Gerald Santos couldn’t help but remember the bad memories during his stay at GMA Network.
It can be recalled that the netizens discussed Gerald’s experience with a musical director on GMA Network again amid the charges filed by Sparkle artist Sandro Muhlach against Kapuso creative directors Richard Cruz and Jojo Nones.
According to the reports, Gerald, who rose to stardom after winning the second season of Pinoy Pop Superstar, revealed that the musical director was already taking advantage of him even though he was still 15 at the time.
Gerald said the director started his attempt while still competing on the show.
“Ito pong taong ito, maimpluwensiya dun sa network. So sa pagre-refuse ko sa kanya, siguro po lumalim na po ‘yung ano… Kung baga naapektuhan na rin,” said Gerald.
He also narrated one of his experiences when the director invited him to Iloilo to perform with other singers.
However, he was surprised when he was the only one who arrived at the director’s house.
“Early flight po kasi, first flight kami… so nag-ask siya na, dahil maaga nga po para hindi ma-late, pinatulog niya ako sa bahay niya. Tapos ‘yun na po… nasa kwarto niya po [ako], nagulat po ako kasi isa lang ang kwarto,” he stated.
“Mga chancing-chancing… ‘yun na po ‘yun. Hindi po ako pumayag, kaya hindi po natuloy.” he stated.
When he revealed the incident to the higher-ups of GMA Network, he was only told to move on.
To make matters worse, his contract ended earlier.
“Ang nakaka-disappoint po kasi ang sagot lang po sa amin, ‘Just move on, matagal na ‘yun,” he said.
“Hindi pa po tapos ang kontrata ko, nagpa-release lang po kami. Kasi nga po, dahil sa nangyari na ‘to… As an artist po, gusto ko ring mag-grow. Dumating po sa point na hindi na po ako naggo-grow kasi hindi rin ako nabibigyan ng projects,” he added.
When the story went viral again, Gerald said that his bad memories resurfaced again.
He also expressed his support for Sandro, who already made a complaint against the two ‘independent contractors’ of GMA.
“Nagbalik ang sakit sa akin at hindi ko maiwasan maluha to imagine ang sinapit nya. My heart goes to Sandro and the whole Muhlach family,” said Gerald. “I was once in this situation but back then wala kang boses, walang social media. Unlike ngayon na nagkaroon na ng #MeToo movement,”
“But I will hold my head up high for standing up amidst tremendous pressure to just let go of what happened. I hope he gets the justice I was once denied of,” he added.
