Actress Sharon Cuneta, campaigning for her husband as vice president, recalled how she transcended her friendship with presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos to become "wiser" in politics and take the side of the political scion's chief rival.
Choosing the country's leaders should be separate from personal relationships, said the wife of Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, presidential candidate Leni Robredo's running mate. Cuneta, the "megastar" of Philippine entertainment, also recalled her close ties with President Rodrigo Duterte and her husband's rival, Sara Duterte.
Cuneta was a teenager during the waning years of the Marcos dictatorship and his father, Mayor Pablo Cuneta, was the mayor of Pasay City. She said her first time going to a disco was in Malacanang.
"Si BBM, hindi ko siya iniwan the whole time. Hindi nangangahulugang agree ako sa mga nalaman ko na unti-unting namulat ang mata ko dahil kakilala ko ang pamilya personally," Cuneta said.
"I am speaking now from the bottom of my heart because I don't know if anybody here experienced what I have... I am here because now I am older, I am wiser and there are four people I am fighting for, three of them are here," she said, referring to her children.
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Cuneta said she had known Sara since the president's daughter was nine. The outgoing president, she said, spoke of her like his own daughter and called her "the singer of his life".
"I called him tatay," Cuneta said, adding she was aware at that time that Pangilinan was one of the leaders of the political opposition against the Dutertes.
"When tatay once, I saw on YouTube. He said, who is this stupid God? Para akong binuhusan ng kumukulong tubig at de-yelong tubig ng sabay kasi pag Diyos na kinalaban mo, sino Diyos mo?" she said.
Addressing Sara, Cuneta said, "I hope we can still be friends."
Cuneta said she rejected her father's request for her to seek public office as early as her twenties. If her brother ran for the presidency, she said she wouldn;t vote for him.
"Ang pipiliin ko yung kilala ko na, yung alam ko na. This time ayoko na mabulag, ayoko na namulat na ako," she said.
"Iba ang pagmamahal. Iba ang pagle-lead ng bansa. Ibang usapan yun, dahil madami akong nakitang gutom. Madami ako nakitang nangangailangan when the pandemic hit us," she said.
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