Bruno in the eyes of family

The “surprise” turned out to be a dud.

Bruno Mars was supposed to be informed that he had some “unexpected” guests at his concert Thursday night in Cebu and last night at the Araneta Coliseum but he found out (how couldn’t he?) and turned the table on those behind the move.

“Yes,” Bruno admitted in an exclusive interview with Funfare in Cebu a few hours before his concert, “my whole family will be here to watch my shows. They are all here.”

“They” included his Filipino mom Bernadette “Bernie” Bayot-Hernandez, sister Jamie, Uncle John Bayot and Lola Soledad Bayot, who all sat with Funfare for a follow-up story yesterday afternoon at EDSA Shangri-La where they were billeted.

“He’s a livewire,” said Bernie. “The house would be very quiet and as soon as he walks in, that’s it, it becomes a house of laughter.”

“He’s a fun brother,” said Jamie who looked like a movie star/beauty queen. “He loves to entertain us and make us laugh.”

Bernie, who speaks only little Tagalog, spent her early childhood in Baclaran before her family migrated to Hawaii where she got married, divorced and remarried. Bruno is the middle child in a brood of five, three girls and two boys. The ex-husband is Peter Gene Hernandez, a Puerto Rican percussion player who migrated to Hawaii from New York.

Bruno grew up in a musical family, with maternal aunts and uncles who, Bruno said, “spend all the time in karaoke bars.”

The family that sings together (from left): His Uncle John, Lola Soledad, mom Bernadette and sister Jamie

Last here 15 years ago, Bernie is a hula dancer and it showed even in the way she walked — that is, very sexy and seductive, evocative of the famous island dance.

“That’s how I met Bruno’s dad,” added Bernie who is the Hawaiian version Dexter Doria. “He was playing the percussion and I was dancing the hula. Peter used to be in (original) Hawaii Five-O and with Al Harrington.”

Bernie recalled that the first song that Bruno ever learned was All Shook Up, a song by Elvis Presley who happened to be Bruno’s childhood idol.

“He couldn’t pronounce the words but he sang it very well,” laughed Bernie. “He was very young then. I think he was still in diapers. He began singing at the age of 2.”

Back then, Bernie and his brother John were doing ‘50s shows at the Sheraton and she would bring the kids to work.

“That’s how Bruno fell in love with Elvis. John would sing Elvis songs and Bruno would mimic him.”

Said John, “Every time we had family gatherings, you know Filipino-style, there would be lots of singing, I would grab my guitar and Bruno was like a magnet to the singing. I didn’t teach him. He would just imitate me.”

“He could memorize songs very easily,” added Bernie. “He’s like a singing jukebox. Even if he doesn’t know the song, he can convince you that he knows it.”

Bruno’s siblings are all into music.

“I sing in the bathroom,” Jamie said in jest. The other sisters are Tiara and Tahiti.

Their brother Eric is a drummer in Bruno’s back-up band.

“Singing is natural with Filipinos,” said Bernie. “I remember my father singing to us Spanish songs all the time.”

A beautiful harvest  of Binibini bets

Every time the Binibining Pilipinas season comes around, they always say that the current batch is the best. But this year, confirmed BPCI (Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Inc.) head Madame Stella Marquez de Araneta, “I think we have the best of the best,” so the judges in tomorrow’s 48th Bb. Pilipinas Pageant will have a hard time choosing two (minus the bet for World, franchise for which is now owned by somebody else) from the 40 candidates, one to represent the country in the 2011 Miss Universe Pageant in Brazil and the other in the 2011 Miss International. The grand coronation night will be held as usual at the Araneta Coliseum, aired “live” by ABS-CBN, the search’s new partner network.?    The hosts are former 1994 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe (and one of Miss Universe Top 6) Charlene Gonzalez and 1999 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe (and Miss U first runner-up) Miriam Quiambao.

Stay tuned because an additional (new) title will be announced in tomorrow’s affair.?     Funfare’s “beauty experts” Felix Manuel, Joey Cezeare, Gery Yumping and Francis Calubaquib have come up with their usual 20 “most likely” (to win the titles). Here they are (pictured on Page C-3):

#6 Patricia Marie Gomez Tumulak (23, 5’5”, 113 lbs.), a 2009 Miss Philippines Fire (runner-up to Miss Philippines Earth) and a 2006 Miss Universe Zuleyka lookalike and 2009, B.S. Child Developmeny Education graduate from Miriam College.

#26 Shamcey Gorea Supsup (24, 5’7.5”, 105 lbs), a Penelope Cruz lookalike who finished B.S. Architecture at UP magna cum laude who topped the 2010 architecture licensure exams.

#25 Isabella Catipunan Manjon (24, 5’ 7”,125 lbs.), Angelina Jolie lookalike, a Registered Nurse from UERM, an athletic half-Filipina/half-Spanish.

#13 Quennierich Ajero Rehman (22, 5’7”, 110 lbs.), half-Filipina/half-Pakistani, an Assumption College (of Makati) graduate.

#11 Diana Buquid Arevalo (22, 5’6.5”, 107 lbs.), former Miss Oriental Mindoro and 2009 Bb. Pilipinas semi-finalist.

#34 Mary Jean Lastimosa (23, 5’5.5”, 111 lbs.), former Mutya Ng Dabaw, of Arab descent, a graduate of The University of Mindanao.

