Zerene Parsad was included in the Circle 16 composing of eight boys and eight girls out of forty contestants.

Congratulations to Zerene Parsad for singing the national anthem and for singing it safe (in a very low pitch) and of course to Manny Pacquiao for the winning his eight title!  Though there was no knock down during the twelve rounds giving a new name for Antionio Margarito is already enough, “Maga Rito”, lol.

Top kapuso stars showcased their stunning outfits that amazed their kapuso loyal fans and viewers who’ve watched the stars parade on stage that night. GMA-7 artists who were present on that glamorous night and made exceptional production numbers were the RnB prince and princess, Kyla and Jay-R, Janno Gibbs, Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid. Veteran actors and actresses like Mr. Eddie Garcia, Celia Rodriguez, Leo Martinez, and German Moreno ramped on stage during the first part of the presentation. Top Caliber actors and actresses who also made an impressive appearance that night were Jean Garcia, Eula Valdes, Lani Mercado, Iza Calzado, Sunshine Dizon, Angelu De Leon, new mom Angelika Dela Cruz and the new male lead for “Darna”, Mark Anthony Ferandez.

GMA-7’s top leading star, Marian Rivera also ramped a couple of times on stage while rumored boyfriend, Ding Dong Dantes happen to appeared on such separate parts of the program. The two kapuso gems just made their appearance together on the last part of the celebration along with the hundreds of stars closing the 59th anniversary special.

Other stars that also made the night glamorous were, young stars Aljur Abrenica and Kris Bernal, Carla Abellana and Geoff Eigenmann, actor, Marvin Agustin, Sen. Bong Revilla, Dennis Trillo and Jennica Garcia, JC De Vera, Michelle Madrigal, Mark Herras, product of starstruck like Sheena Halili, Iwa Moto, Rich Asuncio, Arci Munoz, Jackie Rice, LJ Reyes, and a lot more. Meanwhile, the news and current affairs men and women of GMA-7 were also in complete attendance that night to join the celebration.

It was also noticeable that some of the kapuso stars were unable to appear on that one glamorous night like eat bulaga hosts, Vic Sotto, Joey De Leon and Pia Guanio. Jolina Magdangal, of Adik Sa’yo, Heart Evangelista of Ngayon at Kailanman, Jennylyn Mercado, Nadine Samonte, Yasmien Kurdi of SRO, SIS hosts, Carmina Villaroel, Gelli De Belen and Janice De Belen, Allan K and Jaya of All star K!,Eugene Domingo, Alfred Vargas, Katrina Halili, Joey Marquez, husband and wife Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres, Anjo and Jomari Yllana, Paolo Bediones and GMA-7’s top artist, Richard Gutierrez.

The launching of Totoy Bato was truly a grand celebration that was done inside the GMA-7 compound.  The whole cast was presented to the press and even had a photo exhibit of Robin Padilla that was created by an expert photographer, Jun De Leon. Asia’s Songbird, Regine Velasquez who is Robin’s leading lady in their 2000 blockbuster hit movie, “Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw” will also be joining the Bad boy of Philippine Cinema in Totoy Bato. Both of them were very much at ease on each other while doing the upcoming telebabad series of GMA-7 because of their previous film that brought them to be good friends.

Joining Robin Padilla in the series is his eldest daughter, Queenie Padilla who also preformed an amazing number in the press launch that night. Totoy Bato is set to wow the nation on the 23rd of February starring Robin Padilla and Regine Velasquez with the “Pambansang Kamao”, Manny Pacquiao in a very special role.

Regine Velasquez really impressed the viewers on how she carries her character in the said show but, while watching her way of eating huge servings of food in every scene really bothers me a lot. It seems like it’s so natural for her to eat those “Crispy Pata”, fried chicken and even sweets like a bunch of cake all by herself that it looks like she’s enjoying those scenes! Although, it just shows her effectiveness as an artist but, I observed that she is getting really “fat” as I watched her in their Sunday afternoon show, “Sobrang Okay Pare” or SOP. (Her arms got bigger not to mention her double chin.. OMG!)

I was wondering if Regine Velasquez does regular exercise now that she is doing “Ako si Kim Sam Soon”. I guess, she should mind her figure to prove to all the viewers of the show that it is just a portrayal and that the Asia’s song bird is still watchful to her diet.

One of the koreanovela hit of 2006, “My name is Kim Sam Soon” featured the life of a single, chubby middle-aged woman (Kim Sam Soon) whose love life always comes to failure until she met a young, rich but arrogant guy (Cyrus Ruiz) played by Mark Anthony Fernandez, who was the owner of a five star restaurant where Sam Soon applied as a pastry chef.

I was able to watch the pilot episode of it last June 30, 2008 and I was very much entertained by the character of Regine Velasquez as Kim Sam Soon. Regine definitely made me laugh on her role being so witty and yet lovable. One thing that I didn’t like was her “fat suit”. Comparing to the original Kim Sam Soon character, they made the local version a bit exaggerated on the physical feature but honestly, I still like the way they adopted the show. They had put a Filipino culture on it and created some new characters to add flavors in the layers of the show.

Joining the wacky cast were Wendell Ramos as Harvey, the fiancé of kim sam soon that dumps her on their wedding day. Ms. Tessie Tomas as Sonia the hard working mother of Sam Soon, Carmi Martin as Mrs. Ruiz, mother of Cyrus who wanted him to date gorgeous and rich woman like her. (I was totally happy to see her doing comedy again!), and Eugene Domingo as Chef Dina, (it was a surprise when she jumped to kapuso network doing kim am soon right?).

The other supporting roles were, new comer and daughter of well-known actress, Jean Garcia, jennica Garcia who plays Eliza, the cute and wacky sister of Kim Sam Soon, John Lapuz as Marcus, Nadine Samonte as Hannah, Pauleen Luna as Cherry, Sheena Halili as Cynthia, Mart Escudero as kokoy (an addition to the cast I guess) and a new character to be portrayed by the controversial boyfriend of Dra. Vicky Belo, Hayden Kho Jr. as Dr. Henry.

The romantic comedy “Ako si Kim Sam Soon“ airs from Monday to Friday right after Dyesebel on primetime telebabad on GMA-7. The question is, will it capture again the hearts of Filipino viewers just like the original Korean version? And will Regine Velasquez belt it out in her acting on TV?