Charice wows Pinoy audiences in premiere of Glee season 2

"Welcome to Glee Club"

With these words, McKinley High’s Glee club coach Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) invites Filipina exchange student Sunshine Corazon to join his group, New Directions. He has been suitably impressed, after hearing Sunshine's soaring vocals in a rendition of the song “Listen," originally sung by Beyoncé.

One member of the team, however, is less than enthused about the whole thing. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), lead singer of New Directions, sits with a forced smile throughout Sunshine’s audition, despite the standing ovation and wholehearted approval from everyone else in the group.

Sunshine Corazon is played, of course, by Pinay singing sensation Charice Pempengco, who has gained international fame through appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show, the release of her hit single “Pyramid," and collaborations with Celine Dion and other big names in the music industry.

Charice made her debut in the first episode of Glee, season 2, in black-framed glasses and pigtails, a petite girl with an astonishingly full voice. She is set to be a recurring character on the show.

The Glee season 2 premier aired in the Philippines on Wednesday at 4 p.m. on the ETC cable channel, with a replay in the evening on free television.

The season 2 premier of the hit show has been highly anticipated, in large part due to the scheduled appearance of Charice as a rival of the competitive and confident lead character, Rachel.

The episode, titled “Audition," centers around the efforts of Schuester to recruit new members when the budget of the glee club is slashed by the school administration. While putting up posters in the girls’ bathroom inviting students to join, Rachel notices Sunshine.

“You're from the Philippines, where it's sunny everyday," Rachel says brightly.

“Except for the monsoons," Sunshine points out.

Rachel is astounded when Sunshine, in earphones, begins singing along to the pop song “Telephone," popularized by Beyoncé and Lady Gaga. Rachel starts singing too, but the duet makes it clear that her role as the star of New Directions is threatened by Sunshine's voice.

Later, Rachel complains to the other members of the Glee club. "There is a new student at this school named Sunshine who is a Filipino and is shorter than me, which I didn't think was possible, and is very unnerving."

Reluctantly, Rachel adds, “And she has a remarkable voice."

After Rachel hatches a couple of plots to sabotage Sunshine’s audition, including sending her to a crack house, their rivalry culminates with the acceptance of Sunshine into the Glee club. But there are twists in the episode which dashes Schuester’s hopes of gaining valuable new additions to his group.—Larissa Mae Suarez/JV, GMANews.TV

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By NEIL RAMOS

September 1, 2010, 12:51pm

Charice (Kareem Black/MTV)

As expected, Filipino singing sensation Charice Pempengco is a hit among her castmates on the hit TV show, “Glee.”

Harry Shum, Jr. (who plays Mike Chang) is all praises for the young singer calling her an "incredible performer."

"She's great. Everyone knows she can sing, sing, sing. And people forget that outside of her being able to sing, she's an incredible performer. She loves to dance. It's a little funny talking to her because we talk about dance and she always shows me her moves," he shared.

Jenna Ushkowitz (who plays Tina Cohen-Chang), on the other hand, marvels "how a big voice can come out of such a little girl."

Amber Riley (who plays Mercedes Jones) described Charice with these words: "She's so sweet. I love her. She has an amazing, amazing voice."

Lea Michele (who plays Rachel Berry) says, “She is the teeniest, most wee person I've ever seen in my life. And she's so darling, she's so sweet. Just hearing her hum and sing backstage, she has a gorgeous voice."

On the show, Pempengco plays the role of an exchange student from the Philippines, who will also be a rival of sorts to the character Michele plays.

However, Michele suggested that reports may have overstated the rivalry between hers and Charice's characters.

"I would give [creator] Ryan Murphy a little bit more credit than that," she said. "She is going to be a rival in a sense, but... knowing Ryan he'll probably make us become best friends or something.”

"I'm interested to see where he goes because I don't think it's going to be what you think it's going to be. That's my prediction. But we might be in a catfight, I don't know."

Other changes being worked for the hit show is the addition of a a rival for Finn in football playing singer Sam and the potential loss of a few familiar faces.

Also joining the show in season two is Dot Jones as Coach Beiste the new football impresario who also serves as a legitimate enemy for Sue Sylvester.

TV icon Carol Burnett will also make an appearance on the show as Sue Sylvester’s mother.

Meanwhile, new magazine “20 Under 20″ included Pempengco among the 20 most popular and most influential teen celebrities in the world under age 20 alongside Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Lautner.

It also boldly predicted for Charice, “a high-ranking spot in an upcoming issue of 20 Under 20!”

Published in Manila Bulletin September 3, 2010.

'Glee' castmates let Charice feel the love

By NEIL RAMOS

September 1, 2010, 12:51pm

Charice (Kareem Black/MTV)

As expected, Filipino singing sensation Charice Pempengco is a hit among her castmates on the hit TV show, “Glee.”

Harry Shum, Jr. (who plays Mike Chang) is all praises for the young singer calling her an "incredible performer."

"She's great. Everyone knows she can sing, sing, sing. And people forget that outside of her being able to sing, she's an incredible performer. She loves to dance. It's a little funny talking to her because we talk about dance and she always shows me her moves," he shared.

