MANILA, Philippines – The time has come for Charice Pempengco to pay her respects to the man who sired her – her estranged father Ricky Pempengco who was stabbed dead on Monday, October 31, in San Pedro, Laguna.
Her Philippine manager, Grace Mendoza, confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the international Filipino pop star would be arriving in Manila at 11:45 p.m. via flight PR 311 from Jakarta.
Charice decided to cancel her scheduled appearance in the ongoing David Foster & Friends tour onNovember 2 and 3, at the Grand Theatre of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore to attend her father’s wake.
She was in Manila only last October 25 for the Foster & Friends concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Charice, 19, has not seen her dad since she was three years old when her parents separated. Mom Raquel, who was in Manila when informed of her husband’s death, was seen crying over his casket in a video taken by a TV news reporter at the Miraculous Funeral Homes in San Pedro.
She was later photographed sitting beside one of her husband’s sisters – who was quoted by another TV news reporter venting her grudges against Charice and her mom, prompting the singer to lash back via her official Twitter account.
Charice saw it fit to take out her angry messages later.
What remained on her Twitter posts were the following messages: “I loved him and I will still love him. He’s still my Dad after all … Gusto ko lang malaman nyo, na we had a really great relationship bago nangyari lahat ng gulo. Sinabi niya sa akin nung ako’y bata pa na hindiactually alam ni mommy, gusto nya akong maging sundalo kasi sabi niya matapang daw ako. [I just want you all to know that we had a really great relationship before all the quarrels. He told me when I was a kid – and my mom did not know this – that he wanted me to be a soldier because, he said, I was brave].”