Image: Instagram/@claubarretto
Claudine Barretto took to social media to pay homage to ex-boyfriend Rico Yan on Friday, a day after what would have been his 44th birthday.
Yan passed away in his sleep due to hemorrhagic pancreatitis almost 17 years ago on March 29, 2002. Barretto, despite the years that have gone by, continue to keep his memory alive and did just that when she shared a picture collage of Yan on her Instagram last March 15.
“My [love] and my life,” wrote Barretto. “Always and forever.”
She also clarified to one netizen that she did not choose ex-husband Raymart Santiago over Yan when he was still alive.
“Then why did you choose your ex-husband over Rico when he was still alive?” asked the netizen (@allthingsitalian).
“I was not with my ex-husband. We were not together while Ry was alive,” answered Barretto. “Get your facts straight.”
Barretto shared another post on the same day, this time a quote dedicated to Yan.
“In my heart every single day RY,” she said.
In the past, Barretto shared on social media love letters written to her by Yan when they were still together.
She also visited Yan’s grave in February last year when his sister Tina came home from the US.
It was not just Barretto who remembered the late matinee idol on his 44th birthday. Actor Marvin Agustin took to Instagram on March 14 on which he shared a poster of the 1997 movie “Flames,” which he starred in with Yan, Barretto, Jolina Magdangal and Bojo Molina. “Flames” was Agustin’s first ever movie.
READ: Rico Yan, who would’ve been 44 today, remembered by friend Marvin Agustin
Actor Dominic Ochoa, also a good friend of Yan, took to his Instagram account to share a photo of an elderly woman holding up a poster of him, Yan and Agustin.
“Eksakto ang papirma ni nanay, kaarawan ng idol natin,” Ochoa wrote on March 14. “Maligayang Kaarawan RY.”
It was Ochoa who found Yan on March 29, 2002, at the Dos Palmas Resort in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Yan was only 27 years old at the time of his death.
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