Albiendication

I was a fan of Albie Casino. Pinanood ko siya gabi-gabi sa “Mara Clara”. Ini-screenshot ko pa yung mga eksena niya as Christian Torralba, ang gwapong astig at mayaman na nagmahal kay Mara sa serye. Kinilig ako sa tambalan nila ni Kathryn Bernardo, “KathBie” as it was coined before. Na-meet ko siya several times. Remember my post, yung first meeting ko with Kathryn?

Albie attended UP Circle Of Emtrepreneurs'
"Calle" event in 2011. 

Hindi naman kami super naging close, but I developed a friendship with his mom, si Tita Rina Casino. I remember helping him out in a paper for his class: movie review ng “Wall Street 2”, to be exact. He even attended an event my friends from UP Circle of Entrepreneurs organized, after I invited him. Siguro lang kasi mahiyain siya. Or he was “walled” then. I didn’t take it against him kasi aware ako na ibang mundo ang pinanggalingan niya. He was a De La Salle Greenhills student. I knew, there will come a time na matututo din siya sa kalakaran ng mundo ng showbiz. Good thing, napakabait at supportive ng pamilya niya especially si Tita Rina, hindi lang sa kanya kundi sa mga fans niyang tulad ko.

When I was assigned to be part of the solo Kathryn serye in 2011 for a first project, I was so excited because it was an opportunity to work with KathBie. Bilang fan girl, dream come true yun. Ang tanda ko pa, dapat magsasama pa sila nina Kath, Julia and the late AJ Perez sa “Way Back Home” movie.

However, a scandal came out. May nabuntis daw siyang young star.

The news spread like a wildfire. Ang mga kakilala ko were asking me if totoo. Dahil hindi naman kami close ni Albie, I didn’t or wouldn’t know if ay relasyon sila nung girl then. But bilang fan, siyempre in denial ako. I was convincing myself na hindi totoo yun. I was also defending him sa bashers sa social media, even those in person na nakakausap ko at nagsasabing “f**kboy” itong si Albie.

During a photoshoot in December 2010.

The good thing was, I had Tita Rina and his co-manager then Tito Mon Lures’ support sa aking pagfa-fan girl. They would call me up frequently, update-update. Noon pa man, they were so sure na hindi talaga siya ang ama ng dinadala nung babae. Did I doubt? In my mind, oo. Kasi hindi ko kilala si Albie. Ano ba ang alam ko sa pwede at kaya niyang gawin? Pero ang pinanghawakan ko na lang, yung faith ni Tita Rina. Sa anak niya. That the truth will come out. At kay God. At yun ang pinanghawakan ko.

But it took a toll at Albie’s promising career. Suddenly, yung mga supposed projects na gagawin niya, naudlot. We had to find a new partner for Kathryn. At ang pinaka-masakit, tainted ang pangalan at image ni Albie. Nasa utak na ng majority then, tinatakbuhan niya ang responsibilidad ng pagiging isang batang ama.

Life had to move on though. Kathryn found on screen partners in Enrique Gil and Daniel Padilla. Albie went back to school. He did several projects outside ABS-CBN, pero limited yun. At ako, nagpatuloy ang trabaho.

But at some points during “Princess And I”’s phenomenal run, everytime I would see Kathryn and Daniel, iniisip ko, “mangyayari kaya ito if hindi nangyari lahat kay Albie?” Pero ito ang will ni God. Just seeing him doing well sa social accounts ni Tita Rina, OK na ako. Malalaman ko pa sometime later na he became one of Jerome Ponce’s barkada, with whom I became close. He is in good company.

So when “On The Wings Of The Love” happened to him last year, isa ako sa mga naging pinakamasaya. Hindi naging madamot ang industriya sa kanya for another chance. And nung makita ko uli siya sa ASAP last year, I was so happy. Hindi lang dahil nakabalik siya ng bongga, but more so nakita ko yung ibang Albie na hinihintay ko makita. Hindi na walled. Masaya. At peace. I even said to him, “ang blooming mo ha.” Because he really was. At ang laki ng in-improve ng pag-arte niya.

Sometime in 2011 after an appearance.

Just days ago, nabalitaan ko ang paglabas ng katotohan na hindi siya ang ama nung bata. I was reading comments on social media, some netizens asking public apology from the girl. 5 years of his supposed life were “stolen” from him.

Masaya ako kasi, even if it was years in the making, the truth came out. Faith lang talaga kay God. But I won’t make a big deal out of it, because as I said, will ni God yung  nangyari. If di nangyari yun, walang KathNiel. Hindi rin naman natin masasabi kung magpapatuloy ang KathBie in terms of kasikatan. And more importantly, Albie came out a better person after all of those. Bago pa man lumabas yung totoo, actually, ibang-iba na siya. And it was for the better. So no regrets. Hindi pa naman huli para mahabol ni Albie ang mga dapat niyang habulin. He’s young, good looking, determined… There’s a long, long way ahead of him.

Kung noon, dakilang fan ako ng pagiging artista ni Albie, ngayon, mas nirerespeto ko siya. Bilang tao at lalake, who chose to keep quiet and just let the truth come out, in God’s perfect time.