Speak your truth

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed criminal cases against Jojo Nones and Richard “Dode” Cruz, the alleged abusers of young actor Sandro Muhlach, thus prompting the latter to address victims of sexual abuse to come forward as well and speak their truth.

“It was very difficult for me to tell my story — to come forward and tell the public that I was sexually assaulted and abused,” the actor said on his Instagram Stories on Thursday, 31 October.

Muhlach went on to declare: “For all the rape and sexual abuse victims out there, ‘wag nating hayaang manalo ang mga nagsamantala at bumaboy sa atin. ‘Wag nating hayaan na patahimikin nila tayo. Tayo ang biktima. Tayo ang inabuso. Tayo rin ang papanigan ng katotohanan (Let us not let those who abused us win. Let us not let them silence us. We are the victims. We were abused. The truth will be on our side).”

The cases filed are one count of rape through sexual assault and two counts of acts of lasciviousness. The case was filed in Pasay Regional Trial Court (RTC), and raffled to Pasay RTC Branch 115.

Maggie Abraham-Garduque, the lawyer of the accused GMA 7 independent contractors, revealed: “Jojo and Richard are disappointed with the resolution. For them the grounds laid do not support the findings.

“Hence, we will appeal this resolution. We might also file motions to quash the information filed in court.”

Garduque has sent the website PEP.ph a detailed and graphic statement on why she disagrees with the DOJ’s resolution on the case of her clients.

Meanwhile, the Kapuso network has reaffirmed their commitment to support Muhlach and to build up his career.

“For Sandro, Sparkle will continue providing the same level of support and assistance as his manager, just as we have done the same from the start,” says Joy Marcelo, first vice president, Sparkle GMA Artist Center.

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You’d think Julie Ann San Jose is too conservative to agree to show off much of her body as an actor-singer.

Well, she isn’t conservative after all. She is the 2025 Calendar Girl of the alcoholic drink Ginebra San Miguel. Her photos for the calendar show her with the most minimal body covering possible.

Real-life boyfriend Rayver Cruz is very proud of San Jose landing the job, which surely paid in millions of pesos.

San Jose is one of the coaches of the network’s Voice Kids, a singing contest for children. How will she face them as an endorser of intoxicants?

Well, she doesn’t have to be with them anymore. The Voice Kids’ tapings are over by now even as the show is still airing and will likely go on till early December. The contestants already know who won among them and their parents and guardians have signed waivers that they will not reveal to anyone who won.

Almost all TV singing contests are produced that way: well in advance of its airing. ABS-CBN’s Tawag ng Tanghalan may be different only because the singing contest is just a major segment of a long show, It’s Showtime.

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It is not easy to write about actor Malou de Guzman despite her having been in showbiz since 1980. We’d like to focus on her because we were invited to a preview of a film in which she plays the title role. Yes, her very first after 40 years of being a highly reputable actor.

The film is quaintly titled Silay. No, it’s not about that city in Negros island but about a person by that name: Silay, an old woman. She’s all-woman, not a lesbian--though if she were, she’d be a great character, just the same.

One reason we call the film quaint is that De Guzman top-bills it with a superb young actor by the name of Francine Diaz. Kyle Echarri, Diaz’s on-screen-only sweetheart, is not in the movie. De Guzman and Diaz portray granny and granddaughter to each other. In about half of the film’s narrative both granddaughter and “lola” have to go to school in high school uniform.

It’s admirable that Star Magic of ABS-CBN allowed Diaz to do a film produced by a maverick company, directed by a man (Greg Colasito) who has no social media accounts and no Google entries at all.

As for De Guzman, she has Facebook and Instagram but all she posts in them are about her acting workshops, souvenir shots with some actors on last shooting days, nothing personal.

Oh, we did find a single post on her Instagram about her first granddaughter’s nth birthday.

Yes, she has a granddaughter. An old Internet entry says De Guzman had a daughter with the character actor Ross Rival who is actually a Salvador. The entry said De Guzman’s daughter is an older half-sister of Maja Salvador.

We’ve never heard of De Guzman talk about Ross Rival who is believed to have married actress Alicia Alonzo and had several children with her one of whom became an actor but died in a vehicular accident in his late teens.

Most of the Google entries about De Guzman are about the dozens of TV shows and movies she appeared in. The rest are about her acting workshops through the years. Her latest workshop was held in four weekends this October.

After the film’s preview at Cinema 7 of TriNoma mall in QC, de Guzman post on her Instagram a poster for Silay, which she proudly announced to have been made by her daughter, Martina Lauren de Guzman. It seems to be the first time she announced to the public her daughter’s full name.

De Guzman, 66, is not known to have been in other romantic or conjugal relationship. It’s possible that she had dalliances at the time there were no netizens with their ever present mobile phones with a camera.

She actually also sings well and was an active officer of the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM) during the years (2001-2010) that its president was Mitch Valdez.

Silay is produced by Rachelle Umandap for Mace Ascending Entertainment Productions. The film also stars Yul Servo, Rolando Inocentes, Emilio Garcia, Ramon Christopher Gutierrez, Krista Miller and comedian Long Mejia.