MOTHER Lily Monteverde and daughter Roselle Teo are now very active as volunteers in the Philippine Red Cross in this year of 2011 that has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Volunteers. They invited Marian Rivera to join them and she readily agreed so Marian is now the Red Cross celebrity endorser. “It’s really an honor na mapiling endorser ng Red Cross,” she says. “Nang sabihan ako ni Mother, hindi na ko nag-isip. Yes agad. In my six years in showbiz, ang dami kong natanggap na blessings and I really feel it’s time for me na ibalik yun sa tao.”

Guys who heard she’s now with Red Cross say they’re willing to donate blood if she’d be there on donation day. “No problem. Like now, I have a taping for ‘Amaya’, my new GMA show but nag-excuse muna ako so I can attend the launch today. Anything, basta for a worthy cause.”

She was officially launched at the Manila Polo Club last Monday by Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon along with their new project, “Million Volunteer Run,” as the Red Cross also celebrates World Red Cross Day with the theme “Find the Volunteer Inside You.”  The “Million Volunteer Run” promises to be the biggest fun run in history, not only here but also abroad. Gordon says they’ll invite 44 volunteers each from the country’s 42,000 barangays and that’s already a total of 1.8 million volunteers who’ll also act as disaster responders who’d provide humanitarian assistance.

“I will personally join the Million Volunteer Run,” says Marian who came to the launch in red, the color of the Red Cross. “Bagay na bagay nga kasi I’m the lady in red sa ‘Temptation Island’. Red ang color ng gowns ko roon. For the volunteer run, I’ve pledged to run for 5 kms. at hihikayatin ko si Dingdong (Dantes) to join me. I’ll also invite other celebrity friends to join us para mas masaya.”

How about Mother Lily? “I’m 72 but I walk 12 kms. everyday. This time, I will run for 15 kms.”

And Roselle? “This is a worth advocacy so I will run 20 kms.”

They hope to raise P1 billion in this volunteer run that will be used for training volunteers and buying life-saving tools and equipment to be used in rescue operations during disasters. Corporate partners like Nestle and IBM will sponsor each runner for P1,000. The run will be held simultaneously in key cities nationwide on May 4. If you want to register, you can call the Red Cross directly at 143 or at 527-0000 ext. 114 or e-mail them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

WILL JULIA HIT IT BIG?

ARE Enchong Dee and Julia Montes playing beautiful music together? Enchong, 21, is linked to ka-love team Erich Gonzales of “Maria la del Barrio” but he swears they’re nothing but good friends. Julia, 15, was launched to stardom in “Mara Clara.” They got to work together in the short-lived l  teen show, “Shoutout,”  and quickly formed their own loyal fans club called Chong-Lia. Photos of them together have been posted in their Facebook fan page but they both insist they’re not really an item. “Magkaibigan lang kami,” says Julia.

Meantime, Julia and “Mara Clara” co-star Kathryn Bernardo  signed up a two-movie contract with Star Cinema last week, a sure indication that ABS-CBN believes that since they’re now big stars on TV, they also have the potential to be superstars on the big screen.

It will be recalled that the stars of “Mara Clara” then, Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes, also became big film stars when Mother Lily made them star in “Sana Naman, ” which was a surprise blockbuster so “Mara Clara” was then also adapted for the big screen after that. Let’s see if Julia and Kathryn will also really hit it big in the movies.

In the case of Juday and Gladys, it’s only Juday as Mara who became a real big star while Gladys was not able to go beyond playing contravida roles. This time, though, followers of Julia as Clara believe she has an even bigger potential to a bigger star than Kathryn who plays Mara. “Mas matangkad siya, mas maganda, mas maputi kaysa kay Kathryn,” they say. Wonder what Kathryn’s own fans can say about that.

As for Julia and Kathryn, they say they’re  close friends who don’t consider themselves as rivals. “Basta nagpapasalamat kami sa Star Cinema na they believe in us and will give us a movie,” says Kathryn.

“I just hope people will continue to support us sa movie namin in the same way that they’ve been supporting our show on TV for several months now,” adds Julia.

