Mother Lily Sides With Gretchen Barretto

MOTHER LILY MONTEVERDE, who just got the Lino Brocka Lifetime Achievement Award from the Golden Screen Awards last Saturday night, hosted a presscon to support Sen. Loren Legarda. Loren was late as she’s coming straight from Cebu. While waiting for her, writers asked Mother Lily about the raging issues in showbiz today: Marian Rivera leaving her manager and the Baretto Family brouhaha. She said she doesn’t the allegation that Marian left Popoy due to money problems.

“I know Popoy,” she says. “He’s a good person. He can be trusted. May naka-influence lang siguro kay Marian. About Gretchen, I feel sad as I know her very well. She’s an original Regal Baby and she’s only 13 when we introduced her in ’14 Going Steady’. I know how much she loves her family and she’s the reason why she has to work. I really treasure her as a daughter. She consults me whenever she has problems and I’m like a second mom to her. Naawa ako and I feel I have to defend her. I asked her to call me and she did. Umiiyak siya sa’kin when we talked. I told her to be strong and pray. God knows what she has done for her family. I am a mother also. Mothers can also make mistakes. Since malapit na ang Mother’s Day, I pray na magkapatawaran na lang ang both sides. Magkaayus-ayos na lahat.”

And why is she so supportive of Loren Legarda? “I like her advocacies. She’s really an exceptional lady, a superwoman who wants to do good things for our people. I really admire her concern for climate change. I’m donating one hectare of land to her at sabi ko taniman namin ng mga puno. I know she loves trees and the environment.”