I’ve known JC de Vera for more than 10 years now, so there are a number of things I know about him so well.
Like his love for me. He is just a call, text or Viber message away. Anytime I need a friend, or someone to talk to…or someone to buy me a burger from his restaurant The Burgery.
But make him choose between me or basketball, I know he would choose the latter. Actually, make him choose between petting a porcupine or me, I know he would choose the former. Hindi naman ako delusynada ’no. I just want to hold your attention while reading this.
Anyway, that’s not to say that his love for basketball is not intense. He so loves the sport that he began playing when he was young. In fact, he says he never enjoyed playing with toys as a toddler, unless the toy involved basketball. He just loves basketball so much; he was a varsity player at Colegio de San Agustin beginning at Grade 4 all the way up to graduation.
That’s how passionate he is about the sport. So it’s no surprise he gives it his all, including the recent Star Magic basketball game where he almost figured in a tussle with Daniel Padilla.
In the game, JC belonged to the Blue Team led by team captain Gerald Anderson, while Padilla led the opposing Red Team. Daniel and JC got physical in the game and tensions rose, which even halted play for awhile. Thank God the matter was quickly resolved, and JC, along with his team, won with a tight 93-90 score.
In an exclusive statement to yours truly, JC said, “Gusto manalo ng dalawang team. Both were very competitive during the game. The emotions were high also because of the pressure, so it’s normal to get physical, lalo na sa basketball. We said sorry to each other and accepted na it’s part of the game. No bad blood, no pride and no ego.”
And no more issue.
In fact, JC would rather concentrate on his new blessing: a new TV show under Dreamscape to be directed by none other than Antoinette Jadaone. He will costar with Piolo Pasucal and Arci Muñoz. The upcoming show will also star 2017 breakout stars of Kita Kita, Alessandra de Rossi and Empoy.
I am so happy for JC for this new blessing. I know he will give his all to this new program, the same way he does in anything: whether in acting or in basketball.
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ABS-CBN Corp., the country’s leading media and entertainment company, reported a P19.3-billion consolidated revenue for the first six months of 2017, with a net income of P1.2 billion.
ABS-CBN CFO Aldrin Cerrado said, “As expected, our second quarter-earnings performance was stronger than our first quarter, and we’re particularly pleased to have been able to control overall costs for the first half of the year.”
Based on Kantar Media TV Audience Measurement, ABS-CBN continues to dominate the national TV ratings covering urban and rural homes with an overall audience share of 50.7 percent during the first half of the year. Its shows consistently filled the top 10 programs with FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano leading all TV shows.
The company ended the first half of 2017 with 3.2 million ABS-CBN TVplus digital TV boxes sold since the service was launched in 2015. Cerrado added, “Our progress with the [digital terrestial television] initiative has also been evident in its ratings performance. Cinemo and Yey! channels have more than doubled their audience shares to 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.”
ABS-CBN Group CFO Ron Valdueza said, “We are also pleased with the financial and operating results of our subsidiaries during the first half of the year. Sky’s revenue grew by 9 percent to P4.6 billion driven by the continued increase in our broadband and [direct-to-hire] subscribers.” As of June 2017 Sky had over 1 million subscribers.
Star Cinema generated over P1.2 billion in revenues during the first half of the year. My Ex and Whys, which was released in February, brought in over P400 million in ticket sales, while Can’t Help Falling in Love made more than P320 million in April.
Kidzania, the company’s educational theme park, welcomed over 148,000 visitors since the beginning of the year and is expected to do even better in the second half. O Shopping Channel, the company’s joint venture with CJ O Shopping of Korea, generated P435 million in sales of various products for the first six months of 2017.
As of the end of June, total assets and equity stood at P72.2 billion and P32.0 billion, respectively.