Here is the statement of Martin Castro’s wife regarding the ongoing feud between Claudine Barretto and Angelica Panganiban.
Martin Castro, the controversial man being linked to Claudine Barretto is Derek Ramsay’s best friend.
MRS. MARTIN CASTRO SPEAKS. As Claudine tells it, everything unravelled during the July 24 dinner hosted by the couple Martin and Cris Castro.
Claudine says she and Raymart are guests, especially invited to come and take a look at the Castros’ renovated garden, and to partake of a meal cooked by no less than Martin’s mom, who, Claudine tells PEP, has particularly asked to meet her.
At the dinner, Claudine goes on, Angelica arrives already in a foul mood. She is with Derek. But it is when Angelica starts badmouthing her sister Gretchen to the other guests that, Claudine says, she confronts Angelica. Their relationship goes downhill from there.
Claudine’s story is uploaded in PEP on August 26. The following day, I receive a text message from Cris Castro, who says she wants to speak with me. This is followed by a call soon after. Eventually, we have two phone conversations, one on August 27 and another on August 30.
Cris introduces herself as the person mentioned in PEP, and says the other person mentioned is Martin, her husband. “I want to correct a few things about the dinner,” she begins.
“Oh,” I say, “what did we get wrong?”
“Ah, no,” she laughs, her tone friendly. “Just that I read that Claudine and Raymart were, like, special guests? The dinner was for everybody, for our friends. It was not for anyone in particular, just all our friends. Claudine and Raymart were also there.”
Interrupting herself, she says, “The first thing I need to explain is that I’m not so close to Claudine. I can’t judge her. It’s my husband who’s close to Claudine and Raymart. I’m not.”
She adds with a small laugh, “ I don’t get crazy like an alalay because somebody is an artista. I’m just me. Of course, we’re very close to Derek [Ramsay], but we don’t treat him like an artista in our home.”
She says, “Martin and I have been close to Derek 12, 13, years. Derek is a very good friend, even to my kids. He’s their father, their best friend. He’s a very honest man.” Cris is 34. Martin is 38. Their friend Derek is 32.
Cris admits that, even with Angelica, she still has to get close. Certainly, being Derek’s girlfriend of three years, they’ve met her. They’ve even gone on trips to Subic together.
“I’m not close to Derek’s girlfriend, Angelica, either. But we’ve spent more time with her than with Claudine. We’ve gone out maybe a dozen times. We’ve had long weekends together—Derek, Angelica, Martin and me. But she’s very shy, doesn’t speak much, doesn’t speak at all,” she says with a laugh in her voice.
“So I’m not close to Claudine, and I’m not close to Angelica,” she clarifies.
What of the July 24 dinner? How was Angelica? I ask.
“Angelica came to the party with Derek. They came late and they left early. She was uncomfortable, I think, because there were people she didn’t know, so she wasn’t talking much. But she was fine, just quiet. Not dabog at all, like it said in the article. No, nothing like that. She had a smile on her face!”
Cris gives her impression of Angelica. “Angelica—she’s very shy, very quiet, very honest. I mean, the way she says things—she’s straight. But she hardly speaks. And that night, she wasn’t talking to anybody. She was beside Derek the whole time. She couldn’t have said things like ‘Gretchen gave Derek gifts that were so big’ to the other guests. We would’ve heard!
“We were all together in one dining room. Me, Derek, Angelica, my sister, Martin’s mom, Claudine… We would’ve heard! The others were in the garden, Raymart, Martin… I didn’t hear Angelica say anything about Gretchen giving gifts to Derek. I don’t even remember hearing Gretchen’s name. In the first place, if you know Angelica, she’s very careful. She hardly speaks!”
Recalling the evening, Cris says, “It was Claudine who was talking a lot. I guess she’s very comfortable with us. Claudine is very friendly. She’s a good conversationalist. She gets comfortable right way. She’s loud. She’s the kind who wants people to know she’s there. Maybe, she’s used to the attention. We give it to her.”
Cris’s tone is upbeat. Her language, predominantly English, is idiomatic, light, funny. There is little drama in her voice. It’s clearly a voice that doesn’t change moods fast or often. It stays upbeat long.
That is just my reading from a phone conversation, so to make certain, I ask directly: She’s the kind to let things slide, would that be right? How is she about fuss?
She laughs aloud and says, “That’s right! I don’t make a big deal of things. I say, if you’re okay with it, I’m okay with it. I’m too busy to pick on little things. I’m busy. I go to the States a lot—my mom is there, my daughter goes to school there. I do things.”
THE BIG QUESTION. Claudine has said there are rumors linking her and Martin, I tell Cris. Has she heard those rumors?
“I only heard them from Claudine! She’s the one telling me. She said she investigated,” Cris answers straight.
She says she also said to Claudine, “I said, ‘What do you care? You know it’s not true. I know it’s not true. What do you care?’
