Travel with the Stars

Wanderlust. It seems that many of our showbiz stars have been bitten by the travel bug, often as much as or even more than their love of building their dream homes and buying nice cars and luxury bags. "The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page,” St. Augustine once said, and we here at S magazine agree!

In this March issue, which marks the start of the hot and enjoyable Philippine summer, we're grateful to our various stars for sharing their travel photos and experiences—many of which are exclusive stories only for S magazine. We also have exclusive S photos of GMA 7's newest and most exciting Starstruck finalists—whom we believe are future stars of showbiz—in our pictorial with the theme "Road trip to success”. Enjoy reading and let's travel too!  

-- Wilson Lee Flores, editor in chief
Email the editor willsoonflourish@gmail.com

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Thanks to the gracious invitation of Iriga City Mayor Madelaine Alfelor-Gazmen last February 9 to 12, we witnessed the Tinagba harvest festival, and we also saw the energies and creativity of the nine groups of street dance youths representing different parts of Bicol.

To me, the highest point of my entire trip to Iriga was my requesting the driver of our van to bring me to the railway tracks where the Philippines' iconic Nora Aunor used to peddle water as a poor kid. The place around the railway tracks seemed unchanged. In fact, I took photos of some little girls there, imagining that Nora used to be like them.

Nora is a unique "rags-to-riches” saga—the Philippines' only Superstar. Please do not miss the Nora Aunor tribute of our columnist and respected showbiz expert Ronald Constantino. Tempo entertainment editor Nestor Cuartero said to us: "Do not judge Nora Aunor based on her imperfect personal life, but judge and assess her because of her body of work.”

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I wish to take this opportunity to thank our extremely talented and hardworking outgoing Managing Editor Susan "Sue” de Guzman who is a top art curator and U.P. Mass Comm. as well as U.P. Museum Studies masters degree graduate (she prefers to focus on art), and also our resourceful and diligent outgoing editorial assistant Krystle Malinis (who is moving to her first love of interior design via joining S magazine's sister magazine called My Home).

Sue and Krystle: We are grateful for your valuable support during our transition period in late 2008 and throughout 2009 as the new team at S. Thanks for helping our team effort in changing S for the better, so that the general public and Philippine entertainment can help a showbiz magazine alternative. We wish you success and more exciting journeys ahead!

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In this issue, we'd like to welcome four new members of our dynamic S editorial team: Manila Bulletin showbiz columnist and GMA Artist Center Publicity Director Shirley Matias-Pizarro as our contributing editor; Philippine Daily Inquirer lifestyle writer Mark Sablan as our new managing editor; De La Salle University St. Benilde graduate Marci Delfin as lay-out artist to assist our art director Mark del Rosario, and U.P. Mass Comm. graduate Darylle Evie Mae Catabay as our new editorial assistant. They couldn't have joined at a better time, since—as you must have already noticed by now—it is a brand new S magazine that you are holding. We've packed this issue with even more meaty, interesting and exclusive reads, filled it with must-see photos, and made our lay-out fresher, more colorful, and more pleasing to the eyes—in our commitment to give you nothing but the best.

And so we welcome you to a new and improved S, the Philippines' most exciting glossy monthly magazine, chronicling and celebrating stars and scoops. Contrary to some people's misconceptions, we at S magazine are not out to rival or compete head-on with other showbiz magazines because the world is not a zero-sum game--there's room for growth without grabbing competitors' markets and because we envision S magazine to be refreshingly different and innovative. 



Me, together with S Magazine Managing Editor Mark Sablan, Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson (who are the new endorsers of ODM and Bench watches), and Emerson Yao and Marnie Chua of Lucerne, which distributes ODM, Bench and other luxury brands in the Philippines