The mentor for Mindanao is Phillip Salvador, Southern Luzon is Gina Alajar, Mega-Manila is Roderick Paulate, Central and Northern Luzon is Ricky Davao and Visayas is Jolina Magdangal (who had a accidental bad fall at ‘Party Pilipinas’ and her foot is now on cast so she wasn’t at the press presentation last Sunday night). GMA exec Darling de Jesus said two winners (one boy, one girl) will be chosen and they’ll win a total of P12 million in cash and in kind.
We asked Ricky Davao how he felt while conducting the auditions? “Mahirap,” he says. “Ang daming sad stories. May anak ng taxi driver, katulong, pastor, at kung anu-ano pa, pero dapat, di ka padala roon. Sa SM Pampanga where I went, 550 people auditioned. We chose 66 at sinala pa, ngayon, 11 lang ang natira roon. My main dilemma is I give more weight to acting ability, but this is a visual medium so dapat, looks muna ang priority. Kaya lang, dito, ang mga tumatagal, yung may talent talaga. E, ako, ramdam ko agad kung marunong umarte o hindi, e. Importante rin for me ang attitude toward the profession.”
“What we’re actually looking for is the actual package, looks and talent,” says Phillip. “Parang Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon na tatagal talaga sa industry. Kaya lang, ang hirap hanapin noon. I’m not satisfied with looks alone, but you hope na sana, ma-develop sila to be good performers. Suwerte nga sila kasi hahasain talaga sila ng GMA with us as their mentors.”
Gina Alajar says: “Hindi ko alam kung magkakalamat ang pagkakaibigan namin dahil dito as the mentors.”
“Basta ako,” says Phillip, “I won’t compete with anyone but myself. Basta pagbubutihin ko ang pagiging mentor ko for the sake of my protégés.”
The judges are Joey and Bert de Leon, Cherie Gil and GMA Films Pres. Annette Gozon-Abrogar. Aside from Jennylyn, Maxene Magalona will be hosting the webisodes on the internet, Carla Abellana the Protege journey showing the finalists in their various homes and Dingdong Dantes the gala night on weekends.
And here are the standouts for us from the various regions. Mindanao: Steffiner Pacheco, 16; Angeline Argel, 19; and Archimedes Udaundo, 16; all from Davao City. From the Visayas: Alicezandra Sommerauer, 17, from Cebu; John Kevin Durano, 18, from Danao; and Ian Sergs Jamin, 21, from Biliran. Southern Luzon: Ivana Jane Villanueva, 19, from San Pablo. Northern & Central Luzon: Isaac Jacob de Leon, 18, from Pampanga; Herminio Batongbacal, 17, from Nueva Ecija; Dale Arehl David (she’s a girl), 15, from Angeles. From Mega-Manila: Harissah Abdallah, 19, from Alabang; Christopher Leonardo, 20, from Laguna; Nicole Kim Donesa, 18, and Zanaia Victa Koetz, both from Antipolo.
These are just our personal choices. As you can see, we were not able to complete the requirement of getting four finalists from each region. Most of those we saw are just plain looking and have no movie star appeal at all.
