MANILA, Philippines – JUST A THOUGHT: When faced with a situation where aggression is an option, the silent and calm emerges as the real man.

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YOUNG ACHIEVERS: It has become some kind of a status symbol among GMA Network artists to cross over from entertainment to news and public affairs.

Somehow, it adds up to their true value as a media personality, says a veteran actor who swears by the credibility established by the network’s news department. The latest to follow in the footsteps of Richard Gutierrez to sign up for shows under the News Department are Rhian Ramos and Solenn Heussaff, hosts of “In The Limelight” and “Fash Book,” respectively.

The two shows premiered recently, on the week of Feb. 28, on the freshly inaugurated GMA News TV. Without citing numbers, Rhian proudly shared with media guests during an interview March 1 that her show ranked third after that of Jessica Soho’s in the list of top-rating shows on the newest news channel in town.

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SHE WON’T DENY IT: Landing an entertainment news program, aired nightly at 7:30, has made Rhian now more aware of news and bits and pieces of gossip surrounding her co-actors.

Her close friend, Mo Twister, tells her at first you will enjoy all this trivia and non-trivia that gets to you, but, he warns, there will come a point when you’d wish you didn’t know such hidden information.

Rhian is also bracing for the time when news about her will break and will need clarification. She promises to tell it all, first, on “Limelight.”

While hosting her own show will now give Rhian a platform to defend herself in the face of raging issues, it will also not allow her to deny them. Her new show, as envisioned by her news department producers, is anchored on transparency backed by well thought out research.

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MAKEOVER BY SOLENN: Another fast-rising achiever is Solenn Heussaff, the French-Filipina mestiza who zoomed to viewers’ consciousness as a castaway in the most recent edition of “Survivor Philippines.”

It has been a whirlwind showbiz career for Solenn, who has followed up her hit TV appearance with a movie (“My Valentine Girls”) and a progressing romance with the movie’s leading man, Richard Gutierrez.

Solenn has now just landed a show that’s almost tailored for her background and taste. “Fash Book” is a show that aims to empower people with a new look and a newer outlook in life.

The show, according to Solenn, will not just attempt to improve the looks of a person, but more so, it will also “makeover” him from the inside.

A four-man team composed of a face and hair master Jigs Mayuga, style expert Eric Poliquit, life coach and psychologist Miss A (Ali Gui), and Solenn herself will attend to the outward and inward needs of their subjects.

The twin promises raise greater expectations for the show. Can it actually make you beautiful inside and out?

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NOT QUITE KOREAN: At first blush, they look like another Korean boy group whose members wear trendy fashion and spike their hair.

AJ Muhlach, one of eight singing-dancing members of XLR8 (read that as Accelerate) clears not one of them is Korean, although members Mel John and Mel Mar, known as MJ and MM, respectively, look like they they’ve just checked in from Phnom Penh.

Barely a year old as a group formed by Viva, XLR8 is mounting a breakout concert at the Aliw Theater on April 1. AJ says all of the boys have dropped out of school to focus on the demands of a boy band, including Sunday gigs on the GMA show, “Party Pilipinas.”

AJ himself, a son of former actor and movie producer Alvaro Muhlach, has quit his Applied Physics studies at UST. He has enrolled, however, in a Guitar course in the same university.

MJ used to study Architecture at the Mapua, but has now trained his sights on composing and producing records. The rest of XLR8’s members are Kiko, Aki, Caleb, Arkin and Carlo.

Claiming that the group’s name combines the words excel and accelerate, it looks like it’s just a matter of time before the boys can turn things around and become stars, achievers under 20 in their own right.

(nescuar@yahoo.com)