IN CELEBRATION of their school's centennial next year, the San Beda High School Glee Club is going on its first-ever Philippine tour starting April. Covering 10 cities, the concert tour will culminate in a grand concert at San Beda College to open the school's centennial year next January.

We met the boys, their conductor Tonton Africa, and Fr. Bernardo Ma. Perez last week and we were more than impressed specially when they performed the current David Pomeranz hit "Born For You" and Parokya ni Edgar's "Harana" a capella.

Father Perez says that the young singers' training inculcates discipline, responsibility, and leadership to help make the students fully human, Christian and truly Filipino.

We played a game with the boys to find out who their favorite singers are, and this was the final tally: Martin Nievera--4 points; Mariah Carey--3 points; Regine Velasquez--3 points; Boyz II Men, Ricky Martin, Roland Keating, Dessa--1 point each.

The repertoire of the glee club consists of spiritual songs, pop music, Filipino ethnic and a few novelty songs mostly sung a capella. For their Philippine tour, the boys will try a lot of new stuff, including a dance and musical instrument showcase.

We caught Mitch Valdes at the Captain's Bar of the Mandarin Oriental last weekend and she came up with more than a class act. Valdes is one of a handful of talents who need no hype or controversy to keep them in the limelight. Her wonderful talent is enough to keep her at pace with the new generation of entertainers.

Valdes opened with the religious song "Son of a Preacher Man" and she says it has nothing to do with the title of her show, "Libinlabida Loca." "Wala lang, gusto ko lang kantahin," was her casual explanation that started the slew of punchlines and jokes all night.

Valdes gamely told everyone that she is 49 and she's certainly not ashamed of it. She may have grown bigger through the years but her talent has also quadrupled in size and magnitude. Her spiels are mostly unscripted although she did a few revivals of her old segments which we've heard a couple of times.

She hit at the way our country is being run and it seemed obvious that she, like most of us, is dismayed at the circus in government today.

Perhaps the secret of Mitch's staying power in this business is her ability to sincerely connect with her audience, whether in a musical number of a comedy act. We hope that she gets to do another musical-theater role like her bravura performance in "Katy!" and her gutsy portrayal of Mary Magdalene in the '70s version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" opposite Boy Camara.

After yet another failed relationship, singer Rachel Alejandro is making sure that she won't relegate her career to the sidelines anymore. In fact, all signals point to a busy summer schedule for her.

Alejandro is still mum on the real reason why her romantic liaison with actor-singer Lee Robin Salazar ended on a sad note, but says she has accepted their fate and is ready to move on. "Sometimes, you never know what's in store, specially in love, no matter how much you work things out, it just doesn't work out in the end."

She says she's not the least bitter and admits there's a lot of happy moments in her memory bank.

A few days ago, Rachel had a special show at Ratsky's in Malate, and she was surprised when she got the loudest applause for her heartbreak love ballad, "Paalam Na." "It was as if the audience understood every bit of what I'm feeling. I guess falling out of love is as universal an experience as falling in love," she sighs.

Rachel is scheduled to fly to Australia to guest in Martin Nievera's concert tour. And she's also looking forward to working on her new album for Viva Records.

For one whole week starting Monday, Malate is the place to be. With the arts festival dubbed as "Absolut Malate," this side of Manila will witness a colorful celebration of art and life.

Raul Teehankee will present his prized collection of male nudes; former child actor Reb Belleza unveils his abstract paintings; sculptor Gabby Barredo presents a new form of art called Kinetics; Jamie Wilson, Tricia David and Chuck Syjuco will conduct poetry readings; and Japanese video graphic artist Hiroyuki Onishi and young soprano Alexis Edralin will also have their showcases.

Last year, they completely shut out "Rizal." This year, they snubbed "Saranggola," the film they themselves sent to the Oscars. So what's new with the Film Academy of the Philippines?

Do you know what they hailed as two of their best films for the year (awards night is on March 31)? The unexceptional "Isusumbong Kita sa Tatay Ko" and "Linlang"! These two join the company of other average films like "Sidhi," "Bulaklak ng Maynila," "Muro-Ami" and "Soltera" in the fight for best picture. Conspicuously missing is "Pila Balde," one of the more impressive films made last year.

For the nth time, Fernando Poe Jr. is in the running for best actor. And this category is made more "interesting" by the inclusion of Richard Gomez who was almost stoic in "Linlang," and Cesar Montano who was overrated in "Muro-Ami."

Happily, they didn't forget to include Ricky Davao for "Saranggola" and Christopher de Leon for "Bulaklak ng Maynila," who both came up with sterling performances. In fairness, their best actress contenders are deserving, but some of the other categories are also a big turn-off for most show biz insiders.

We were told that Marilou Diaz-Abaya was included in the best director category even if everyone knows that guild members do not like her. "Pampalubag-loob sa ginawa nila last year. Pampakalma na rin ng sitwasyon," we overheard a director say after the nomination list came out.