(From left) Moira Dela Torre, Jonathan Manalo, Luke Sigua. Images: Instagram/@jonathanmanalo, Facebook/Luke Sigua
While Moira Dela Torre has yet to address the accusations against her by songwriter Lolito Go, an ABS-CBN executive and a former drummer spoke in defense of the female crooner, as they maintained that she has a “good character” and is an “exceptional songwriter.”
ABS-CBN Music’s creative director Jonathan Manalo took to his personal Twitter page on Sunday, May 28, to “vouch” for Dela Torre’s “good character,” where he stressed that her skills as a songwriter “can never be refuted.
“Just putting it out there. I vouch for Moira’s good character. I’m not saying she’s perfect because no one is,” he said. “Pero napakabuting tao niyan. And her being an exceptional songwriter is already a given and can never be refuted.”
Just putting it out there.
I vouch for Moira’s good character.
I’m not saying she’s perfect because no one is.
Pero napakabuting tao niyan.
And her being an exceptional songwriter
is already a given and can never be refuted.— Jonathan Manalo (@JonathanManalo) May 28, 2023
On the other hand, one Luke Sigua, who introduced himself as the “Tadhana” hitmaker’s “drummer since 2015,” pointed out that while he’s “notorious for fighting” Dela Torre over “questionable things,” he stressed in a lengthy Facebook post that the singer was “never a credit grabber.”
“I’m also notorious for fighting Moi when she does questionable things. And I also defended Jason when he was being canceled last year, as I am a strong believer in forgiveness and change, being an imperfect and terrible person myself. I just call out what needs to be called out,” he began.
“Moi was never a credit grabber… She’s the first to fight for someone when he [or] she isn’t given the credit he [or] she is due. She finds a way to honor her band in every show even if, technically, we’re just session musicians. She pays us [a] standard rate out of her own pocket. She is always there to help us when we need her. She always treats us like family,” he continued.
It can be recalled that Go previously accused Dela Torre of allegedly “taking credit” of the songs he wrote, where he pointed out that he was not “paid a single penny” in a separate Facebook post.
The drummer then said that while the “Paubaya” singer and her estranged husband, singer-songwriter Jason Hernandez, “both had shortcomings in their marriage,” the “multiple instances of infidelity” was the one who broke the trust, apparently lluding to Hernandez.
“Moi and Jason both had their shortcomings within the marriage. But most of them were workable issues within the marriage — a lot of which I also go through with my wife,” he said. “They’re not easy, I’m just saying as a married man, they’re more common than you think. Multiple instances of infidelity, on the other hand, ultimately broke the trust needed to maintain that marriage. You can never peg that as ‘Yun lang naman kasalanan niya, pero si Moi ganito ganyan.’”
Sigua also maintained that Dela Torre “never cheated” on Hernandez throughout their marriage, saying that she “lived with the trauma of witnessing infidelity” in her own family.
“I have known Moi for a long time, including the guys she dated before Jason. I know what she has been through and what her life has been like. She may have her shortcomings, but I know she will never just throw away a marriage like that. All her life, she has lived with the trauma of witnessing infidelity and having a broken family. Her main goal was to not have a repeat of that,” he said.
Dela Torre’s camp appeared to be set on pressing charges against Go following his controversial post, where celebrity lawyer Joji Villanueva Alonso advised an unnamed showbiz client to file a case against another person who was supposedly spreading lies about a certain celebrity.
While Alonso didn’t mention any names in her post, Cornerstone Entertainment vice president Jeff Vadillo appeared to agree with the lawyer’s post, stating that he is bent on protecting Dela Torre’s professional integrity. EDV