Top of the Morning: Denise Laurel and Sol Mercado Call Off Engagement

1. Denise Laurel and Sol Mercado call off engagement

A day after basketball team Barangay Ginebra won the PBA Governor's Cup championship, actress Denise Laurel announced via Instagram that she and long-time fiancé Sol Mercado of Barangay Ginebra had called off their engagement. "From now on Sol and I are just friends," her now-deleted post read. “I am very happy for him and I have learned so much from him! But please don't tag me first on anything that has to do with him. We both tried our best. Thank you, appreciate you all," Denise said. She also clarified that they did not break up because of a third party, nor did Sol do anything to wrong her. "He's amazing and brought so much into my life. God has something planned for us both," the Kapamilya actress added. Denise apologized the next day to Sol and his family for the horrible timing of the announcement. Just a week ago, she was seen watching a Ginebra game and her 5-year-old son Alejandro wearing Sol's basketball jersey. Sol and Denise got engaged in October 2013. In June 2016, Denise said they are postponing the wedding to be able to prepare for it properly. (pep.ph)


2. Watch baby Zia answer the question: 'Sino love ni Mama?'

Encantadia actress Ana Feleo was so smitten by her adorable inaanak baby Zia's antics when she visited Kapuso co-star Marian Rivera that she shared some of the videos she took of them on Instagram. In one of the videos, Marian asks her daughter "Who loves Mama?" Hear her answer in the above video and you be the judge. We think there's a "dada" or "papa" there somewhere. Baby Zia has also won her first award when she was named the Most Popular Celebrity Baby at the PUSH Awards 2016. Also nominated were Lucia Intal (Bianca Gonzalez and JC Intal's daughter), Scarlet Snow Belo (Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho's daughter), Olivia Reyes (Andi Manzano and GP Reyes's daughter), and Amarah Khatibi (Cristine Reyes and Ali Khatibi's daughter). Congratulations! (gmanetwork.com)


3. Cedric Lee vows to get his daughter back
"As I promised my daughter, I will have her back in my arms even if her stubborn mother takes her away from me. I will put my honor, my money, my time, all my effort and even my life at stake to fulfill that promise to my daughter," Cedric said in an exclusive interview by Pep.ph. He says he's going to file another libel case against singer-actress Vina Morales for her statements during an interview on Tonight with Boy Abunda where she alleged that Cedric 'kidnapped' their daughter while she was out of the country on vacation with boyfriend Marc Lambert. Cedric's camp had already filed six libel complaints against Vina. His camp also plans to file a perjury case and civil cases for all the damages caused. "We hope to get all her warrants of arrest issued by November. That’s Pasig, Paranaque, Mandaluyong, Caloocan, and Cabanatuan," Cedric said. (pep.ph)


4. DepEd will no longer retweet class suspensions
The decision comes after the official Twitter account of the Department of Education (DepEd) erroneously tweeted that classes in all levels in Metro Manila were suspended on Thursday, October 20, due to supertyphoon Lawin. The basis for the tweet turned out to be a fake website, so it was later deleted, causing confusion. Secretary Leonor Briones apologized for the error and said they are looking into the matter so that it won't happen again. The apology also comes with an appeal to the public to refrain from sharing unverified or malicious #walangpasok announcements.

Suspension of classes are no longer under the jurisdiction of the DepEd. Only local government units and local chief executives may suspend classes when no storm warning signal is advised by PAGASA. Under the PAGASA guidelines, a Storm Signal No. 1 means automatic suspension of classes for the preschool level. Storm Signal No. 2 means elementary, high school, and senior high school classes are automatically suspended, while Storm Signal No.3 would mean suspension of classes on all levels. For higher education institutions, mayors and the heads of private colleges and universities have the discretion to suspend classes when no storm signals are raised during inclement weather. (gmanetwork.com)


5. BSP reminds the public to exchange old money

IMAGE bsp.gov.ph

December 31, 2016 is the deadline to exchange old bills or the New Design Series (NDS) paper bills for the New Generation Currency (NGC) in banks, the Cash Department of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), or the various BSP offices nationwide. The BSP had announced back in 2015 that the said bills will only have monetary value until 2015. On the other hand, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are given a one-year period to exchange their money, provided they register their NDS holdings starting October 1 this year. Those in war-torn countries don’t need to register and may exchange their bills up to December 31, 2017. (interaksyon.com)