Inquirer columnist re-elected to Golden Globes body

Ruben V. Nepales, Inquirer’s man in Los Angeles, was installed recently as a director of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in a grants and installation luncheon held at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Aida Takla O’Reilly, HFPA president, introduced Nepales and the other officers and board members of the group that presents the Golden Globe Awards for film and television annually.

In the star-studded event, O’Reilly announced HFPA’s record $1,579,500 in financial grants to entertainment-related charities, scholarship programs and non-profit organizations. Each year, the international group of journalists holds one of the most widely watched awards shows on television, which has enabled HFPA to donate more than $13.5 million in the past 17 years to worthy causes, including donations to relief funds for victims of major disasters.

“I am proud of this philanthropic thrust of the organization,” Nepales said of the grants which, this year, included a donation to the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, which advances diversity and cross-cultural awareness by educating and promoting Asian Pacific Americans for key creative and leadership roles in the entertainment industry.

HFPA’s international philanthropic efforts have been recognized by industry bible Variety, which gave the association its Benefactor of the Year award in 2008. This year’s elected officers are Jorge Camara (vice president), Serge Rakhlin (executive secretary) and Ali Sar (treasurer). Nepales was re-elected for a third consecutive term to the board of directors, which includes Phil Berk (chair), Yoram Kahana, Yukiko Nakajima, Meher Tatna and Theo Kingma (alternate).

Nepales, the first Filipino member in the group’s more than 60-year history, is an alumnus of the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). He was one of the outstanding alumni who received the inaugural AB Gantimpala Awards in rites held at UST in 2010. In his column that appears thrice weekly in the Inquirer, Nepales makes it a point to spotlight Filipino talents on the global entertainment stage.

A native of Calasiao, Pangasinan, he lives in Los Angeles with wife Janet Susan R. Nepales, also a journalist and HFPA member. They alternate doing “Nepales Reports” on Jannelle So’s “Kababayan LA” TV show Thursdays on LA-18. They have two children, Bianca Nicole and Rafaella Angelica.