The couple David and Jessica Bunevacz as seen at the finals night of GMA-7's Celebrity Duets on October 20 this year. Jessica failed to win the one-million-peso cash prize, but she brought home a much more expensive gift, a BMW X5 unit (inset), from David.

Paul Mata

PEP SCOOP: David Bunevacz and Jessica Rodriguez booted out of Beverly Hills 6750

Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon

Thursday, December 13, 2007
12:42 PM

Talk in showbiz circles is getting louder that all is not well between, on the one hand, celebrity couple David Bunevacz and Jessica Rodriguez, and, on the other hand, aesthetic clinic Beverly Hills 6750.

First Rumor: Within the last two weeks, there have been murmurings that David, a former decathlete who is president and CEO of Beverly Hills 6750, has been booted out of the high-end beauty clinic. The murmurings also have it that Jessica, who handles publicity and promotions for the clinic, has been booted out along with David.

Second Rumor: Again within the last two weeks, dark rumors have spread that David had been "beaten up" by unnamed enemies. This was supposed to have happened in late November, but nothing has yet come out in the papers or television or radio.

Third Rumor: The chatter that followed says that David and Jessica, fearing for their lives, have sought the advice of friends with connections and influence, including a senator and television network executives. The couple are also said to have since consulted a prominent and expensive law firm. Meantime, the chatter also says that the clinic investors have consulted their own equally prominent and expensive lawyers.

The Latest Rumor: And now the latest talk is that the couple have gone missing. That is, at press time, they could not be found in their home, office, or any of the regular places they go to. In addition, they have not taken any calls from their showbiz friends or the press.

MAJOR PUZZLER. If true, this is a major puzzler.

It will be remembered that Beverly Hills 6750 Cosmetic Surgery and Skin Institute on Ayala Avenue was launched, grandiosely, in late 2006, flying in no less than 1993 Miss Universe Dayanara Torres from California to Manila to endorse it. Unknown to many, the man who almost single-handedly put together the clinic's inspired concept and efficient execution was David Bunevacz.

David has "a knack for putting things together," says a businessman who knows David. This idea, as the clinic's own site, www.6750.com, announces, is to affiliate "with the Beverly Hills Surgical Institute of California, USA," tap "world-class technology," gather "high-caliber medical professionals and staff," and position the clinic as "Asia's latest premier center" for "aesthetic plastic surgery and aesthetic dermatology."

With this, Beverly Hills 6750 went head-to-head with the more established Belo Medical Group and the Calayan Surgicenter, in the cutthroat and lucrative beauty business. In this race, Belo remains the runaway winner, with Calayan trailing a very far second. But within a year of its launch, Beverly Hills has enough patrons willing to pay the steep price of its services, ensuring the clinic's presence in the race.

For his efforts, David was named president and chief executive officer of the clinic, made an official partner, and given anything between 10 and 15 percent of company shares. According to the same businessman, who chooses to remain anonymous, David did not have to put out any cash. His equity was his business acumen.

Following this, David, who lists his profession as "financial consultant," moved from being the man-behind-the-scene to being a very visible man on the scene. So did his wife, Jessica, who at the time was better known as a talent manager and a former starlet.

In fact, showbiz observers say that the couples' involvement with Beverly Hills 6750 was their big ticket to being taken seriously, at last, as players in big-bucks business and, by nature of the clinic, in show business.

Certainly, Jessica, who had long faded in the background as a struggling star-maker, now began making her presence felt in media like a star. This year, she co-hosted Extreme Makeover on QTV-11, and also sponsored the "Miss Ugly No More" segment of GMA-7's Sis.

(Incidentally, the Miss Ugly No More billboard of Beverly Hills 6750 is considered a high point—or a low one, depending on your point of view—in marketing strategy. One half says it's a great promotional gimmick that hits at the core of every female's insecurity; the other half says it's in poor taste, tapping as it does into society's shallow and dangerous preoccupation with looks. Either way, the in-your-face billboard made its mark on the public that traverses EDSA daily.)

Jessica was again seen in the "Celebrity Special" of Wish Ko Lang, and had likewise become visible in showbiz events, where often she was seen in the impressive company of women executives of GMA-7. And when she made it to the Final 3 of the high-rating GMA-7 show, Celebrity Duets, she had officially been reintroduced to today's generation of viewers, giving her true celebrity status.

As it happens, the Bunevacz couple seem to like to do things with fanfare, which of course makes them even more recognizable in public. During the finals night of Celebrity Duets on October 20, for instance, David surprised Jessica with an opulent wedding anniversary gift: a BMW X5 car, said to have cost in the vicinity of 5.6 million pesos.

According to car aficionados on the scene, the BMW SUV came especially set up with an Aerokit body cladding and 20-inch alloy wheels, which alone would have cost P400,000. The car also came with a huge red ribbon taped to its hood (see photo). Television cameras and showbiz reporters were around to capture Jessica receiving the gift in tears. In the next few days, the gift would become the subject of the entertainment pages of the national broadsheets and tabloids, giving the couple even more exposure.

BECOMING A COUPLE. Jessica Rodriguez and David Bunevacz were married on December 9, 2000.

Before becoming a bit player in the movies, the tall and attractive Jessica worked as a model and joined the Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant, where she made it to the final ten. Eventually, she shifted from modelling to acting, and then to managing talents. At one point, she managed Angelika dela Cruz and Patricia Javier, and among her current talents are Jackie Forster and Joanne Quintas. She is known to have a strong working relationship with Viva Entertainment Inc., and is said to have the ear of the company's big boss, Vic del Rosario.

Four years ago, when she gave birth to her youngest, Breanna, now three years old, Jessica kept away from the limelight. With the creation of Beverly Hills 6750, she began to be seen all over the place again, except that this time she had taken on a more corporate persona.

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