"I am very much at peace. Isa yan sa mga New Year's resolutions ko—to make sure that I would be in a showbiz-oriented talk show, which is S-Files, and I would just be there to entertain and not to hurt artistas. And me and GMA-7 have the same opinion about it," declares John "Sweet" Lapus two weeks after his mother and sister reportedly confronted Cristy Fermin.
The confrontation. Sweet received flak from the tandem of Jobert Sucaldito and Cristy Fermin after he guested in Mo Twister's "Forbidden Questions." One of the questions was: Hypothetically, if The Buzz goes bankrupt, who should the management lay off first? Sweet named Jobert, saying that the show can survive without the reporter.
Jobert took offense with Sweet's answer.
Since then, Sweet says he received all sorts of negative write-ups in the tabloids and regular negative commentary from radio—all from Jobert and Cristy. His strained relationship with his late father, screenwriter Jojo Lapus, was one of the things thrown at him.
In the wee hours of January 6, Sweet's mother and sister were celebrating the first anniversary of Sweet's Graffiti Bar in Quezon City. Sweet says he had already warned the two that Cristy Fermin would be attending the party in the nearby bar, and that they should just ignore Cristy. He then left the bar to perform in Klownz, Angeles.
After his performance, Sweet was alarmed to see 15 messages in his cell phone saying a fight broke out at the bar while he was gone.
Apparently, his mother and sister Malou wanted to talk to Cristy about why she was attacking Sweet and their family. When they spotted Cristy, they went to her. Sweet says his mother extended her hand to Cristy with the intention of shaking the latter's hand. Someone with The Buzz group must have thought, says Sweet, that his mother was out to slap Cristy, and put himself in the middle, shoving aside his mother's hand. When his sister Malou saw what happened, she shoved the guy away. Cristy, who was said to be behind the guy, was pinned to the wall, according to Sweet.
In a recent interview with PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), Sweet said: "Well, ako naman wala naman ako doon when it happened. So ‘yong naikuwento ko sa S-Files galing sa about 20 customers...
"Noong dumating ako, I asked around kung ano ba talaga nangyari. I asked my staff but, of course, my staff are my staff. They might be biased, so I opted to ask the customers na nandoon. Alam mo ‘yong regular customers lang namin sila, but I basically don't know them. So iisa naman ang istorya nila, so I guess hindi naman siguro magsisinungaling."
He adds, "Actually pinagalitan ko Mom ko at Ate ko. I told them not to listen anymore to the radio program of Tita Cristy and Jobert. I pleaded to them not to read tabloids anymore, pero ang problema din naman kasi, there are people na lumalapit sa kanila that would tell them na sinabi nga ‘yon or sometimes would show them the articles. So kahit paano mo iwasan, kusang lumalapit.
"Hindi lang siguro sila sanay sa show business. Dati pa naman ako nao-okray pero they took it lightly until my father was brought into the picture, who is already dead, who has passed away. So doon lang talaga sila... They were really offended."
ABS-CBN Memo. PEP reported that there was talk going around that a memo was issued by the ABS-CBN management to Jobert and Cristy. There is supposed to be negative reaction from advertisers about the attacks of the two hosts against celebrities. DZMM, the radio station where Jobert and Cristy are hosting a program, was said to have been reprimanded the controversial duo for their alleged celebrity bashing. For his part, Jobert Sucaldito has denied that there has been any such memo.
"Hindi ko alam ‘yan," Sweet says. "If that is true, I am happy at least ABS-CBN management knows that mali talaga ‘yong ginagawa nila and they should do something about it. And these people have to stop."
Utang na loob. "There have been about 30 plus reporters who have been asking me—I don't know kung binabateryahan ba nila ako or galit sila kay Tita Cristy, I don't know. They've been telling me and asking me ‘Ba't hindi ka lumalaban, ba't hindi ko raw okrayin si Tita Cristy," discloses Sweet.
"And I always say the same thing. It's the fact na malaki ang utang na loob ko kay Tita Cristy. I respect her so much. We should not forget that my first show in this industry—I was a researcher after graduating college in UST—I was a researcher in Showbiz Lingó, in which Cristy Fermin was the host. My first job as an on-cam artist, my regular job as an artista, I was a co-host for Cristy Per Minute."
He explains, "Mga ilang taon din akong nakakain ng tatlong beses sa isang araw, nakabili ng magagandang kasuotan because of Cristy Fermin. I would never say something bad about someone who did that to me in the past.
"Nakakalungkot lang, 'no? Yong utang na loob ko na ‘yan and ‘yong fact na I will not say anything bad against her, 'wag lang sanang gawing reason para ako naman 'yong laitin."
Reconciliation. With everything that's been said and done, is there still hope for peace?
"Even if I'm given the chance to see them... because we should not forget the fact that it is them who actually made okray to me, na nagalit sa akin. So ako, on my end, wala akong dapat i-fix kasi I'm fine with these people. They are the ones who'd say bad things about me," says Sweet.
"So I think sila yung nagagalit so sila yung dapat tanungin if they are willing to talk to me," ends Sweet.