Julie Ann San Jose, Rayver Cruz and Boobay touch down in Israel. Image from GMA Sparkle / Instagram
GMA artists Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz, Boobay were forced to stay behind in shelters in Israel after a government-imposed lockdown on its citizens following a surprise attack by the militant Hamas forces in northern Israel.
The attack had left 1,000 people killed, as of writing, in what was said to be the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, prompting the government to declare a “State of War,” as it fended off attacks by Palestinian forces and its allied Hezbollah group from Lebanon.
Due to these developments, the “Luv Trip Na, Laff Trip Pa” concert of the trio supposed to be held at the Smolarz Auditorium at the Tel Aviv University on October 7 had been cancelled.
In an Instagram post, GMA’s talent management arm Sparkle issued a special advisory stating that San Jose, Cruz and Boobay, along with the rest of the Filipino concert organizers are all safe despite the ongoing conflict and based on the reports they were getting from Tel Aviv.
“In view of the recent reports we are getting from Tel Aviv, the management of Sparkle would like to announce that Julie Anne San Jose, Rayver Cruz, Boobay, and the Sparkle Team who are currently in Israel now for a concert are all safe,” the announcement read.
The advisory further said the whole GMA team will leave for Manila as scheduled.
“We thank everyone for their well wishes as we pray for their continued safety and protection,” it said.
Organizers said a new date for the Julie-Ver concert will be announced once the situation in Israel has stabilized.
Albert Chua, Cruz’s manager, said in an INQUIRER Bandera report that the GMA team is just waiting for the airport in Israel to resume operations so that they could take their flight back to the Philippines.
“So far, safe sila ngayon. Na-cancel na ‘yung show nila. They are still waiting for the airport to be open para makauwi sila… Sana, makauwi sila today. Waiting pa sila sa pagbukas ng airport, biglang nagsara kasi,” said Chua.
(They are safe for now. Their show has been cancelled. They are still waiting for the airport to open so they can go home. Hopefully they can go home today. We’re just waiting for the flights to resume, it was all so sudden.)
“Nag-viber si Ray (Rayver) ngayon lang. Naka-lockdown sila at nag-advice na stay inside at close pa rin ang airport pero safe naman daw sila. Sa ngayon, ‘di pa sila pinapalabas,” he further said.
(Rayver just sent a Viber message and he said that they are on lockdown. They were advised to stay indoors, and they are waiting for the go-signal to go to the airport. They remain safe, but they are not allowed to go out.)
San Jose, Cruz and Boobay, together with the rest of the GMA team who are behind the concert, flew to Tel Aviv last October 3 so that they could explore the city prior to the concert.