2008's 8 Most Important People in Philippine Entertainment

The year 2008 is a success to our local entertainment industry, perhaps we have almost celebrated a lot of projects from our idols but I can say there are really those who seemed to hit the jackpot this year and are still deemed to continually receive enviable paychecks by next year. So let me just provide the 7 people who I ranked to have succeeded this year. The criteria are based on the the extent of their exposure plus their projects' magnitude of success within the year. Let me start from number seven so that I can put a little more excitement as we go through with the list.

7) KC Concepcion - This femme fatale is indeed worth of wait. A lot of people anticipated her projects from commercials until she had an initial share in the box office hit movie, "For the First Time". It grossed P14 million during the first showing day of the movie and she is even an official songstress with her debut album , a.k.a Cassandra. Definitely next year we'll be hearing more from her and let's wait if we can see a movie that will re-unite her mom and dad, Sharon and Gabby.

6) Sarah Geronimo- She is indeed a multi-media princess of today's generation of stars. From her successful movie tandem with John Lloyd up to her series of singing stints both in local and abroad.

5) Regine Velasquez - From her very stable and successful career, the Songbird finally got her own personal triumph with her love life. Then we can also commend her share with Kim Sam Soon's sky-rocketing tv ratings, plus a very good and interesting album entitled Low Keys.

4) Dingdong and Marian - they both share this year's success and even perhaps sharing something more together. Aside from their tandems they even have their own separate gimmicks such as commercials. Just now, they are certified box office couple for their movie "One True Love", plus the the very successful tv series: Marimar and Dyesebel.

3) Judy Ann Santos - no one can stop this girl getting more. Aside from her culinary skills, entrepreneurial projects, the inclusion of "Ploning" in the Academy Awards in foreign movies category is indeed something we Filipinos can truly be proud of.

2) Charice Pampenco - the success of this singer is one concrete proof that a real talent need not to be expensive, just the right opportunity. Now she is performing internationally along Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocceli and her ultimate idol, Celine Dion. She was even interviewed by extremely influential people in US such as Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey. We just can't wait until she finally achieves a number 1 rank in the US Billboard chart.

1) Manny Pacquiao - nearly few days before his match with Goldenboy, Oscar dela Hoya, Pacman is indeed considered a modern hero for us Filipinos and it will be a great treat that could help us temporarily forget both our political and economic depressions if he would win his match. Anyway, whatever will be outcome of his fight, still Pacman deserves this position. By the way, it is official that Manny will be the cover model of the Readers Digest for next month and it was said to be working good with the publishing's subscription sales.

Again the list is just based on my own perception and you may either agree with me or not. I may not be a columnist or a reporter in media but I guess we are all entitled with our own opinions and rest assured that this was done objectively and based on my keen observations. The list is definitely a result of my own share of participation by watching their movies, reading articles about them, buying their original CDs, and many more.