What if Korean actor Ji Chang-wook and Ilongga lady are really ‘sweethearts’?

By Alex P. Vidal

“Fairy tales can come true it can happen to you if you’re young at heart.

For it’s hard, you will find to be narrow of mind if you’re young at heart.”—Frank Sinatra in Young At Heart

I WON’T be dwelling on the hullabaloo that rocked the alleged scheduled appearance of popular Korean actor-singer Ji Chang-wook in Iloilo City on November 8, which has now been reportedly scrapped.

I don’t have the complete details, thus I am not in the position to tackle it.

Since rumors had swirled around that Ji and his supposed Iloilo producer, Cleo “Cleigh” Dimayuga, could have a “deeper” relationship, I will go straight to the jugular: there must be more than meets the eye in the controversy.

To begin with, I will assume, as Cleigh had sworn to me repeatedly, that the Ji Chang-wook, who will have a confirmed show in Manila on November 7, is the same Ji Chang-wook who is “known to her personally” and “who may have maintained a dalliance with her in the past six months.”

(I am not urging the readers to swallow hook, line, and sinker the claim of a tryst. Lovers are entitled to privacy—unless they come out in the open and confess it publicly. I am just analyzing the possible angles that may have led to the ill-fated Iloilo event.)

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Except if Cleigh herself had been scammed by someone claiming to be Ji from the very start of their “relationship” and, thus, was able to successfully con her into believing he was the Real McCoy (let’s marshal our analytical minds and pump a deeper analysis on this possibility.).

I will hold on to the faith I have with Cleigh, for the time being, amid allegations she may have attempted to pull a fast one by arranging an “unauthorized” side event in Iloilo.

The woman is educated and intelligent. She isn’t stupid to arrange/promote something illegal and unauthorized if she didn’t have a prior talk and direct link to Ji (assuming he is real).

If Cleigh became involved in Ji’s aborted Iloilo “promotion”, it could not be all because of the desire to commit a “scam” as had been loudly claimed by her bashers in the social media.

If no single ticket was sold for the Iloilo event and no individual or group had forked out a single centavo for sponsorship to benefit anyone, there could have been no scam.

If there was no other event for Ji in Iloilo aside from the one supposedly arranged by Cleigh, no one could have printed or sold counterfeit tickets.

Was it because of love first, and a chance to make a legitimate business deal with a “sweetheart” second?

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Assuming that the real handsome 35-year-old Korean heartthrob and the 44-year-old beauty from Dingle, Iloilo in the Philippines are really “sweethearts” in real life and opted to keep the relationship under wraps in consideration to their respective circumstances and other personal reasons.

Assuming for the benefit of discussion that the real Ji and his managers/handlers had given Cleigh the imprimatur to promote the Korean superstar’s event in Iloilo, will the allegations of scam or whatever wrongdoing and misrepresentation as Cleigh’s primary motive be weeded out from public perception?

Ji, whose genre includes pop, soundtracks, and Korean OST, is very famous—well-known and adored by fans worldwide.

Celebrities may not want their private affairs advertised in public. Could this explain why no “Cleigh Dimayuga” appears in any of Ji’s public records or social media platforms where he is incredibly desired and hotly pursued—if the romantic liaison really existed between two real human beings?

To validate everything and put all doubts, fears, puzzles, suspicions (only in as far as the real score between the two is concerned), we respectfully request media and entertainment reporters in Manila who will cover Ji’s show on November 7 to ask him about her.

In her 1961 hit song, “Crazy”, Patsy Cline asked:

Worry, why do I let myself worry?

Wondering what in the world did I do?

Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you

I’m crazy for trying and crazy for crying

And I’m crazy for loving you

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)