| Unofficial Website of Ms. Janice de Belen |
| Janice interviews Aga Part 2 |
| Janice interviews Aga Posted:6:52 PM (Manila Time) | July 01, 2001 Inquirer News Service (Conclusion) AFTER Aga Muhlach and Janice de Belen had gotten over their initial awkwardness on "S-Files" last June 24, they settled into their one-on-one interview with the discipline and focus of the professional stars they were. They had to do the interview night because they had a lot riding on it. Aga had his new movie to plug, while Janice needed an attention-calling first interview to highlight her having joined the show as Paolo Bediones� co-host on a permanent basis. Her interview with her ex-lover Aga was "it," but it still had to be handled with finesse, or else it could explode in both their faces and make them the laughingstock of the nation. Another complication was provided by the fact that Aga had just gotten married to Charlene Gonzales, while Janice had just been separated from her husband, John Estrada. What a strange, see-saw state of affairs! Would Aga patronize Janice for the failure of her marriage? Would Janice cynically disparage Aga�s own chances of being happy on the long term with Janice? The voyeuristic viewer watched on. Happily, while there was a little sumbatan every now and then, Aga and Janice pretty much kept things above board and in check. But we also got a twinge of regret over what might have been, if they had gotten married a decade ago instead of eventually ending up with other "lifetime" partners. They still looked so right for each other, even if things between them had gone so wrong. Finally, as the long interview drew to a close, they chose to focus on their son, Luigi. They really need to cooperate more with each other despite their long and sometimes acrimonious estrangement from each other, to make sure that he feels loved by both his parents. Especially now that he too has decided to become an actor, with all of the stresses and distractions that being a young scion of celebrities entails. After Janice�s on-camera conversation with Aga, we assessed what we had just seen and concluded that it deserved to join our growing list of "Only in the Philippines" pop phenomena. Where else would you see two ex-lovers and parents of a love child baring (almost) all on national television, just to boost the ratings of a TV show and improve a new movie�s chances at the tills? Aga and Janice are good people, but they saw the need to barter a part of themselves and their privacy to boost their respective careers. There are no culprits and villains in this instance, just the fact that, in these parts, controversy counts more with film fans than a good performance. |
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