Orange and Lemons and Francine Diaz finally ended their rift after the controversial event they both attended on April 30 at San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News, the organizer and the event producer, Kylee Dioneda, apologized for the confusion that happened, which resulted in Francine appearing on stage on her original schedule.
“Unang-una po sa lahat, humihingi po ako ng pasensya sa mga nangyari,” Dioneda said. “Ito po talaga ay miscommunication lang po ng lahat, sa dami po ng nangyari that time sa event,” the producer said.
Meanwhile, Francine said that she received permission from the organizers to perform earlier, but Orange and Lemons were not informed about her appearance.
The band’s vocalist, Clem Castro, also said that he wanted to end the issue.
“What you see online, all the videos and the postings, were just mere speculations. There’s no clear representation on what happened online. Kami lang lahat nakakaalam and we discussed it internally,” he stated.
He also added that they were already tired during that time, which quickly made them hotheaded during the event.
“The show was two hours delayed. So, ambilis ng pangyayari. Magulo backstage. Things got out of hand and out of control,” Clem said. “I apologized for my behavior, I explained my side. They explained their side. And we found the root cause of the problem – it’s miscommunication.”
Francine said that she already talked to Clem, and they already fixed their differences.
“Nag-sorry din po ako kay Sir Clem, kasi at that time, I wasn’t thinking properly. Wala ako sa right state of mind… I should’ve acknowledged them. But because of intimidation, hindi ko po alam yung gagawin ko,” she admitted.
She added: “Nag-apologize din po ako kay Sir Clem, kasi kahit hindi ko po intention na mag-disrespect, ganun po ang nangyari. Ganun yung naging kalabasan.”
Despite the olive branch offered between the two camps, netizens were still not convinced by Francine’s explanation and cited her cryptic posts after the incident, her mother’s message, and the testimony from the event staff.