IGNORED FILM WINS

THE Cinema One film “Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria (Eleuteria’s Dream)” that was ignored in the Cinema One filmfest last year is vindicated once again at the Jeonju International Filmfest in Korea where it won the Special Jury Prize. This is the citation written by the Jury Members of the International competition Section: “For The Special Jury Prize, our choice goes to a work which embodies with acute sensitivity, humor and compassion the plight of a family faced with impossible choices; a film that through its spirit of formal and technical experimentation enables us to gain new awareness of the relationship between North And South, between the self and the collective, between the Epic and naturalist storytelling. For these reasons, we bestow the 2011 Jeonju International Film Festival JB Bank Awards Special Jury Prize to “The Dream of Eleuteria” by Remton Siega Zuasola.”

Our congratulations. The Grand Prize was given to "Jean Gentilo,” a film by Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman from Dominican Republic, Mexico and Germany. We also want to congratulate Director Chris Martinez whose “Here Comes the Bride” won the third prize and Audience Choice award last Saturday at the Udine International Filmfest in Italy. Produced by Atty. Joji Alonso, the film is one of 50 entries. The first and second prizes, “Under the Hawthorn Tree” and “Aftershock”, were both dramas from China and “Bride” is the only comedy.

RHIAN’S REPUTATION IN TATTERS

DJ Mo asked the forgiveness of Rhian Ramos and her family for all the incriminating details he revealed about their relationship in his tweets. He confesses he’s devastated by their breakup but if he thinks he could win Rhian again with what he did, we don’t think she’d ever forgive him because she’s the one whose reputation is now in tatters with all his revelations. As one writer said, “Si Rhian ang sirang-sira rito dahil nabunyag na nakikipag-live in pala siya when GMA7 is building her up as a sweet and wholesome star.”     In “Paparazzi,” Mo said “I’m dying” when someone asked how he is. How come they didn’t admit before that they were on? “For a lot of reasons. Hindi naman kailangang lahat ng showbiz relationships inaamin, di ba? May mga artista na mag-on, pero hindi naman nila inaamin. Even the biggest celebrities take their time. So siguro it was a timing thing na lang, na we'll wait na lang until we feel that's something na ise-share namin sa lahat ng tao. We just wanted to wait and take our time."

Some folks say he’s “a  kiss and tell.” " I'm sorry if any of these things has hurt her family, her fans, 'yung mga tao closest to Rhian. Na this whole Twitter thing was a mistake on both our parts, or an accident. I really hope we find a way na yung buwisit na Twitter na 'yan... Na maayos na namin ito kasi it was really the cause of all these."

He denies that they lived together but, of course, no one believes them anymore as it’s already been proven that they’re both liars. And why blame Twitter? Who was the one who wrote all those tweets anyway?

NEW TV STAR COLLAPSES ON SET

LOUISE De los Reyes will never forget “Alakdana” for the rest of her life. “Siyempre po kasi it’s where GMA launched me at title-roler pa ko,” she says. “I’m really sad now that the series is ending and we already had our last taping day as I made a lot of good friends in the show. I’ll miss them all.”

She collapsed on the set while on its last few days of taping. “Kasi sobrang init pagpasok ng summer at pagod na rin ako. They took me to the hospital at gustong i-confine ako but after I’ve rested for an hour, I already felt okay so I insisted going back to the set at tapusin ang taping. Ayokong maging cause of delay. Now that ‘Alakdana’ is on its last week, mas maraming exciting twists and turns na mangyayari sa show so dapat talagang abangan hanggang sa very exciting finale on Friday.”

After “Alakdana, ” she’ll be part of the “Tween Hearts” movie that will start shooting next week. “Tamang-tama nga po, natapos ang taping sa ‘Alakdana’, start naman ng shoot ng ‘Tween Hearts, the Movie’.” Although she’s now busy with her showbiz career, the 17-year-old Louise is dead set on finishing college. She’ll be in third year this June taking up foreign service in Lyceum.