MANILA, Philippines – The groups behind the Philippines’ longest running noon show Eat Bulaga! held competing 44th anniversary celebrations on Saturday, July 29.

Television and Production Exponents Incorporated (TAPE), the blocktimer of Eat Bulaga! on leading broadcast firm GMA Network Incorporated (GMA), unveiled a new opening theme song on GMA-7 as TVJ Productions, led by veteran showbiz trio Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon, celebrated “National Dabarkads Day” on E.A.T. on their new channel TV5. 

Their dispute over the Eat Bulaga! trademark remains pending in court and before the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

At the APT Studios in Cainta, Rizal, Eat Bulaga! host Isko Moreno said the new rap-like song, Tahanang Pinakamasaya Eat Bulaga!, will now be played when opening their show, replacing the Eat Bulaga! theme song created by Vic Sotto and Vicente Dy Buncio. Watch and listen to the song in this video below uploaded on TAPE’s Facebook account.

“Ang bagong kanta ng Eat Bulaga ay maririnig na nationwide at sa buong mundo sa TV at Facebook… (This new Eat Bulaga opening song will now be heard nationwide and around the world via TV and Facebook),” he said. Co-host Paolo Contis said the new song was more attuned to the times.

Moreno and Contis also announced that TAPE will revive the kids’ beauty-talent contest Little Miss Philippines starting next week. The competition was where some of the Philippines’ singers and actresses – Ice Seguerra, Gladys Reyes, Jessa Zaragoza, Camille Prats – were discovered.

Inside the TV5 studio in Mandaluyong City, Tito, Vic, and Joey, wearing identical red shirts with the number 44, held an emotional first act with all the Legit Dabarkads who left TAPE on June 30, performing special numbers with videos of their old photos shown on the background. 

They also relayed their best wishes to E.A.T. mainstay and social media influencer Maine Mendoza who married actor-politician Arjo Atayde in Baguio City on a rainy July 28, Friday. On his Instagram account, De Leon sang a revised Eat Bulaga! song to the couple.

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A post shared by Joey de Leon (@angpoetnyo)

“Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Atayde,” said Vic Sotto on E.A.T. after the trio sang Rock Baby Rock, one of the biggest hits of the defunct Filipino band, VST & Company.  

In a TV5 Twitter post, Tito Sotto, a devout Catholic, told the couple that God should be at the center of their relationship, and that they should accept one another for what they are.

Ciara Sotto, Danica Sotto, and Jocas de Leon, daughters of Tito, Vic, and Joey, respectively, performed a song number on E.A.T. “Never not supporting our dads… kahit saang panig ng mundo (in any part of the world),” Ciara said on her Instagram account.

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A post shared by Ciara Sotto (@pinaypole)

Tito’s wife, actress Helen Gamboa, likewise did a song number after which the 74-year-old former Senate president gave her a kiss on the neck. The couple celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary this year.

On Eat Bulaga!, celebrities Alma Moreno and her ex-husband Joey Marquez played a Pinoy Henyo-like word game Word of the Rings against Zoren Legaspi and his daughter, Eat Bulaga! mainstay Cassy. 

E.A.T. gave away 44 livelihood packages – Kabuhayan for Every Juan – sponsored by supermarket brand Puregold, and two Yamaha motorbikes, while Eat Bulaga! raffled off P44,000 each to seven winners and gave away P100,000 worth of San Miguel Foods products. – Rappler.com

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