Coco Martin on Vice Ganda: There’s no rivalry

Coco Martin (left) and Vice Ganda

I wish people would stop pitting us against each other. There’s no rivalry,” Coco Martin said in Filipino when asked about his movie competing against Vice Ganda’s entry in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

Coco confirmed he would be collaborating with veteran comedian Vic Sotto in his MMFF entry “Popoy en Jack, the Puliscredibles.”

Vice, on the other hand, is fielding “Fantastica: The Princesses, the Prince and the Perya.”

They would be competing at the box-office race like last year; Coco’s entry then was “Ang Panday,” while Vice’s was “Gandarrapido: The Revengers Squad”—the topgrosser.

“Vice knows that I’ve always wanted to work with Bossing Vic,” Coco said at a recent media gathering for King Cup sardines, which he endorses.

Excited

He pointed out that he had worked with other stars as well, saying, “Before Vice and I worked together, I was also paired with Toni (Gonzaga), Sarah (Geronimo) and Kris (Aquino).”

On his teamup with Vic, Coco said: “I’m excited because we will be working on my concept. We’re working together on how to make the action scenes more explosive and the comedy, more relatable to the audience.”

Asked about his viral “kissing” video with his “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” costar Yassi Pressman, Coco clarified that it wasn’t actually a kiss but merely a beso.

Their fans recently went gaga over a short clip posted online featuring them seemingly locking lips. Some of their “Probinsyano” supporters even concluded that the two are now more than just friends.

Peck on the cheek

Coco further explained: “This happened in a tent (actors’ holding area during the taping). Beso lang ’yon, nabigyan lang ng kulay. You know how fans are.”

He added that it was normal for Yassi and him to greet each other at work with a peck on the cheek.
“I’m glad that a lot of people support our tandem, that’s why they’re reacting this way,” he said, adding that the audience will see more “kilig moments” between his character, Cardo, and Yassi’s Alyana in the coming episodes of the 2-year-old soap series.

“We want to show the process of how a couple in a problematic relationship slowly tries to reconcile. We want the audience to see how the two will fall in love with each other again,” Coco explained. “It’s important that the viewers not only get to watch action and drama in the show; that it also has romance and comedy.”