Author: TJ Gacura
TJ Gacura
TJ believes in the saying, "Make your passion your profession," which made him dip his toes into any writing profession. He tried blogging, tried feature writing; he even dabbled into SEO writing. His heart, however, points into news writing.
PhilHealth has recently released a new contribution rate for its members. However, PhilHealth seems to have forgotten something—the 15B missing funds. With the new rate for the contribution, many took to Twitter to remind the government that there is a huge amount of money still missing. Actor Richard Juan sarcastically thanked the agency while asking hem where is the 15B fund. https://twitter.com/richardjuan/status/1343918283582365696?s=21 The new payment was revealed on December 29 by PhilHealth. According to the government agency, it is “implementing the scheduled contribution rate and adjustment in income ceiling for 2021 to ensure sufficient funding for the health care benefits…
Rape has been rampant in the Philippines for decades. What’s bothersome is that it also exists within Filipino families. Just December 21st, news came out that a suspect for rape who went into hiding for about a year was finally caught. The assailant was charged with 7 counts of rape and sexual assault. The complainant was none other than his daughter, a minor whom he raped for four years, starting in 2015. With the recent news about a father raping his child for four years, actress-comedian Kiray Celis took to Twitter to address such concern. In her recent tweet, she…
Former Duterte supporter Jason Abalos raised the question of whether who has more power, the government or the people. On his Twitter account, Abalos wondered how the citizens of the Philippines couldn’t do anything but wait until the next election to be able to do something. With the government receiving criticism after criticism, and with the incident involving smuggled SINOVAC vaccine, the former DDS seemed like he couldn’t take it anymore. https://twitter.com/thejasonabalos/status/1343797603696185351 On Twitter, Abalos shared his frustration and disappointment on how the administration emphasized “we heal as one” yet the military was the first to be given the vaccine.…
With most of the country still in some form of a lockdown because of the pandemic, Filipinos turned to other things to help them be occupied. Some may have focused on vlogging, while others became engrossed with the app TikTok. Some celebrities took to these social media platforms and managed to do well. Here are just some of them. YouTube Stars Just like Alex Gonzaga who rose to fame as a celebrity but eventually found her passion as a vlogger, these celebrities turned to vlogging during this pandemic. Alex who is now an internet personality channels her true self via…
Last Saturday, December 26, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened the United States that he will end the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) unless they supply the Philippines with COVID-19 vaccines. According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, the threat made by the president was only being true to his foreign independent policy. With him blurting out threats, celebrities and personalities couldn’t help but voice out their two-cents regarding the latest warning from the president of the Philippines. Senator Kiko Pangilinan shared his opinion regarding the ones President Duterte should have threatened—China. The country which supposedly the ally of the Philippines as per President…
President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that many Filipinos, including soldiers, have already been given shots of Sinopharm’s COVID vaccine. However, there is one problem—it has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a result, citizens have slammed the government as to why they gave a vaccine, especially soldiers even if it was unapproved. Various statements were released in defense of the action but they were inconsistent with one another. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque defended the move by saying Filipinos should consider the smuggled vaccines as a “token” this Christmas season. With his recent tweet, actor Enchong Dee…
Despite the monstrous performance of ‘Fan Girl’ in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), netizens were a bit disappointed with how the movie ended. Different interpretations surged the internet as netizens gave their own conclusion on why ‘Fan Girl’ ended that way. For some, despite being satisfied on the movie as a whole, they were disappointed due to the fact that they were left hanging after finding out the outcome of the movie. https://twitter.com/chicKEN_dedios/status/1343225046035124224 Some were aghast as they didn’t find any relevance towards the movie’s ending from its entirety. Although it was a good film, some didn’t think…
The movie “Fan Girl” has been the talk of the town ever since its release last December 25th. With it raking in award after award in the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival (2020), there’s something extra to the movie that was rather unexpected. Netizens have said that the movie also illustrates President Duterte’s leadership and those who follow him. For those who have seen the movie, they compared Paolo Avelino’s character to the Duterte administration while the character played by Charlie Dizon represents his blind followers. Netizens have a different conclusion on the film’s overall message. Some have understood its…
