PEP's List of Exclusive Scoops

Karen A. Pagsolingan

Saturday, April 14, 2007
12:41 AM

The Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) is a relative newbie in the showbiz industry. It is a five-month-old website—www.pep.ph—but it is fast inching its way into becoming the Pinoy's ultimate entertainment source online.

 

Within that short period of time, PEP has been responsible for breaking several stories that became showbiz's major controversies, rocking the world of the stars and their fans. They were exclusive to PEP when we broke them; they were bonafide scoops. Take a look at the PEP SCOOP LIST:

 

#1. Gretchen Barretto and Dawn Zulueta
On November 23, we got our first big story. Alex Brosas sent an article about Gretchen Barretto and Dawn Zulueta. The latter allegedly got peeved by the former's prima donna ways. It was PEP's lucky day! At the time of the article's publication, YES! magazine was having a shoot with Gretchen.

 

Through a phone call to Jo-Ann Maglipon, editor-in-chief of both YES! and PEP, the news was relayed to La Greta. A few hours later, Jo-Ann arrived at the office with the micro-tape containing Gretchen's response to all the allegations. And that same day—November 23—PEP put out "'Don't Call Me Prima Donna'–Gretchen Barretto."

 

It was all over the news the next morning. The item was picked up by the tabloids and showbiz talk shows. It became PEP's top story of the month. The January issue of YES! magazine gave the complete details of the controversy. Incidentally, this story made the microwave oven famous.

 

#2. KC Concepcion and Lino Cayetano
The next exclusive scoop reached us one Sunday afternoon–December 24. Candice Lim, a PEP staff writer, heard it through the grapevine that KC Concepcion and Lino Cayetano were at Sonya's Garden in Tagaytay City.

 

The 21-year-old KC, being the daughter of the Megastar, has always been a news magnet. People love to know the fascinating details of her young life. The 29-year-old Lino is an elusive TV director. He's the youngest son of the late Senator Rene Cayetano and brother of Senator Pia Cayetano and Representative Peter Allan Cayetano. All these give KC and Lino several things in common: They're both from prominent families. They're both good-looking, which seems to be a must among news magnets. They're young and single and fall into what Philippine society calls "eligible" bachelors and bachelorettes.

 

Seeing the two of them together is definitely a scoop!

 

We were able to locate the source, verified the details, and posted "KC Concepcion and Lino Cayetano–just friends or dating?" on December 26.

 

On January 3, 2007, a column in a major broadsheet picked it up. The ABS-CBN showbiz talk show The Buzz carried it on January 7.

 

Then came Part 2. We got a feed from another source that KC and Lino were seen together in Boracay. The item "PEP Exclusive: KC and Lino now an item!" was uploaded on January 8, around lunchtime, and "Chika Minute" of 24 Oras aired the story on national TV. Several days later, it was mentioned again in a major broadsheet and several blogs.

 

On January 31, 2007, Dolly Anne Carvajal broke the news about their supposed "Hong Kong trip." This irked the Megastar.

 

PEP documented their exchange. In a television interview, Sharon Cuneta remarked, "I would have hoped for a little protection from Dolly Anne pagdating sa miyembro ng pamilya ko, lalo't mali ang isinulat, at saan nanggaling ito?"

 

And Dolly Anne's response was, "To say na talagang mali ‘yong sinulat ko, I think ano naman ‘yon... Sana she'll also show some respect for my job, kung hindi lang ‘yong friendship or ‘yong pinagsamahan, kasi maliit lang naman ‘yong mundo ng showbiz, so sana we can co-exist na lang peacefully."

 

The beautiful KC is now back in Paris finishing her corporate communications course at the American University, while Lino is doing Maalala Mo Kaya and is busy campaigning for his brother Allan, a senatorial candidate. The March issue of YES! chronicled the budding romance of KC and Lino.

 

#3. Gretchen Barretto and Lani Mercado
Just a few weeks after the "prima donna issue," Gretchen faced another round of controversy. Nora Calderon, a PEP contributor, wrote an article entitled "Bong mum about Gretchen's alleged snub."

 

On December 29, Gretchen responded to Jo-Ann Maglipon's query about the snub by sending a text message from Singapore, where she was vacationing with her family. The article "Gretchen denies snubbing Bong" was written by Jo-Ann on the same day and activated.

 

The news didn't go unnoticed. It was followed by several write-ups and TV coverage. During one TV interview, Lani was asked about her wish for Gretchen, and Lani answered: "I wish that she will have a marriage with Tony [Tonyboy Cojuangco, Gretchen's partner]."

 

On January 20, at the Olay Swap event held at SM Megamall, La Greta was swamped by the press, which of course asked her for a response to Lani's wish: "What she had was a wedding, but what I have with Tony is a marriage."

 

All the way from the U.S., Lolit Solis, manager of Bong Revilla and Lani Mercado, got into a verbal fight with Gretchen. It was Gretchen's statements insinuating that Lani was not happy in the marriage, that Bong did not give her respect and loyalty, and that in fact Bong had fathered a child with another woman that sent Lolit on the war path.

 

Get showbiz news anytime, anywhere on your mobile! Just key in PEP ON and send to 4627. Available to all Sun, Globe, and Smart subscribers.

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