#16 Sabrinne Clavecillas Al-Tawil (21, 5’8”, 126 lbs.), half-Filipina/half-Palestinian, 2010 Miss Friendship International held in Korea, a student from the Philippine College of Health & Science.

#33 Dianne Elaine Samar Necio (18, 5’5.5”, 116 lbs.), 2011 Bb. Pilipinas first runner-up, studies at University of St. Anthony in Iriga City, Camarines Sur.

#24 Martha Chloe Dauden McCully (23, 5’7.5”, 127 lbs.), one of the suitcase girls in ABS-CBN’s Deal Or No Deal, an Asia Pacific College graduate.

#23 Luzelle Fernando Felipe (18, 5’8”, 108 lbs.), a student at Bulacan Polytechnic College who moonlights as a tricycle driver during her spare time.

#8 Ma. Kristina Lagamia Marasigan (22, 5’6.5”, 22,107 lbs.), a UST Psychology student, 2009 Miss Ideal Thomasian Personality first runner-up and 2009 Supermodel of the Philippines finalist.

#1 Zephorah Aldana Mayon (20, 5’5”, 100 lbs.), former Mutya Ng Pilipinas, former Miss STI, housemate of ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2.

#22 Paula Camille Mansilla Figuerras (24, 5’9.5”, 136 lbs.), a UP graduate, an ardent dog lover, no stranger to the pageant world.

#32 Jen Roe Gubat (20, 5’6”, 112 lbs.), a 2009 Mutya ng Pilipinas semi-finalist, scholar at Bulacan State University, lookalike of a former Miss Universe from Thailand.

#36 Camille Alexis Ortiz Baltazar (20, 5’6”, 118 lbs.), a volleyball player, a student at UPHSD Las Piñas  and has never lost a beauty pageant (has won 2008 Miss Natasha 2008, 2010 Miss Perpetual Help University and 2011 Miss Teen Philippines Earth).

#39 Glennifer Dunggay Perido (21, 5’5”, 113 lbs.), former Miss Laguna, a student at Laguna College in San Pablo City.

#15 Arabella Ordoñez Hanesh (24, 5’6.5”, 127 lbs.), a graduate of Lyceum (Northern Luzon), under contract with ABS-CBN-Star Magic and is a commercial model for Unilever, half-Filipina/half-Libyan 2005 Mutya Ng Pilipinas runner-up.

#12 Carla Marie Lacson (22, 5’7”, 124 lbs.), a UST Pharmacy graduate, former Miss Pharmacy runner-up.

#31 Samantha San Agustin Purvor (23, 5’6”, 121 lbs.), a UP graduate, ramp and commercial model who loves to dance and swim.

#20 Jenette Mieko Cariño Noguchi (23, 5’10.5”, 128 lbs.), half-Filipina/half-Japanese, a graduate of the University of California (San Diego), the tallest in the batch, loves to paint and learn new languages.

Dingdong writes a song for Rachel

As Funfare reported in a scoop several issues ago, Rachel Alejandro and her fiancé Carlos Santamaria, a Spanish journalist, are getting married today in a beach wedding at Shangri-La in Boracay. As he did for Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid when they got married on Dec. 22 last year, Dingdong Avanzado, Rachel’s ex-boyfriend (now married to Jessa Zaragoza) also wrote a song for Rachel and Carlos. Here it is:

The One

Rachel Alejandro and fiance, Spanish journalist Carlos Santamaria, are getting married today in Boracay. Inset: Rachel’s ex-boyfriend Dingdong Avanzado is happy for them.

Music and lyrics: Dingdong Avanzado

Seems like it was only yesterday

When I thought that love won’t come my way

I used to think that it had passed me by

Then you came my way and not a day goes by

When I say…when I say…

CHORUS:

You’re the one for me, the one who’s made for me

The one who gives the kind of love

That makes me complete

Coz’ you’re the one, you’re the one

The one for me, the one who saves the day

And even when everything goes wrong

I know you’ll always stay

Coz’ you’re the one, you’re the one, you’re the one

Marry me my love, marry me today

And I will give you my heart

I will never leave, I promise I will stay

And I will love you more, love you more each day,

More each day…more each day…

REPEAT CHORUS

INSTRUMENTAL

REPEAT CHORUS

END

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Regine to make announcement

Following the announcement from GMA that Regine Velasquez (photo) has quit I Heart You Pare, her sitcom with Dingdong Dantes, with Iza Calzado as her replacement, due to her migraine, she will make an ‘important announcement’ in tomorrow’s edition of Party Pilipinas. The guess is that she will also quit the show upon advice of her doctor to ‘take it easy’ now that Regine is reportedly five weeks pregnant. — RICKY LO

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A boy for Krista & Niño

As Funfare reported last January, the first-born of Krista Ranillo and husband Niño Lim is a boy. Krista delivered the baby the natural way at a California hospital last April 5 (Aries). To be named Nathan Jacob (as in NJ, the initials of Niño’s full name, Niño Jefferson), the baby weighed 8.6 lbs. and measured 20 inches long. ‘Yes, I am breastfeeding NJ,’ Krista texted Funfare. She and Niño are both Taurian, she born on April 25 and he on April 27. — RICKY LO

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