Willie howls, Sarah keeps mum
by: Edgar O. Cruz | STIR Editor (Chief Agitator)
23 Mar 2009 | 11:27 AM

“Hindi totoo ‘yun,” “Wowowee” host Willie Revillame told “TV Patrol” about a showbiz glossy’s report that he earns P1 million daily with his endorsement income. Although this glossy stays as the country’s number one entertainment magazines for its compelling feature stories, this shows it can be blamed. Willie quickly adds, “Kung kumikita man ako, hindi lahat ‘yun napupunta sa akin, napupunta ‘yun sa iba.” 

Said glossy reported the income of selected leading entertainment personalities. It said that Sarah Geronimo earned P200,000 for “A Very Special Love” and P300,000 for “You Changed My Life,” both co-productions of Star Cinema and Viva Films, Sarah’s home studio. Viva big boss Vic del Rosario, who is Sarah’s manager, corrected this in a press statement. He clarified that Sarah received as much as John Lloyd Cruz without giving exact figures. He also stated that Viva and Star Cinema contributed 50% each for Sarah’s P1 million bonus for “You Changed My Life.”

No comment from Sarah as she’s on a US concert tour with Billy Crawford.

Piolo Pascual, the glossy reports, earns P3 million per movie; Judy Ann Santos, P2 to 3 million; and KC Concepcion, P4 to P5 million. They are not expected to comment on said talent fees as they are usually confidential figures. But Willie and Vic’s statements show the list is faulty.

Since the list is for 2008, it reads more like a list of perceived than real power of the listed personalities as some of them are not powerful anymore. Maybe they were several years ago.

The claim it’s a 50 list is misleading since it listed only 25 in each category. If it is a 50 list, it should have been numbered 1 to 50 and not 1 to 25. Done this way, the ranking would have been entirely different. The top 25 list is not also correct as the Entertainers have 26 names while the Executives have only 24.
 
The glossy also resorted to the safe one-from-ABS-CBN-one-from-GMA formula in some classifications. It did this in the directors, “creative geniuses,” network executive, creative management items. The biggest boo-boo, of course, is in ranking Gabby Lopez and Felipe Gozon as a tie in the number 1 place of the Executives category. This made the list appear like a public relations spin.

Selection and ranking is another area for improvement. Curiously not listed is Wenn Deramas who directed 2008’s highest-grossing full-length feature, “Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat.” Add to this his four high-rating television series, one of them still to be telecasted.

Ai Ai delas Alas was not yet a talk-show host in 2008.

Sarah is also wrongly ranked. This is not surprising considering it had wrong income information.

Regine Velasquez suffered serious career setbacks for the year in review yet she ranked.

Also wrongly ranked low is Manny Pacquiao. He is the only entertainment personality who can make almost the entire country watch GMA. Of course, he’s a multi-million dollar earner.

The same with the higher ranking of Annette Gozon-Abrogar compared to Malou Santos. Malou should have been ranked higher than Annette since Star Cinema produced the most number of high-grossing movies for the year. Most of Annette’s movies were co-produced with Lily Monteverde and “I.T.A.L.Y.” was a big flop.

It also included artificial persons. If this is the case, MPB Primedia Inc. which almost heroically reinvented ABC 5 into TV5 although not very successfully should have made the list.

But let’s be fair to the list. It’s all a matter of opinion!