LIKE selfies, twerking and the expression “bae,” there are some things that we should leave in 2014. These include the most controversial stories and personalities of the year just past.
But before we do, let’s go down memory lane and count down the year’s most talked-about issues of the last 365 days.
5. Love stories. There are those stories that made us kilig: such as Angel Locsin and Luis Manzano coming back together. Then there’s Sarah Geronimo and Matteo Guidicelli admitting their relationship to the whole world.
Something about these romances made people talk and talk about how these personalities look good together, and that they are actually good for each other.
Angel was actually reunited with Luis in late 2013 but their story trickled to early 2014 when in separate interviews, the couple faced head-on the third-party issue hounding them. You see, people accused Angel of being the reason why Luis left Jennylyn Mercado, and that Luis was the man who made Angel turn her back on Phil Younghusband.
In the case of Sarah Geronimo, after countless denials and what-have-you, the singer-actress finally admitted her relationship with racecar driver-actor Matteo. A lot of people exclaimed “Finally!” now that Sarah is in a relationship that her strict mom Divine accepted. It should be remembered that her mom had been (is?) watching over Sarah like a hawk, and for a time it seemed like Sarah was destined to be an old maid. In fact, even after their revelation, there were still some talk going around that Divine still hadn’t fully embraced the relationship. The mom denied it, and now Sarah and Matteo are often seen together.
4. Billy Crawford incident. After this year’s Star Magic ball, the formal all-star bash thrown by the talent management arm of ABS-CBN, Billy Crawford was detained at a precinct in Taguig City. There were lots of talk that he hit a policeman and was under the influence, but Billy then spoke about the incident and said that he didn’t find anything wrong with what he did. He just said that after a few drinks, he needed to be in a controlled environment where he unfortunately hit a glass window that broke. Billy was quick to apologize to anyone he offended or hurt. According to Billy, his takeaway from this is to lessen his alcohol intake and just act more mature. I think I also said the exact same thing when I was 16. Hmmmm….
3. Weddings, proposals etc. A lot of actors and actresses walked the aisle this year, among them Karylle Tatlonghari and Yael Yuzon, Drew Arellano and Iya Villania, and Bianca Gonzalez and JC Intal. You know us Pinoys, we like a love story and love weddings even more. But probably the most talked-about couple in 2014 was Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes. They coupled ages ago, and made headlines when Dingdong proposed to Marian on national TV. Tagged as the royal couple, they finally got exchanged vows “to have and to hold in sickness and in health” on December 30.
2. Aljur Abrenica sues GMA. Speaking of GMA talents, many were shocked when one of their most high-profile talents, Aljur Abrenica, slapped the media company with lawsuit. The young actor demanded to have his contract rescinded, citing that the company stifled his growth as an artist and even said he was treated—and I’m sort of paraphrasing here—like a piece of meat. GMA then responded that this incident was unfortunate and cited how they helped built the actor’s career and fixed various endorsements for him. The case is now in court and Aljur is nowhere to be seen on TV as his contract binds him to GMA until 2017. We have heard of talks that Aljur is now trying get back into the good graces of GMA, but it appears that the company has become totally frosty toward him.
1. Vhong Navarro. Hands down the showbiz person of the year is Vhong Navarro. That controversial visit by the comedian-host to Deniece Cornejo’s condo in Taguig City led to a mauling incident. Deniece cried rape, while Vhong slapped cases of illegal detention that led to jail time for the model and her friends Cedric Lee and Zimmer Raz. In the meantime, other women surfaced saying that they, too, have allegedly been raped by Vhong, with the most prominent being beauty queen-wannabe Roxanne Cabanero. The rape cases have been dismissed. Meanwhile, Cornejo, Lee and Raz are now out on bail.
There you have it—the hottest stories of 2014. Here’s hoping that people will learn from these incidents and face a better 2015.