“I told her, ‘You’re not having an affair with my husband—so why should you be putting so much energy into this?’ But Claudine can’t let it go. I don’t know why she won’t let it go.
“Claudine told me she did not invent this. I told her, ‘I don’t care, and you shouldn’t care. You have Raymart, you have your kids, your career. Why should you care? You can’t find time for any of this!’”
To PEP, Cris says categorically: “I’m Martin’s wife. I should know if there’s an affair. It’s not true! All this talk, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about talk.”
If there are indeed rumors, who can be spreading them? Does she believe Angelica has something to do with this, as Claudine claims?
“I don’t know if there are rumors. Claudine says there are. Who’s spreading them? We will never know, we will never know. Claudine may have made it up, I’ll never know, and it doesn’t matter. It’s not true anyway!”
Has she ever spoken to Angelica about the rumors?
Her quick reply: “No, I don’t need to. That’s how relaxed I am.”
She does muse, “But Claudine shouldn’t have mentioned our names. We’re private people. Before this, no one connected our names to this! I had no idea our names had been mentioned.
“My friends just called and said, ‘You’re on the Net!’ They gave me a link, and so I saw it [PEP]. We’re being talked about. Our kids will see this. Claudine shouldn’t have mentioned us. Like I said, we’re private people.”
Cris and Martin Castro have been married 16 years. They have two children, a 17-year-0ld girl and a 12-year-old boy. Asked what Martin does for a living, Cris answers, “Martin owns some restaurants, and builds houses.”
Asked what she does, she answers, “Housewife.” But in our second conversation, she says, “My sister tells me, ‘Why do you say you’re a housewife?’ Actually, I help Martin. I’m very busy running around. That’s why I wasn’t in the birthday party of Claudine, where Martin’s picture was taken. I’m too busy to party.”
Of late, Cris—full name: Maria Cristina Romero-Salas Castro—has been particularly busy. Her side of the family (“Martin is in it too!”; so is Derek) is opening the LifeScience Center for Wellness at The Fort this November.
I ask about the venture. She says it’s located at the ACCRA Law Center building, and it has all the needed elements for wellness—nutritionists, doctors, oxygen drips, regenerative meds. But the special thing it has, she enthuses, is that the vitamins will be tailored to individual needs and wants by the center’s doctors and nutritionists. “It’s not the same vitamins for everyone! We’re the only one with this!”
Cris, a University of Sto. Tomas graduate, will be a director in this family business. “I’m really not a simple housewife,” she laughs.
MARTIN’S PERSONALITY. Cris attempts to explain how Martin’s name may have gotten dragged into this.
“My husband is kinda the same as Derek,” Cris says. “He’s makulit, very honest, very friendly. He’s a very accommodating friend. Maybe he gave Claudine the wrong impression—that he’s too available.
“Sometimes, Claudine calls 30 times a day!” she says, not quite indicating if it bothers her.
“But Martin really makes himself available to friends,” Cris continues. “That time when Derek left home, many years ago, he stayed with us—and he stayed three months! We’re that open. That’s how accommodating my husband is. Martin is that kind of friend.”
Describing her husband further, she says, “He’s a clown. He’s always making people laugh. He’s a real person. If you need him, he’ll be there!”
But Martin is a proper guy, Cris makes clear. ”Martin never goes there to Claudine’s place unless there is someone there. Somebody’s always present. I know that for a fact.”
And Claudine is a proper girl, Cris believes. “I don’t think she’s that kind of girl. Claudine never gave me that impression. They weren’t an item.”
And her reading of Claudine’s husband? ”Raymart is like me. He just lets Claudine go on. He’s a private person.”
“ADDICT.” Talk about extramarital affairs is bad enough, but the word “addict” mentioned in connection with her husband’s name gets her angry, Cris admits.
“Martin is feeling bad about all this talk. Addict is a bad word. It’s good that it’s something that he’s not! I know he’s not. And that’s too personal, that’s below the belt!
“Especially because Martin is really payatin! Ever since I met him, he’s been that way. As a teenager, he was just always skinny. He has an uncle with the same body type. He eats eight times a day, but Martin just doesn’t get fat at all!”
She’s able to laugh, but it’s obvious that she bristles at the “addict” tag, which hit the media when Claudine accused Angelica of saying Martin was an addict.
“I’m not blaming Claudine,” Cris says diplomatically, “but I didn’t expect things to get out of hand like this.”
Cris recalls her last communication with Claudine was “a couple of weeks ago.” In that conversation, she says, ”Claudine was explaining what Kris Aquino told her. But I didn’t want to listen. It’s that he-said-she-said thing again, and I’m not in the loop with those things. When she called again a few days ago, I didn’t take the call anymore.”
She adds, “I told Claudine I didn’t believe the talk. It’s not a big deal to me. Why should she mind? She said it could ruin her career. I think she’s blowing it out of all proportion.
