Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, and Paolo Ballesteros who were popularly known as ‘JoWaPao’ and believed to be the successor of the legendary trio Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon narrated how they felt when TVJ suddenly announced their resignation from TAPE Inc. last May 31, 2023.
In an interview with News5, JoWaPao said that they were clueless during those time that it was already their last day working as Eat Bulaga host.
According to Paolo, they already felt that something big would happen on that day when TAPE Inc. already disallow them to air live.
“Ako ay gulong-gulo sa kung ano ang nangyayari. Bilang ako ay isang clueless. I chose peace. Hindi ko alam kung ang mangyayari siyempre. Pumasok kami para mag-work, likw we usually do, like we all do. Ako for 22 years ng buhay ko mas higit pa sa kalahati ng buhay ko. Sa araw-araw sa Eat Bulaga. Same usual day tapos ‘yun na nga, biglang hindi na raw magla-live and stuff. Anyare ta’s gulong-gulo,” said Paolo.
“Puzzled syempre, gulong-gulo. Gulong-gulo. Iniisip ko after that nung nag-sign off kami, iniisip ko sa’n ako kakain ng libreng lunch,” Wally joked.
While felt pressured, Jose said that he fully trusted the judgment made by TVJ during that day.
“Sa’kin ano e, pressure ‘yung nangyayari sa loob. ‘Yun nga basta sinabi hindi kami eere. Ako sa part ko, hindi naman ako masyadong nag-worry kasi andun ‘yung TVJ.” said Jose. “Alam naman nating hindi kami pababayaan kung anumang sitwasyon, sila naman yung haharap at siguradong magiging maayos naman so, kung anumang pinaplano alam naming tama ‘yung desisyon nila. So, pinaubaya naming lahat. Hindi makakalimutan ‘yung prayers. ‘Yun ang sitwasyon nu’n”
It can be recalled that Tito denied that they were supposed to resign on that day and only discussed their future plans.
However, the decision of TAPE Inc. to disallow them to air made them quickly decide to just resign from the show.