Filipino celebrities dominate Asian entertainment hub Singapore

December 7, 2024 | 12:00am

While everyone was busy doomscrolling about what happened with Maris Racal and Anthony Jennings, we were setting our sights on our very own local celebrities making waves in the Asian scene in Singapore.

I was just there with more than a dozen Filipino content creators a week ago, and we went back this week for yet two major events that required Filipino presence.

First was the Asian Academy Creative Awards, where we saw Raymond Gutierrez. Mond was the redcarpet host and has been doing it for three years now.

Before this, he has been constantly hosting and collaborating with creatives in Singapore and the entertainment scene there since his hosting stint for E! News back in the day.

Now that he hosted the Asian Academy Creative Awards, he is prouder than ever to see more and more Filipino celebrities making their mark at the prestigious awards night.

The awards have been established to serve the creative industries as the pinnacle of their achievement in content creation and media production.

It is open to the entire Asia-Pacific region, the Asian Academy Creative Awards honor excellence across multiple platforms, including television, feature films, digital, mobile, streaming and any other emerging technologies. So, for Mond, seeing more Filipinos only means one thing, “We bring a lot to the table. Professionalism. We have our own unique stories to tell, ang daming pwedeng ambag ng Pinoy on a regional level.”

This year, we also saw Dimples Romana as a judge and presenter for the night. She looked ethereal in her ecru Vania Romoff gown.

Dimples told us that it is important as a Filipino to get to also have a say and judge the content that we are seeing from different regions. Hence, the reason why she would not miss this for the world.

“I’m just here for eight hours. I’m going back to my morning show (‘Gud Morning Kapatid’) after this,” said she.

Singapore now feels like a Philippine showbiz extension.

We also attended the “Asia TV Forum and Market,” where producers, buyers and distributors mingle to find the next best series to air in their respective countries.

We saw ABS-CBN studios having a big booth. Viva Entertainment was doing well in terms of having programs that were shown in countries such as Japan, Southeast Asia and Africa.

GMA also had a booth.

We also got to chat with Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chairman Joey Reyes, who was on his toes going around and checking in on our local producers.

Unlike other countries that have pavilions, which enabled them to showcase many titles in a united setting, Filipino booths were scattered.

That is why chairman Reyes said that he would strive to afford us our very own pavilion next year.

“We are considering to cancel our participation in other film festivals next year. So, we can transfer the funds here. For the record, we have 27 Filipino producers who are here. So, it’s best to concentrate our budget here and in Hong Kong and Busan,” said he.

Rein Entertainment was also there as it showcased the upcoming series, “Drug War: A Conspiracy of Silence,” to the international buyers.

After its presentation, interested buyers from countries like Taiwan approached the people behind it right after.

Actor Ian Veneracion was so surprised and grateful for the love the international crowd had shown his project.

“It seems like they all liked what they saw. Nakaka-excite syempre. Kwento natin ito, kwento ng mga Pilipino,” said he.

It was already a great start for us but producer and director Lino Cayetano stressed the importance of bonding together on the international arena to help our stories go further.

“Dito mo makikita perspektibo na if hindi tayo magkakampihan sa entertainment industry, eh di sino tayo? Tingnan mo ito kalaban natin? Kailangan talaga natin magtulungan,” said he.