K Brosas shares lessons from botched deal with contractor

K Brosas

It was as if her dreams came crashing down.

That’s how K Brosas has been feeling the past year, after the contractor she hired to build her first home abandoned the project at only 35 percent completion. Now, the singer-comedienne, who had already made around P7 million in payments, has finally sought legal action.

“Nasira ang pangarap ko… My stress levels were extreme, my friends know that. Whenever people ask me for updates about my house, I always feel like crying. Because what do I tell them? People tease me when I will do a house raid. Nganga lang ako,” she said in a recent group interview on Zoom.

The house was supposed to be finished and turned over to her in 2019. What she got, instead, were excuses upon excuses for all the construction delays. “I have been crying, trying to reach them and pleading that they just return my money if they can’t finish the project. They pointed fingers. They kept making promises… I tried to be understanding. I convinced myself that patience is a virtue,” she said.

Money down the drain

The design wasn’t even grand or fancy; K simply wanted a home she can call her own and pass down to her daughter. “When I visit the site (in Quezon City) and look at the unfinished structure, I shudder. It’s now deteriorating. The materials I have already paid for they failed to deliver,” she said.

But what hurt her the most, she said, is that the people who wronged her were people she trusted.

Let down by friends

“They are people I know, which makes it all the more painful. I saw them as friends. I hung out with them and we used to have open communication. I trusted them fully. Ang tagal kong nakiusap at nagmakaawa. I was too kind, but I do have my limits… I’m sad it had to come to this,” said K, who declined to go into detail about the case she recently filed against the contractor.

What has she learned from this ordeal? “That you have to be vigilant when it comes to money matters, whether it’s with family or friends, because nothing’s certain,” she pointed out. “And I have only realized now the importance of seeking legal advice for your contracts, transactions … things that involve your hard-earned savings.”

Mental health

The issue has also been detrimental to her mental health, she revealed. K was first diagnosed with depression and chronic anxiety disorder 17 years ago. After four psychiatrists and different treatment courses, she has gotten better at managing her condition and now takes medicine only when she’s having a panic or anxiety attack.

“It comes without warning… I haven’t had an episode in a long time, but I recently cried in the middle of an opening number (in the TV5 noontime variety show ‘Lunch Out Loud’),” she related. “A lot of people have been going through this these days, especially the youth, so it has also become one of my advocacies.”

Despite everything, K is still determined to have the house finished. “Trabaho galore! I’m trying to save up again. I’m thankful I have projects. There are still no live shows, which are a big part of what I do, but there have been inquiries for gigs abroad,” said K, who’s also a host of the TV5 musical game show “Sing Galing!”

She has also finished shooting a movie with actress Elisse Joson in Denmark last December. “Ipun-ipon! Huwag ubos-biyaya,” K said. INQ