Kris Aquino expressed support for comedian Vice Ganda after he was chastised on social media over the weekend over a photo with Ilocos Governor Imee Marcos.
Photos of Vice Ganda and Marcos arriving together in Misamis Occidental floated online recently. This led to suspicions that the former is supporting the senatorial aspirant in an early campaign bid for next year.
However, the Kapamilya host denied these claims and insisted on Twitter that his meeting with Marcos was only coincidental.
Kris, hailing from a political clan, soon got dragged in the controversy despite her repeated insistence that she would stay away from politics.
The Queen of all Media speaks
Kris, the daughter of martyred senator Ninoy Aquino Jr., wrote on Instgram that she doesn’t perceive the photos of Vice Ganda and Marcos to be an early form of campaigning.
“I saw the pictures and personally didn’t feel it was early campaigning. Di niya kailangan magsalita ako kasi millions ang followers and defenders niya. Di ko lang trip na intrigahin pa kami; life’s too short para ma stress,” Aquino said.
The Aquinos had been the political rivals of the Marcoses since the martial law years.
Vice Ganda, meanwhile, had been close friends with Kris since 2012 when they starred in a movie together.
Their friendship eventually became distant over some rumored misunderstandings on business, but the two remained on good terms based on their social media posts.
Aquino shared that she was hesitant to respond at first even if her name had been tagged by a handful of people following the incident.
She tries her best “to stay away from political discourse” and respects any person’s decision to support a political candidate over another.
“I’ve stayed away from political discourse because if I cannot help bring a better understanding of a given situation, and if I’ll only add noise, best for me to stay quiet. I’m respectful of a person’s right to choose who they’ll stand with because I was brought up to uphold democracy,” part of her post read.
Vice Ganda soon placed a comment under Aquino’s Instagram post saying: “Keri ko na to.”
Vice Ganda and social media backlash
The so-called “unkabogable” Kapamilya star had stirred outrage online in recent weeks.
The recent one involved photos of him and Marcos arriving together in Ozamiz City that circulated online on October 21.
Online Filipinos had since accused the “It’s Showtime” host of being a Marcos supporter and early campaigning for the senatorial aspirant.
Vice Ganda later defended herself on Twitter and clarified that it was just coincidental that Marcos and her staff happened to be in the same place and time.
For him, this does not mean that he is supporting the late dictator’s daughter, who is running for Senate next year.
Ok para sa mga fans ko na nagtatanong. Wala akong pakelam kung anung iteniraryo ni Imee Marcos sa Ozamis nung nakasabay ko sya sa eroplano. Nagpunta ko dun para mang aliw ng mga taga Ozamis City. Di para magendorso ng kahit sinong pulitiko. Di ako endorser ng mga Marcos!
— jose marie viceral (@vicegandako) October 22, 2018
So dahil sa picture na to supporter na agad ako ni Imee ?! Di pa pwedeng supporter ako nung mamang naka puti dun sa likod?! Lol! pic.twitter.com/yoAW9ClgoK
— jose marie viceral (@vicegandako) October 22, 2018
Around the same, Vice Ganda also earned some criticisms for his remarks, along with those by his co-host Jugs Jugueta, when the latter dressed up as detained Senator Leila de Lima on the longtime running noontime show “It’s Showtime.”
Many accused the two comedians of being insensitive to the plight of the senator who had been detained for more than a year.
Days before this, Vice Ganda also played host to Aga Muhlach and Bea Alonzo when they guested on ABS-CBN’s “Gandang Gabi Vice.”
In it, Muhlach and Alonzo urged staunch Duterte critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, to cease opposing the administration.
Both Trillanes and De Lima are staunch critics of the president and his policies.
