Big, big Ball of Stars

Eagerly awaited as the industry’s most glamorous, most glittery, most star-studded and most talked-about, the ABS-CBN Ball has become a great event for star-gazing, especially the Red Carpet where the stars descend from the movie firmament in their sartorial best

First, a disclaimer: You can’t find Alden Richards in the 30 pictures spread out on this pages and on “jump” page C4. It’s not known if Alden was invited to the 2019 ABS-CBN Ball held Saturday night at Shangri-La The Fort, not even if he’s half of the pair (with Kathryn Bernardo) in Hello, Love, Goodbye that so far grossed past the P1B mark, giving Star Cinema the distinct honor of being the highest-grossing local producer of all time.

Otherwise, there might be a little problem. The Ball is exclusive for the Kapamilya Family and Alden is a Kapuso (never mind if back then, he almost became a Kapamilya had he passed an audition for the ABS-CBN talent search PBB (Pinoy Big Brother). Besides, it wouldn’t have looked good if he showed up solo (unless the organizers would pair him off with a “single ready to mingle” Kapamilya) since Kathryn would be with boyfriend Daniel Padilla.

Eagerly awaited as the industry’s most glamorous, most glittery, most star-studded and most talked-about, the Ball has become a great event for star-gazing, especially the Red Carpet where the stars descend from the movie firmament in their sartorial best covered “live” by The Metro Channel and ANC, anchored by Boy Abunda and company (Raymond Gutierrez, Bianca Gonzales, Gretchen Ho, Gretchen Fullido and Sarah Meier, et al) who gave detailed description of what and “who” the stars were wearing.

This year’s Ball celebrated the network’s 65 years of being inthe service of the Filipino, for the benefit of Bantay Bata 163’s Bantay Edukasyon Program and also to honor Gina Lopez, the founder of Bantay Bata and other programs under the ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya and Bantay Kalikasan.

The Ball is ABS-CBN’s way of reaffirming its reputation as the home of classy/glamorous stars — and a chance for the Kapamilya ladies to dust off their expensive jewelries that compete with the flash bulbs in dazzling (nay, “blinding!”) the spectators both at the Shang and those watching at home.

This year’s Ball celebrated the network’s 65 years of being in the service of the Filipino, for the benefit of Bantay Bata 163’s Bantay Edukasyon Program and also to honor Gina Lopez, the founder of Bantay Bata and other programs under the ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya and Bantay Kalikasan.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)