As 2020 nears its end, we look back on the news that kept people talking. With the pandemic forcing people to stay at home, Filipinos have become keen on observing the news circulating around celebrities. This year may be the hardest year for every Filipino, but there are definitely topics that really became newsmakers. ABS-CBN Shutdown With one of the largest networks in the Philippines being shut down by the Duterte government, it became a much-talked-about topic. Not only was ABS-CBN not given its franchise renewal despite being vouched for by several government agencies, but it was also done at…
Remember Kathryn Bernardo when she had a role in GMA Network’s teleserye ‘Endless Love’? Or when Daniel Padilla had his first TV appearance on Walang Tulugan? They are now two of the hottest stars in showbusiness. They have always been a solid talent of ABS-CBN. But what if having a project on another network boosts their career on a whole new level? On Kathryn’s part, she was still a talent of Star Magic, the talent arm of ABS-CBN whilst appearing in GMA Network’s ‘Endless Love’ as the young version of Marian Rivera, who played Jenny. She was offered a contract…
The appeal of Alfred Vargas for people to stop hating his movie has caused several celebrities to point out why he was being hated. Pia Magalona, the wife of the legendary Francis Magalona, on her Twitter account posted the reason his movie is being affected by his decision regarding the franchise renewal application of ABS-CBN. She wrote that he had the power to vote in favor of the network but chose to inhibit. For netizens and other celebrities, inhibition is as good as not voting in favor of the franchise renewal. https://twitter.com/piamagalona/status/1341626927375740929?s=21 What’s worse is that Vargas is using his…
With the recent killings that happened in Tarlac, many people have really shown their fear towards the ones who ought to protect them, namely the police. Last December 20, Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca gunned down a mother and his son in Purok 2, Barangay Cabayaoasan, Paniqui, Tarlac. The suspect shot and killed Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank Anthony because of a simple altercation. It stemmed when the policeman got angry because of a PVC cannon or boga which was shot by the Gregorio family. As a result of such horrifying incident, many Filipinos, including celebrities were outraged by…
With comedian and TV host Vice Ganda was not able to have an entry for this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival, he still showed his support for his co-host Vhong Navarro. Mang Kepweng: Ang Lihim ng Bandanang Itim is an official entry to the MMFF 2020 which has Vhong reprising his role as Mang Kepweng. In an interview, Vhong shared how Vice supported his upcoming movie. According to Navarro, the iconic comedian was saddened that they were unable to finish the movie which would have been their entry for this year’s MMFF. Despite this setback, Vice celebrated the fact that…
On Wednesday, December 23, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa claimed that no one is giving the command to the police force to kill whomever as he defended his stand that there is no cultural impunity within the Philippine National Police. As a result, Kapamilya actor Enchong Dee attacked Dela Rosa for his statement. On his Twitter account, Enchong threw a shade at the senator as he advised the politician to do fact-checking. https://twitter.com/enchongdee777/status/1341597552748032000?s=21 However, despite Senator Bato trying to defend the PNP, President Rodrigo Duterte himself ordered of killing assailants or suspects resisting arrest even during the start of his…
Love teams have basically been part of Philippine TV series. Media networks experimented with different celebrities as they try to find the perfect pair that would appeal to their audience, and they are pretty good in doing so. Some of the most successful pairs to ever grace the screen were JaDine, LizQuen, and KathNiel earning the top spots on the list of love teams that sent the viewers into a craze. With this year, newer and younger tandems are being introduced which the viewers really love. Here are the love teams to watch for this 2021. KyCine The love team…
Maine Mendoza has denied she is the one in a sex video being circulated online. On her Twitter account, the actress aggressively denied being involved in such a scandal. https://twitter.com/mainedcm/status/1341331305301037056 Meanwhile, Maine’s talent manager Rams David warned netizens about spreading such misinformation. On his Twitter account, he warned those trolls that there is an existing law that punishes anyone who uses the internet to defame someone. https://twitter.com/ramsdavid/status/1341360845171802113 The talent management of Maine issued a statement that the ‘sex scandal’ of the actress was manipulated using deepfake technology, a software that can alter a video and embed a person’s face on…