MANILA, Philippines - (Thumbs up) Lesley Mobo, Rafe Totengco, Tina Ocampo, Bea Valdes and of course, Monique Lhuillier, Josie Natori, Budji Layug, Kenneth Cobonpue and the Movement 8.

The parade of Filipino names making waves abroad continues, enough to eclipse or at least match the bad buzz, one hopes, raised by the scalawags on the front page. Each time the going gets rough, the Filipino talent renews your faith in the Filipino.

Interestingly, spearheading this proud-to-be-Filipino advocacy, at the center of the action is a retiree?Jaime Zobel de Ayala.

What drew him back to the public eye was his idea to launch the ?Bravo Filipino? series of activities at Greenbelt 5 to showcase the works of Filipino designers and musicians. Greenbelt 5 is also where retail history is being made?for the first time, Filipino designers are showing and selling their merchandise in the entire wing. A no mean gamble for the Ayala Group.

For the first time in a long while, Zobel de Ayala, chair emeritus of the Ayala Group, hosted a sizeable dinner in his home last week for the artists and all those who helped mount ?Bravo Filipino.?

He was in high spirits as he mingled with artists Ryan Cayabyab, Louie Ocampo, Basil Valdez?and he even crooned his very own version of ?Moon River.? Now, that?s Filipino talent.

(Thumbs up) A Calma in NY

The most recent design talent to make it in New York is Lorena Calma whose clothes are in the latest issue of US Marie Claire.

Lorena is the daughter of Lor Calma, himself a pillar of Filipino design, architecture and sculpture, and a sister of Ed Calma, one of the most sought-after talents in design today.

Lorena was studying to be a lawyer at the University of the Asia-Pacific until it dawned on her that art was her passion.

Fifteen years ago, she studied design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, then trained at Salvatore Ferragamo?s school in Florence, Italy.

She then worked for Giorgio Armani, learning design and sourcing. Back in New York, she stayed in her parents? apartment in the East Side, worked for the Ungaro company until she decided to freelance.

Today, the 34-year-old designer has two labels, Lorena, the high-end, tailored limited edition line, and Yenyen, a younger, sporty line.

Last year, she presented her collection in Paris with great success. She is also consultant of Gap and Banana Republic.

She is preparing her Fall-Winter collection. Between deadlines, she hies off to a farm which she bought.

?Where did you get your money,? asked her father.

?Don?t worry about money!? she replied. Now that?s an easy lesson on prosperity.

(Thumbs down)Missed manners

Over lunch, some old-fashioned but apparently well-bred matrons were overheard bemoaning the death of urbanidad. What?s that?

Pretty hard to explain. Yet you can simply pin it down to good breeding?where gracious, kind manners and the right values are manifested every time, in and out of the glare of public eye.

Recent examples of how urbanidad can be missing even in the chic urban enclaves. A family, now cash-strapped, decides to sell its ancestral home which readily had a buyer.

Old and finely built, the house had materials antiques lovers would die for. The broker was in for a great surprise when, she and the buyer visited the house after the purchase was made. It had been stripped of its fine wood flooring. In fact, the house had been, in a manner of speaking, picked to the bone.

And we thought lugging home a wedding?s entire table centerpiece was already post-modern Manila?s ultimate example of missed manners.

(Thumbs down)Portalet with Bonifacio

Whenever it?s time to honor heroes, a depressing sight welcomes us at the Bonifacio Monument in Calookan, where festivities are usually held.

There?s a portalet right there on the monument grounds, a spit away from the Guillermo Tolentino masterpiece. A portalet in a national shrine.

(Thumbs down)Seeing red

Once a diva, always a diva.

In one photo shoot, this über-controversial actress and in-demand product endorser, lashed out at a member of the production crew because the girl?s bright red T-shirt was ?distracting? Miss Diva.

The poor girl had to put on a black jacket over her T-shirt, but this wasn?t enough apparently. The jacket had a gold sequin design on the front that Miss Tabloid Royalty still found to be an eye sore. She screamed at the girl again to cover it up.

?This may sound strange but it really happened,? said our mole, who was present at the shoot. ?She was a real pain... I kept wondering how a guy could stand a bi*** like her.?

The guy?s mother must be wondering, too.

(Thumbs down)No ad

Blame it on that killer blog. A beauty company pulled out its ad that was to launch this girl-about-town as endorser.

(Thumbs down)Pill popping

Stars hooked on the (diet) pill. Competing with younger, prettier things must be tough for older?okay, 30something?actresses that some are reportedly getting hooked on diet pills. It seems liposuction just doesn?t cut it anymore.

One ex-beauty queen has been telling friends she was on weight-loss pills for two months, but had to stop because she got headaches and mood swings.

The drastic weight loss of another actress, a girlfriend of a tycoon, is also attributed to diet pills, according to rumors.

The near-anorexic frame of a petite sexy actress, however, is courtesy of something not quite as innocuous as a pill. Rumor says the woman is hooked on shabu.

(Thumbs down)Wow he!

Eyes are on this controversial celeb who?s been amassing wealth from unexplained sources.

He?s been raising eyebrows at the rate he?s snapping up properties way beyond his means. New acquisitions include a new house in a posh village, a yacht and a vacation house in Tagaytay.

Rumor has it he?s even financing his friends? online gambling habits.