Jenna Ushkowitz (who plays Tina Cohen-Chang), on the other hand, marvels "how a big voice can come out of such a little girl."

Amber Riley (who plays Mercedes Jones) described Charice with these words: "She's so sweet. I love her. She has an amazing, amazing voice."

Lea Michele (who plays Rachel Berry) says, “She is the teeniest, most wee person I've ever seen in my life. And she's so darling, she's so sweet. Just hearing her hum and sing backstage, she has a gorgeous voice."

On the show, Pempengco plays the role of an exchange student from the Philippines, who will also be a rival of sorts to the character Michele plays.

However, Michele suggested that reports may have overstated the rivalry between hers and Charice's characters.

"I would give [creator] Ryan Murphy a little bit more credit than that," she said. "She is going to be a rival in a sense, but... knowing Ryan he'll probably make us become best friends or something.”

"I'm interested to see where he goes because I don't think it's going to be what you think it's going to be. That's my prediction. But we might be in a catfight, I don't know."

Other changes being worked for the hit show is the addition of a a rival for Finn in football playing singer Sam and the potential loss of a few familiar faces.

Also joining the show in season two is Dot Jones as Coach Beiste the new football impresario who also serves as a legitimate enemy for Sue Sylvester.

TV icon Carol Burnett will also make an appearance on the show as Sue Sylvester’s mother.

Meanwhile, new magazine “20 Under 20″ included Pempengco among the 20 most popular and most influential teen celebrities in the world under age 20 alongside Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Lautner.

It also boldly predicted for Charice, “a high-ranking spot in an upcoming issue of 20 Under 20!”

Published in Manila Bulletin September 3, 2010.

Gloria Diaz turns the table on the Cebuanos

By NEIL RAMOS

September 3, 2010, 1:43pm

“I won’t go to Cebu until the Cebuanos, who misinterpreted what I said, apologize to me.”

This was the declaration of former Miss Universe Gloria Diaz after The Vice Mayors League of The Philippines- Cebu Chapter issued a resolution declaring her “persona non grata.”

“Persona non grata refers to criminals, right? Have I done something wrong? I think I was just misinterpreted by Cebuanos,” Diaz insisted.

The beauty queen maintained that she never made a statement putting down Cebuanos as people who cannot speak English.

“I didn’t say anything bad against Cebuanos. All I said was for the contestants to answer the question in the most comfortable language they could speak. Kung Ilocano, they speak in Ilocano. Kung Pampango, they speak in Pampango. Kung Bicolano, they speak in Bicolano. Kung Cebuano, they speak in Cebuano,” she added.

It was Cebu congresswoman Rachel "Cutie" del Mar who first raised a fuss over the statement that Diaz allegedly made recently in relation to Miss Universe Fourth Runner Up Venus Raj’s supposed blunder in the question and answer portion of the recently concluded contest.

ABS-CBN quoted Diaz as saying, "Kasi, when you think about a Cebuana [they] can hardly speak English and, of course, Tagalog, maybe she should answer in Bisaya."

Del Mar said it was improper for Diaz to belittle the Cebuanos---but Diaz denied doing so.

“I didn’t say Cebuano is lowly or bobo. Why would I say that? I mean, I might be mataray but I wouldn’t say such a thing. I love the Philippines. I love my people. My boyfriend is a Visayan so why would I say that?”

Meanwhile, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, himself a native of Cebu, has joined in on the ruckus, surprisingly as a defender of Diaz.

In a separate interview with ABS-CBN, Osmeña said Diaz was just misinterpreted. He also confirmed that Diaz's long-time boyfriend hails from Cebu.

"She was misinterpreted and misunderstood. What she meant is - do not answer in English if you are not too fluent. Use the language you are most comfortable with. After all, the sponsor provides interpreters. I agree with her," the senator said.

"We Filipinos understood what Venus was saying. But we should also appreciate that Americans and other peoples use different idioms and would not understand ours. Miss Diaz did not intend to insult the Cebuano people. Her longtime boyfriend for the last 12 years is from Cebu. "

In another interview, Diaz tried to put a stop to the brouhaha, saying, “Let me clarify it once and for all. People should have the right to say or to answer [questions] in whatever language they want to say it in. If they're Cebuanos, they can say it in Cebuano. I did not say that they [Cebuanos] did not speak English.”

“If you're Ilocano, say it in Ilocano. But if you're Ilocano who speaks good English, say it in English. If you're Cebuano who can speak Spanish, if you're comfortable with Spanish, say it in Spanish. That's what I said and that's what I meant,” she added.

Diaz said she is surprised about how people reacted to her statement.

"I was like, shocked. Everybody was so angry. I thought they're going [to] stone me to death. I want to just make people realize it is just, you know, say it with whatever you're comfortable with," she said.

Seemingly exasperated, Diaz pointed to other topics that she thinks people should focus on.

“There are still more important things to tackle in this nation, like the dengue issue, the Hong Kong sentiment about the hostage taking crisis, the economy. My God! I am very irrelevant.”

Published in Manila Bulletin September 3, 2010.