“As far as Angelica and Derek are concerned, this has ended a long time ago. It’s really up to her [Claudine]. From her side, I wouldn’t know what she’s thinking.”
Then Cris says, “A rumor is a rumor, but she put a name to a face. It’s different when you do that.”
DEREK’S FRIENDSHIPS. Cris also recalls Claudine saying in the PEP article that Angelica is out to ruin Derek’s friendships. That’s supposed to be the reason why Angelica is saying these ugly things about Martin.
Cris dismisses this right away: “Martin and Derek have been through so much, been friends for so long, that something like this cannot get in the way of their being friends. Angelica wouldn’t get in the way of this friendship.”
Again with a laugh in her voice, Cris says, “Angelica, we’ve known longer than Claudine. There’s been no rift in all this time, she’s never affected us in this way. But Claudine, in just a couple of months…
“Martin met Raymart a year or so ago. They’re close friends. I just recently became close. But ever since we met Claudine, our lives have done a whole 360!”
She still sounds upbeat. But admittedly, some things have changed—particularly for Martin, Cris says. ”Martin doesn’t know how to place himself. He’s embarrassed by this because Raymart is a friend. He’s uncomfortable.
“He’s already stayed away, doesn’t call her, doesn’t take her calls. He calls Raymart. He and Raymart have talked about it. ‘Pasensiya ka na,’ he told Raymart. Raymart said, ‘Wala iyon.’”
What about her? She didn’t take Claudine’s last call. Is she sorry she got close to Claudine?
After a pause, Cris says, her voice brisk, ”Yeah, I guess. I don’t need that noise in my life.”
Excuse me di hamak na cheap c claudine barretto kng maayos xa na babae sana tanggap xa ang rico yan’s family. And super rich c ate cris wala saknya ang chismis bcoz super personal life nya. Pwde pa nya bilin c claudine! Mga cheap kayo ng comment blin namin kaya kayo!
Cris Castro, too good to be true.. Why speak now? And 30 times is 30 times.. Sa lahat ng sinabi mo, indirectly saying negative things about CB. Akala ko it shouldnt matter? Hayz, sana nagrequest ka na ren ng pictre mo in this article para sikat ka na ren. :)
when two, or three people tell things differently, there is really something wrong and we don’t have any idea what the truth is. I am a fan of Claudine. As an actress, I like her acting. Her personal life has nothing to do with my fondness of her because I simply like her acting skill and her beauty as a woman. Beauty in the category of Julia Roberts who does have a perfect face but as a whole persona, she has it! The “gulo” as pictured by Mrs. Castro is just the result of yes, elitist’s way of saying/doing things versus showbiz personalities. Their culture, nothing really matters if I am to be asked because both have actually experienced the good and fine things in life especially the Ilongga culture that is so fond of “saya” and friendship. Ilonggas are loyal friends, as far as I know, betrayals nor being a traitor is not a virtue to them but pakisama is.
My advise to Claudine: whatever it is that bugs you right now, believe in the truth that God sees everything, and no one can escape Our Father’s eyes. Just be still, and know that He is God. Be silent in the midst of these bruhaha, and calmness and peace will rule your life. Do not get back at them, I mean, your critics, you know yourself better they do. You have been through a lot at your age, and that shall bring you on a higher plane than them. Maintain your equilibrium, your balance, and do not let pride get the better of you. The elitists, if indeed they are, will simply turn their heads away as if they do not know you, nor ever recognize that you exist! That is the worst kind of treatment a person could get. Then, do not mind them too. If they think you are gulo to their lives, you can also say that they are in it, too kaya nga magulo. You move on, as if nothing happened. Mas may dating ka. I will always be your fan. Am an Ilongga too.
Feeling “I’m above artista” elitista naman tong Cris Castro na to! Kung di siya affected at no big deal to her, bakit siya pa tumatawag at nagpa-interview sa PEP? hypocrite, yang mga elitista, “classy”, well-bred, old rich kuno, kunwari condescending sa mga artista pero 104%, inggit sa mga mukha ng artista at hanggang Wish Ko Lang na sana magmukha silang artista!
barretto sisters are all alike! For God’s sake, obvious naman eh..
30 times calling? prove it mrs. castro or else bka kaw ang mpahiya dont be bias a pretyy claudine barretto will call ur husband 30 times lineup to late rico yan, mark anthony and raymart hello? ….. DI MAGAGALIT NG MATINDI SI MS CLAUDINE B. KUNG walang basehan at ang rumors can ruin every ones life kaw itsismis na may lalake ka kahit d totoo manhid lang ang di masasaktan kaya para mgtanda ang mga taong mahlig sa maling tsismis dapat may kaukulang parusa kahit my katotohan o wala basta ngparatang ng mali dyosa si ms claudine b at mapili sa guy bka naman my insecurity k lng kasi magnda, mabait si ms claudine b.