Didn’t Regine Bite the P25-M bait?
For a while, Regine Velasquez was genuinely tempted to jump ober da bakod from GMA, her home these past several years, to rival station ABS-CBN more than three months after her contract expired in October last year.
Why wouldn’t she be when, according to a Funfare DPA Rock ‘n’ Roll, she was being lured to sign a contract by ABS-CBN with a P25-million-a-year “bait”? That is big money in any denomination, isn’t it? (Note: An ABS-CBN guy denied making such an “unrealistic” offer.)
No wonder Regine cried a river in last Sunday’s edition of the GMA noontime show S.O.P. where her co-hosts (among them her beloved Ogie Alcasid) sang such “meaningful” songs as That’s What Friends Are For and I Don’t Want You To Go — con todo tears!
Televiewers felt that that Sunday was Regine’s farewell appearance on S.O.P. amidst rumors that she’s making a “career move,” fanned by her starring in an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya (hosted by the durable and unbeatable Charo Santos-Concio) tomorrow night and, before Valentine’s Day, guesting on Sharon’s eponymous show (also on ABS-CBN).
Regine Velasquez is Regine Velasquez, and GMA wouldn’t let her go just like that without putting up a “fight,” something the network didn’t do when Ara Mina “threatened” to move to ABS-CBN where she began appearing in the station’s shows on the pretext that she was hurt when GMA didn’t even “defend” her during the controversy linking her to Manny Pacquiao. Instead, GMA very casually dropped Ara from the cast of the top-rated gag show Bubble Gang (which I never miss Friday nights).
Losing no time, still according to the Funfare DPA, GMA execs sat down with Regine and listened to whatever “gripes” she had. True enough, whatever kinks there were have been ironed out and Regine has decided to stay where she is. As agreed upon (part of Regine”s “conditions”), she will be given her own show (longer than the one-season Celebrity Duets which she co-hosted with Ogie Alcasid), a telenovela that will showcase her so far not-fully-tapped acting talent and, perhaps, a movie by the network’s sister company GMA Films.
Asked if GMA made Regine stay with the same P25-million-a-year “bait” supposedly being dangled by ABS-CBN, the Funfare DPA simply smiled.
“Hoy, gising!”, he said, laughing as if to insinuate that Regine “outwitted” the rival stations.
One thing about Regine, she knows her way around.
Source: Funfare by Ricky Lo, Philippine Star
