OMG! Shalani Soledad is Celebrity of the Year

Okay, this is a piece that once upon a time, I would never, ever have thought of writing. I’m talking about maybe 15 to 20 years ago when, as a young reporter, I would happily troop with other rookies to a press conference and meet all the techie reporters and interview the CEO who looked like a techie nerd himself. So why am I here, in this half-lit room of VIPs, wannabe VIPs, men in suits and gorgeous, svelte women who looked like their main preoccupation every single minute of the day was to lay down on a tanning bed and acquire that golden skin tone? Yes, it’s hard to find your place among all these gorgeous bodies. And the men! THE MEN! When I accepted the invitation to show up here, I gleefully told my young trainee that I wouldn’t be able to identify more than half of the handsome and well-dressed men in the crowd. So here I am – ogling Mark Nelson’s back and admiring his profile. He was dashing in a simple striped blue shirt but looked taller on TV, at least in the Amazing Race Season 2. Of course, his mystique is not complete without the presence of his buddy Rovilson Fernandez, who arrived in a black suit. Going around the floor – actually the dance floor, which became the cocktail area for the stars – I bumped into fellow blogger Arvin, who co-wrote a book of essays and was enthusiastically taking pictures of the many celebrities. More than half of the guests on the floor were virtually unknown to me – after all, I haven’t really been following the tweets and news about home-grown stars and starlets since I packed up my bags and left the Philippines more than a decade ago. There was Raymund Gutierrez, brother of Ruffa Gutierrez; Stephen Ku, owner of Embassy SuperClub; Kate Torralba, the fashion designer; Tricia Gosengfiao, fashion blogger plus celebrity in her own right; and a bevy of models from the Mercator Fashion Agency. The vast collection of celebrities and VIPs definitely made heads turn, everyone’s eyes all big and round at every sighting. And I was there in the middle taking it all in. This was the “coming-out party" of the Yahoo OMG! Awards, according to Yahoo Philippines Country Editor Erwin Lemuel Oliva. He said the OMG! Awards is the first of its kind in the Philippines, and was launched to recognize the most-searched celebrities in the entertainment site of Yahoo! The event was held at the Resorts World last June 21. “Filipinos like entertainment, so we launched the Yahoo! OMG site," Oliva told GMA News Online. “But other than just an entertainment site, the Yahoo! OMG site is a platform for potential new talent in the country to be discovered. So we have fashion and celebrity bloggers like Alodia Gosiengfiao or Karylle Padilla (daughter of Zsa Zsa Padilla with former husband Dr. Modesto Tatlonghari)." Oliva said Yahoo! OMG is a strategy for getting more local content in the Philippine site of the popular search engine. “It’s a mix and match of Hollywood and Pinoy content," he enthuses.
Chika Minute report on the OMG! awards From the compilations and trend analysis of the Yahoo! Team, the awards ceremony churned out 72 nominees in 18 categories. Winners were determined based on the site’s popular search queries and polling methods. Okay, I agree with you Mr. Oliva. I just wish I had the chance to say hi to my favorite actor and model Derek Ramsey, who was surprisingly in the running for the award of Breakthrough Artist – Male. Oh well, at least the ebullient comedian Vice Ganda bagged the award for Funniest Comedian. – YA/TJD, GMA News