Another “first” for
the Philippines?

Nora Aunor for national artist? Well, it will be another first for the country. For the first time, I'm sure, we will have a national icon who was convicted for drug use in the United States, and who could not come home for years because she had to be watched and monitored by the American police until she had served her penalty.

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Nora will indeed be a record breaker, because none of those who were awarded as national artist before had been convicted of any crime, much less one involving drug use. And in a foreign country, at that. So, after she gets named as national artist, parents can tell their drug-addicted children that there is still hope for them to become awarded as national icons of the country. And of course anybody who backs her will probably get her strong endorsement come election time. There are still lots of Noranians in the country, you know.

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I have nothing personal against Nora Aunor, I met her first when she was a virtual unknown, shortly after she won the Tawag ng Tanghalan contest – truly, unlike some people who falsely claim to have won it. She was then a slip of a girl, so dark-skinned but so alert with those very expressive eyes. This was at the burial of the mother of showbiz personality, Ike Lozada, one of her advisers. You could see she was a “promdi”, but none of us who tried to make her feel at ease then, could draw her out because she was very painfully shy.

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I have followed her career since then and admired her, although I admit I have not seen any movie of hers, particularly the award-winning ones. But I admired her for her talent and guts, even when she began getting into unfortunate love affairs. But she is a survivor, she came home recently and still connected with her old friends in show business. Unfortunately, she lost her famous singing voice, supposedly from a botched operation in Japan. Some people suspect, though, that her affair with illegal drugs could have been the culprit. Maybe she will regain it after she gets honored as a National Artist? Let's hope so, and let's hope she will not go through any lapses afterward. We don't want a NATIONAL artist being nabbed for drugs, do we?

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Meanwhile, another Filipino singer is in the international news. Well, Jessica Sanchez may be half-Mexican, they say, but her looks are entirely Filipino, don't you think? And many believe her talent is also Filipino-based. Jessica, as we know, is now among the finalists in the popular American Idol contest, where she is the youngest in the chosen group. But she almost failed to make it last week when the online voters, on whose votes the finalists depend for inclusion did not pick her.

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It is strange that, while there are so-called judges in the contest, they obviously are not the ones picking the winners, and only serve as critics of the performances of the singers. In a way, the selection is comparable to that of fiesta queens, or promotional contests of some entities, where the Miss-this-or-that is determined by ballots cut out from newspapers or from stubs of tickets sold by candidates or their friends and families.

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Anyway, Jessica almost fell out, and would have done so if it were not for the support of the judges, Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler, who stood up to support her, enabling her to be in the running again this week. Filipinos who are excited over her chances are now asking how they can help her, and yesterday, we came upon an item in the internet giving instructions on how to vote for her. Her supporters who posted it say that we can do this for FREE. And this will work from anywhere in the world, it also said.

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It says: “If you have Magic Jack or NetTalk phones in Pinas, you can vote for Jessica by dialing the toll free number that will be assigned to her after the American Idol show. Check the American Idol website or Jessica Sanchez facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessica-Sanchez/51158140363   to find out the toll free number she got for that episode. You have 2 chances to vote: 10 a.m.-12 noon and 1p.m.-3p.m. on Thursday Manila time. If you get a busy tone (try at least twice to be sure) on the first time slot, that means your Magic Jack or NetTalk phone has a West Coast number, so trying dialing on the second time slot (1-3p.m.). You can vote as many times as you want via dial method. If you get a busy tone, it means the voting is closed.

“If you don't have Magic Jack or Nettalk phone, you can also try dialing from your computer using Skype for free. If you got a busy tone on the first time slot, try the second time slot. If you have Skype app on your smartphones, that should work too.”*

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