Claudine Barretto drew first blood.

The volatile 31-year-old star, who has captured nearly every acting prize hereabouts, told the Philippine Entertainment Portal on August 25 that she was in the midst of choosing from among three lawyers, in her determined drive to haul actress Angelica Panganiban, 23 years old, to court.

Three days earlier, in Davao City, Claudine—wife to 37-year-old former action star Raymart Santiago and mother to their adopted daughter and biological son—had told Peoples Tonight entertainment editor Ian Fariñas that no one was getting in the way of her singular quest. 

To get the point home, she said that no one could stop her—not even Raymart, her husband of four years, or Mr. M, also known as Johnny Manahan, her career mentor of 17 years.

By all accounts, Claudine had been stewing much earlier than this. Weeks back, on August 4, 11:05 p.m., she had posted on her Twitter for Blackberry (written as is): "Tweethearts ano b dapat gawin sa traydor na kaibigan na walang magawa sa buhay kundi siraan ako,asawa ko,kaibigan ko" 

This was followed by: "At pangalan ko ng mga anak ko???don't mess wid my family ang stand ko!" 

At the time, the actress was 19 days away from naming the person she was calling the "traydor na kaibigan," but, being one of the biggest stars in the country, she had succeeded in tweaking the interest of the local press. The search was on: Who was the mystery person Claudine was warning, on Twitter, not to "mess" with her family?

Within the same day of August 4, Claudine—who is, incidentally, a tri-media celebrity endorser for Lactum, Knorr, Belo Essentials and Pantene—went on to post 14 other tweets via web, a number of which were retweeted, also on the web, by people she was communicating with:

"isang daga na tago ng tago!!!! mahahanap rin kita promise!!! sana di mangyari sayo to if pakakasalan ka????"

"nawawala pagka christian ko lord!!!pag asawa't mga anak ko na binabastos mo di kita tatantanan!!!"

"soon very soon frend i'll let you knw kung sino siya!!!"

"not bcoz were christians ibig sabihin tiis lang ng tiis!!!im a wife and a mother"

"baka masunog pag pinag pray over!!!but i'll try!!! itago nalang natin sya sa pangalang ---------!!!"

"if your not guilty haharap ka diba???? eh nagtatago.cge i'll pray n reflect after all KARMA.hahabulin ka nun"

"Just pray that Karma will visit him/her anytime soon...&"