Raquel Pempengco shares cryptic post amid Jake Zyrus’ resurfaced memoir
(From left) Raquel Pempengco and Jake Zyrus. Images: Facebook/Raquel Relucio Pempengco, Instagram/@jakezyrusmusic
Raquel Pempengco shared several cryptic remarks seemingly directed at her transgender son Jake Zyrus after excerpts from his 2018 memoir “I Am Jake” resurfaced on social media, detailing the alleged sexual abuse that the singer-songwriter suffered at the hands of his uncle.
On her Facebook page, Pempengco caustically addressed supposed “fake news” coming from a book, which she said she will update to make it more factual.
“Meron na namang fake news. Galing daw isang libro. Mga bashers hindi updated yang libro na yan… Abangan nyo ako ang mag uupdate ng libro na yan. Sari-sari na lang issue nyo. Meron kilala daw ako? Mga gumagawa ng kwento ang iba. Baka magulat kayo kapag ako ang nagkwento. Kaya tumigil na kayo sa kaka fake news na yan. Mga salot ng lipunan,” she said as caption to a picture post.
(There’s another fake news from a book. My bashers, that book is not updated. Wait til I update that book. You keep coming up with all sorts of issues. One even claims they know me? Some people just love making up stories. You might be surprised if I start telling my own. So stop spreading that fake news. You’re a menace to society.)
She further said: “Kwento [niyo] yan malamang masama ako [diyan]. Pero hinde ko alam ang kwento na yan… sanay na ako tawaging masama. Kung yan ba ikakasaya [niyo]… Tanggap ko na ang pangalan kong EVIL QUEEN. Basta ako alam ko ang sarili kong kwento pero di ko na isasaLIBRO [dahil] ayoko ng may mapasama at madagdagan ang mga evil.”
(It’s your story. Of course, I’m the bad one. But I don’t know that story. I’m used to being called the bad guy if that makes you happy. I accept the moniker “evil queen.” At least, I know that I won’t put my story in a book because I don’t want others to be seen as the bad and evil guys.)
Without naming who she was addressing, Pempengco said her being an “evil queen” enabled that person to become where they are now.
“Anjan ka sa kinalalagyan mo dahil sa evil queen na ‘to. Dahil sa masamang ina na ‘to. Kahit ilang libro pa ilabas, hindi na maibabalik ang ikaw na mismo ang sumira. Sige pa, magalit pa kayo hanggang sa atakihin [kayo],” she added.
(You’re currently in the position you’re in because of this evil queen and this bad mother. Despite the many books you’ll release, you can’t deny the fact that you ruined everything. Stay mad until you get a heart attack.)
Another post by Pempengco further said that she has “peace of mind” by not dealing with “worthless people who have no debt of gratitude.”
“Peace of mind pa rin ang pipiliin ko kesa patulan ko ang mga walang kwentang tao at mga walang utang na loob. Sila na magdadala ng lahat (I will still choose peace of mind instead of responding to worthless people with no debt of gratitude. Allow them to carry that),” she said.
“The truth still prevails. But no matter what, my blood [is] still flowing in your veins and you can only remove that when [you’re] already dead,” she further added.
Pempengco’s post comes after the 2018 memoir of Zyrus, who used to be known as the singing sensation Charice Pempengco before his transition to being a man, resurfaced on social media. In his memoir, he said that an uncle sexually abused him as a six-year-old girl while living with his grandparents’ house, while his mother worked.
“I could hear my relatives cooking and talking among themselves in the kitchen while my uncle was abusing me. During those times I kept wishing someone would see… He always punctuated these attacks with the same threat: ‘If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.’ It was something he was actually capable of. Like I said, violence runs in our blood,” he wrote.
INQUIRER.net reached out to Pride Press, a sub-publishing arm under Anvil Publishing focusing on LGBTQIA+ stories, to verify if the photos came from Zyrus’ memoir, which they confirmed.
Zyrus has yet to comment on his mother’s fresh remarks, as of writing.
