PART 1: Stars on Red Carpet at the 10th anniversary party of YES! Magazine
February 23 marked YES! magazine's 10th anniversary party, which gathered the country's brightest stars at the NBC Tent, The Fort, Taguig City. (The official inaugural month of YES! is really April, but the magazine celebrates on a February!)
It turned into a night of chatting, having fun, picture-taking, and cheering another good decade for the number one entertainment magazine in the country!
Uploaded: February 24, 2010
A flower arrangement made of red roses (for the YES! logo color) spelled YES! and greeted the guests as they entered the venue. At the base of the flowers were moss, greens, cacti, and twigs, which were a replica of the centerpieces of the tables inside the venue.
The first group to arrive was composed of the big bosses of ABS-CBN.
After exchanging warm hellos, they posed for a photo op right outside the venue.
In this shot are Channel 2 president Charo Santos-Concio (middle), corporate communications head Bong Osorio (left), and veteran scriptwriter Ricky Lee (second from left), with YES! magazine editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon (rightmost) and executive editor Pete Lacaba (second from right).
Station head Cory Vidanes (second from left) showed up a few minutes after the first batch of ABS-CBN executives arrived. She had asked that they all go inside the tent together, so her boss Charo waited for her by the lobby steps. Accompanying Charo are the people seen in this photo.
Behind: Ricky, Pete, and Ms. Maglipon. The three formed a solid friendship during the Martial Law era, when they paid the price of fighting the dictatorship with jail terms.
Political columnist Conrado de Quiros (left) usually shuns showbiz events but has been seen in the last two YES! parties. And that's probably because he's a good friend of Madam and Sir Pete (how the members of the staff address Ms. Maglipon and Pete).
Singer Cooky Chua is not fond of showbiz parties either, but she has also attended two anniversary events of YES!. In the first, the gifted Cooky was a featured performer. In the second, she sang two songs during the open microphone part of the program, blowing the audience away.
Giselle Sanchez, who donned an Audrey Hepburn-inspired look, was the first celebrity to greet YES! a happy birthday. The very svelte talent left the venue after 30 minutes, "may isa pa kasi akong pupuntahan," explained the much-in-demand host for corporate events.
Giselle is a celebrity blogger of YES! magazine's online affiliate PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), where she shares her life in the blog "G-Spot."(CLICK HERE to view Giselle's blog)
"Teka, tawagin ang mga PEPsters para sa picture-picture. Dito tayo sa may logo..." the hyper Giselle (third from right) told everyone before entering the main hall.
The PEPsters are the people behind PEP—(from left) editorial assistant Ruby dela Rosa, staff writers Nerisa Almo and Mark Angelo Ching, web designer Mark Edward Pimentel, community editor Elyas Isabelo Salanga, managing editor Karen Pagsolingan, section editor Jocelyn Dimaculangan, and associate editor Erwin Santiago.
"Ay, nawala ang logo!" Giselle exclaimed after the picture-taking. "Pero hindi bale..."
The YES! team, which works hard to produce a best-selling issue each month—(from left) senior staff writers Analyn Alcala and Candice Lim, production coordinator Irene Mislang, operations officer Arvee Javier, senior staff writer Romy Antonette Peña, contributing photographer Melo Balingit, Summit group art director Nat Clave, and art director Gabriel Villegas.
PEP blogger and contributor Jojo Gabinete had an important mission that night: Ensure that the guests being ushered to the main hall were included in the guest list. An editor dubbed him the "punong taga-taboy!"(CLICK HERE to view Jojo's blog)
Singing siblings Jeffrey Hidalgo (right) and Arnee Hidalgo, whose travel photos in Turkey got featured in the March 2007 issue of YES! magazine, were two of the admirably prompt guests.(CLICK HERE to view gallery)
Star Patrollers Marie Lozano (left) and Ginger Conejeros pose with Wyngard Tracy, who now manages the careers of Richard Gomez, Lucy Torres, John Estrada, Wendell Ramos, to name a few.
GMA Films president Annette Gozon-Abrogar (right) walked the red carpet with husband Atty. Lito Abrogar. The powerful and charming Annette brokered the very recent amicable settlement between the PEP team and the Gutierrez family.
Beauty doctor Vicki Belo (left) with daughter Cristalle Henares and manager Joji Dingcong.
The beautiful and spacious home of Dra. Vicki was shown to the readers in September 2007.
That night, everyone noted how truly good-looking Vicki Belo was: from her skin to her figure, to her naughty black dress that Joji Dingcong believed should have been a blouse!
Prolificwriter Andrew Paredes, who has done numerous articles for the magazine, didn't shy away from the cameras. Unknown to many, Andrew is now the official Contributing Editor to YES!
Internationally-acclaimed director Brillante Mendoza, who was featured in the October 2009 issue of YES! magazine (CLICK HERE to read related article), posed beside the best-selling covers. Dante, as direk is better known, is the only Filipino director to win the Best Director award for full-length films at the Cannes Film Festival.
GMA-7 senior vice president for entertainment TV Wilma Galvante joined other network bigwigs in celebrating YES! magazine's anniversary. Ma'am Wilma, as the station executive is called, has helped YES! through many researches and pictorials.
Her birthday, by the way, was the day after the party.
YES! loves to feature Dawn Zulueta (left), whose houses, wedding, birth, travels and parties have all found their way to its glossy pages.(CLICK HERE to read related article)
She was welcomed by Ms. Maglipon and Summit Media president Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng (right).
As shown in this photo, there's Donita Rose being interviewed for event's live webcast in PEP; Jaclyn Jose being accompanied by Anna to the main hall; and behind them, veteran actor Eddie Garcia, who stayed till the last hour of the party.
Manoy (nickname of Eddie Garcia) received V.I.P. treatment from Ms. Maglipon (left) and Anna. In turn, Manoy obliged with a song during the open mic program.
Christopher Gutierrez (right) found company in fellow Gigger Boys member Dino Imperial (left). Christopher is the grandson of multi-awarded actress Gloria Romero and actor Juancho Gutierrez.
Perry Lansigan's talents—(from left) Geoff Eigenmann, Andrew Solinap, Gabby Eigenmann, Carlo Gonzales, and Carl Guevarra—joined forces to greet YES! a happy anniversary.
Gladys Reyes and husband Christopher Roxas also made it to the party. Their old friend Anna Pingol welcomes them.
Just like most showbiz couples, they have shared the milestones of their lives—wedding, birth, baptism, birthdays— with YES! magazine. (CLICK HERE to view gallery).
Armida Siguion-Reyna and her daughter-in-law, Bibeth Orteza arrived together. Tita Midz is a dear friend of YES! executive editor Pete Lacaba and editor in chief Jo-Ann Maglipon.
A commotion among the media people took place when Aga Muhlach (left) and Charlene Gonzalez arrived.
As the couple told Jo-Ann Maglipon: "Hindi talaga kami nagpa-party, pero nagpunta kami for your magazine!" Charlene added: "We loved your note." The beauty queen/model/endorser/actress was referring to a personal note that Jo-Ann had written them, along with the formal invitation.
The couple have been seen on the cover of YES! at least five times already. The last featured the couple's twins, Atasha and Andres.(CLICK HERE to read related article)
Another darling of the press that night—Dingdong Dantes, whose life was featured in the first bookazine of YES! Life Stories—arrived without regular date Marian Rivera, who was caught up with taping work.
