Mga Halu-halong hula-hula 2009

I must take a bow. In this corner’s Halu-halong hula-hula last year, my batting average was, hold your breath, 90 percent. Not bad, ‘no, considering that all I did, as usual, was consult my Crystal Bola-Bola and my wornout Tararat Cards. Didn’t I, as usual, put to shame such high-profile showbiz manghuhula as Madame Uling, Madame Dolorosa and other “madames” who, I strongly suspect, only base their annual hula-hula on showbiz talk shows and their stack of movie mags and tabs. Easy does it, see?

As my favorite Inquirer columnist Neal Cruz said, “Don’t believe in manghuhula.” True. Because if they can see not just your “future” and what fortunes await you (at the end of the rainbow?), if they can tell who will win in an election, if they can “see” winning combinations, then why don’t they place heavy bets on the lotto and end up buried up to their neck in millions so they won’t have to make a living by picking on the gullible?

Okay, on with our business for 2009.

THE BLIND ITEMS

• A few TV shows will be axed (actually, it’s over and done with), one of them close to yours truly’s heart (Ouch!).

• Now that they are starting to see “the light of day” and the smoke is starting to clear, a high-profile couple will kiss and make up. Tuloy ang ligaya! But their relationship will go to a higher level, with the older partner as usual acting as sweetheart, mom, sister, aunt, protector, provider — all rolled into one! — to her younger lover.

• To generate publicity, some couples will pretend that they are breaking up (among them “M” and “Z”). But they should beware. Their “fake “ break-up might end up for real.

• The news department of a TV network will undergo a revamp. Oh no, whose and how many heads will roll?

• A TV host will get involved in a scandal that will rock the foundation not only of the show that person is hosting but the whole company. (Take note: My Crystal Bola-Bola didn’t show if the TV host is a “he” or a “she.”)

• Before they will ever reach the altar — their ultimate planned destination — a super-couple will go through a rough road and, if they don’t watch out, might hit splitsville.

• A handsome actor will regret having broken up with a sweet actress.

• A sexy actress will have no choice but confess that she has been having an affair with a sexy actor long before she called it quits with her athlete-boyfriend and he with his actress-girlfriend.

• More actresses will get pregnant out of wedlock.

• A recording company might fold up — or hook up with another company. Hard times, you know.

THE WIDE-AWAKE ITEMS

• Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres will have another child. Their first, Juliana, is turning nine on Sept. 8 (birthday of the Virgin Mary; Lucy is a Marian) and she deserves a little brother or a little sister.

• The marriage of Kris Aquino and James Yap will grow stronger, unless…(Oops! My Crystal Bola-Bola suddenly becomes blurred. Hehehe!).

• Gretchen Barretto will blithely continue with whatever it is she’s now doing. Bless her beloved Tonyboy Cojuangco for being, ehem, “supportive.”

• Ex-couple Pops Fernandez and Martin Nievera will be sweeter than they ever were after their controversial split-up. Keep your eyes and ears open, Jomari (Yllana, Pops’ boyfriend). Now, will Martin make an earth-shaking “revelation?”

• More indie films will win honors not only here but abroad.

• Vic Sotto and Pia Guanio will not (yet) get married, and neither will Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo.

• Toward the end of the year, more actors/actresses will declare their intention of running in the 2010 elections. But, sad to say, only a few of them will win.

• Due to some “technicality,” Nora Aunor will not come home even if she badly wants to. Or else…(Oops! There goes my Crystal Bola-Bola again, becoming blurred!)

• Miriam Quiambao will remain “loveless,” and so will Iza Calzado (but not for long).

• Ruffa Gutierrez will finally — finally! — meet the “man of her dreams” whom she won’t marry, not now that her and estranged husband Yilmaz Bektas’ divorce case is pending.–Ricardo F. Lo, Philippine Star

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)