MEXICAN SOAP OPERA STAR THALIA TAKES PHILIPPINES BY STORM.
People leave work early to watch her. Parents name their girls after her. Authorities told the power company to make sure there are no blackouts while she's on. And a Manila man gave his life for her, stabbed because he wouldn't change the channel.
The sensation is Thalia, the star of `` Mari Mar, '' a Mexican soap opera that has hit the Philippines with the force of a typhoon in the current monsoon season.
Thalia flies into the Philippines today on a trip that promises as much pomp as many state visits. President Fidel Ramos has invited her to the presidential palace, and Channel 9 plans to air live footage of the nine-day trip, which it is sponsoring at a reported cost of $ 400,000.
Just three weeks after debuting as the first Mexican soap opera on Filipino television, `` Mari Mar '' surged to the top of the ratings, pushing aside a rival network's once-invincible `` TV Patrol '' news magazine, long the top- ranked news show in the Philippines.
While foreign soaps like `` Dynasty '' have been popular here before, the `` Mari Mar '' phenomenon has reached an entirely different level. It is the most popular serial on Filipino television ever.
`` Mari Mar '' tells the story of a peasant girl who comes to the city, entertaining passers-by as a clown on the streets in exchange for tips. She falls in love with her Prince Charming, but his stepmother separates them.
The show, which aired in Mexico a year ago, is scheduled to finish in the Philippines in October - unlike American soap operas, Mexican soaps run from six months to a year.
Entire households have rescheduled their lives from 6:30 to 7:30 pm to watch the daily soap, which is dubbed into Tagalog. Hospitals report a wave of babies named `` Mari Mar, '' Thalia's role in the show. Throughout the country, stores and offices have begun closing early.
`` I even sell my vegetables at a discount so I can get home early to watch `` Mari Mar, '' 'said Delia, a vegetable vendor at Manila's Paco market who gave only one name. `` The story is very Filipino and it gives me a good cry. ''
The civil service has warned that government employees found sneaking away to watch the show will be reprimanded on the first offense and face dismissal on the second.
Lawmakers in the town of Guimba, north of Manila, ordered the local power company not to schedule any power outages during the daily broadcast.
`` Very seldom do we see our people in Guimba preoccupied and mesmerized with such a soap opera, and to deprive them of such enjoyment would be to act like a killjoy, '' city council member Benny Rillo said.
One Manila man was even stabbed to death by a drunk cousin while watching `` Mari Mar '' because he refused to change to another channel.
Tabloids regularly feature photos of Thalia, a 25-year-old Mexican singer and actress, on their front pages. In a report on an earthquake in Mexico, the People's Tonight newspaper reported that the quake had affected the city where Thalia was born - and featured a picture of her in a mermaid costume.
President Ramos has invited Thalia to the presidential palace, and wrote a letter to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo saying that the series has created a `` new kind of Philippine-Mexico connection. ''
