Even though there were many guests present at the birthday party and 40th day commemoration of talent manager Douglas Quijano's death last July 23, observers noticed the tension between actor John Estrada, his girlfriend Priscilla Meirelles, and his former wife Janice de Belen.
Respecting the memory of the deceased, however, the three were very civil. It was a night of merriment—Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, was crowded with celebrities dressed as Marilyn Monroe or Michael Jackson, singing and dancing to the songs Tito Dougs loved—so the three just enjoyed the party.
Janice was married to John for more than 10 years before their annulment was granted in 2002. The couple had four children—Inah (17), Moira (17), Kyla (13), and Yuan (10).
Reports say that John had moved on, even proposing marriage to Brazilian beauty queen Priscilla. The actor had even introduced the former Miss Earth to his four children, and she goes out with them from time to time.
During the party, a few saw Janice greet Priscilla a short "Hi." Does this indicate that the SiS host is now willing to extend an olive branch to her former husband?
In an exclusive interview, John told PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal):
"Well, that's a good gesture coming from Janice. Because we go out with our kids. So you know, my kids say good things about Priscilla, I'm sure, to their mom."
He believes the greeting just means his estranged wife wanted to thank Priscilla for taking care of her kids, and nothing more.
"Wala lang, parang nag-thank you lang si Janice sa kanya [Priscilla]," John replied.
TITO DOUGS. John mentioned that he still misses his late manager. To cope with his loss, he admitted that he just tries not to think about Tito Dougs a lot.
"Hindi ko alam kung masasanay ako na hindi siya tumatawag, hindi ko maririnig yung presence niya... But, hindi ko masyado iniisip kasi malulungkot lang ako, e," he explained.
John is not planning to get a new manager any time soon, because Tito Dougs had already arranged all his commitments until January next year.
"Before Douglas passed away, I'm one of the lucky ones na naplantsa niya lahat ng trabaho ko... naplantsa na 'yon ngayon, so may mga kontrata na," John ended.