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| The Show Will Go On! How the Gurfinkels Saved the Day |
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Their myriad success stories are already for the books. But this one other big story, tells Millie Gurfinkel, the admirable better half of immigration lawyer to the stars and TFC’s Citizen Pinoy program host Atty. Michael Gurfinkel, is definitely a make or break.
"Michael and I actually asked each other, do we really need this?" she relates, in Asian Journal’s recent breakfast with her at the Bayview Hotel in Manila. "It was call of duty that prompted us to take on the job. Somebody had to do it. And we were there."
Millie is talking about the petition denials en masse at the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) in Manila of ABS-CBN’s Star Magic World Tour entourage, composed of more than 50 stars and other skeletal staff and TV talent executives, (after a paralegal, hired to process the visas, filed the petitions in the wrong category). The world tour, slated at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, California, LA on June 27 at 7pm, could have been a major disappointment, if not for the intervention of the Law Offices of Michael Gurfinkel.
But Millie humbly relates her own fear when, with so little time and so much to work on, they took on the challenge. "I was very scared, this group is big group we are talking about," she says. "But everything fell into place, perhaps. Our staff worked round the clock, only catching naps every once in a while. We made sure the stars and the staff had it right in all their papers, (and that everything was properly filed and documented.”)
The husband and wife team of the Gurfinkels had made miracles in the past. Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez made it to a major US concert in the last minute. And so did Wowowee sensation Willie Revillame, perhaps one of the richest men in Philippine entertainment.
The formula, says Millie, is sheer hard work, determination, and constant inspiration. Quietly resting in their laurels, this new challenge of making the show possible for this bunch of ABS-CBN Star Magic talents, brought work of the law offices to an all-new level. "It really looked like we were on L.A. Law. We in America would call the Makati offices constantly, even in the wee hours of the morning. We were on our toes. I personally called not only to follow up things but to motivate the staff."
Joining the breakfast is ABS-CBN Talent Development and Management Center’s Joy Lomibao, who worked with the law offices at zero hour. As Star Magic’s mother hen, she oversees all things logistic, even the change of flights of the stars going to the world tour, led by prime talents like Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, Claudine Barretto, Bea Alonzo, Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson. She knew from the beginning that any wrong move could spell further disaster.
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