Top of the Morning: Coleen Garcia and Billy Crawford are Engaged!

1. Coleen Garcia and Billy Crawford are engaged!

Billy Crawford got down on one knee and proposed marriage to girlfriend Coleen Garcia yesterday, December 20, at Ninyo Fusion Cuisine in Quezon City. The couple's engagement was captured in photos by director Gino Santos, who then posted them on his Instagram account. "Omg! This just happened!!! Congratulations @coleengarcia & @billyjoecrawford I love you both!" says the caption, with the hashtag #ColeenSaidYes. Direk Gino, who directed Coleen in the movies #Y, Ex With Benefits, and Love Me Tomorrow, also revealed that Billy has been planning this proposal for almost a year now and was "nervous buying that ring." Back in April this year, Billy told Pep.ph that he had already asked Coleen's father for his daughter's hand in marriage and got his blessing. "I can't imagine myself without her," he said in a previous interview. Congratulations! (pep.ph)


2. Rufa Mae Quinto and husband graduate from birthing class

"Just graduated, me and @trevvvsilog, birthing class with Ms. Chiqui for our daughter baby girl @alexandriamagallanes! Oh so happy!" the newlywed wrote as caption to her Instagram post. Now in her third trimester of pregnancy, Rufa Mae revealed on Alexandria's Instagram account that her doctor highly recommends a water birth, but for now she's taking it easy and just wants to enjoy Christmas celebrations with the family. She recently had a baby shower in the ABS-CBN morning talk show Magandang Buhay. We can't wait to see baby Alexandria!


3. Look: Denise Laurel and son Alejandro's snowy Christmas photos

"Merry Christmas everyone!! From my family to urs!!!!" wrote the single mom. Denise revealed that this is the first time she and son Alejandro had a Christmas photo shoot. "We love it and had a blast shooting!!" she added. The photos were taken by Nice Print Photography at their Concept Room Studio. In an interview, Denise admitted that 2016 was a challenging year for her: besides a cancer scare in June, she and pro baller Sol Mercado also called of their long-term engagement in October. "I am focusing on getting healthy while working at the same time. I have cysts in my breast, my ovary... not cancerous but I still have it there," she said. On the possibility of getting back together with Sol, she said, "Just pray for us. He is a wonderful person." Denise is optimistic they can still be friends since they've "been together for such a long time. Kung saan niya ako dalahin, doon ako. I don’t regret anything kasi kung ano ang nangyayari, 'yun ang sinabi ni God," she said. (abs-cbn.com)


4. WATCH: First teaser trailer for The Emoji Movie

In what seems to be a first, the teaser for The Emoji Movie is in a vertical orientation, designed specifically to watch on smartphones without having to flip the screens sideways. It features the Meh Emoji, Ice Cream emoji, and the Poop Emoji. We have yet to see Gene, (T.J. Miller), an emoji with multiple expressions, and his friend Hi-5 (James Corden) as they team up with a notorious code breaker emoji named Jailbreak as they go on an "app-venture" through a teenagers’ phone, exploring apps like Spotify and Candy Crush to find the code to fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it gets deleted forever. The Emoji Movie hits theaters in August 2017.  (theverge.com)


5. BSP gives final reminder to exchange demonetized bills before the year ends

As has been announced, starting January 1, 2017, olds bills will no longer have value, thus the public is encouraged to exchange old bills, or the New Design Series (NDS) for the New Generation Currency (NGC) until December 31, 2016 only. These can be exchanged in banks, the Cash Department of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), or the various BSP offices nationwide. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), on the other hand, are given a one-year period to exchange their money, provided they register (click here) their NDS holdings up to December 31, 2017. Those in war-torn countries don’t need to register and may exchange their bills up to December 31, 2017.