Music Festival where representatives from 22 countries competed. Malaysia placed first and China, third. She sang two songs, Reviving The Feeling (composed by Popsie Saturno) and Time Will Come (by Vehnee Saturno); the former won Best Song and the latter, a silver (second prize).

Born to Filipino parents (Alex Dominador Bautista Lim of Jones, Isabela and Rose delos Reyes of Pangasinan) in Guam where she grew up, Aryana (real name: Ria Deen Lim), 19, came to stay last February. She appears regularly on the GMA Sunday noontime show S.O.P. and is the voice behind the new Christmas song Ako ang Nauna (Bumati ng Merry Christmas), with Buko Pie, which UR has just released. She is managed by Geleen Eugenio.

• Ron Bilaro, 32, assistant chef to Art Smith, Oprah Winfrey’s chef, will be awarded today in Los Angeles as an outstanding Filipino in the field of culinary arts by Reflections Organization (headed by Monet Lu). The next day, Ron (100 percent Pinoy) will be given a "hero’s appreciation" by Gawad Kalinga, L.A. Chapter, at the Long Beach Convention Center, also in the field of culinary arts. Ron writes every Sunday for the Home and Garden section of the Chicago Tribune. His dream is to come home and share his culinary expertise via a cooking show.

• The Artists International has just announced the winner of its Annual Awards Audition in Piano for 2005. The awardee is Hector Martinez Jr. from the Philippines, who will be featured in a solo piano concert at the Carnegie Hall in New York today. A scholar at the UP College of Music and a student of the late Dr. Asuncion Laureola, Hector is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where he earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Piano Performance. He studied under Dr. Solomon Mikowsky and Don Alexander Fedders.

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