One can say that the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival last December 2015 was a highly chaotic one with various controversies surrounding the annual film festival; one in particular is to whether which film got the number one position in terms of box office sales, “My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore” or “Beauty and the Bestie”.
Ai-Ai delas Alas got emotional in her disagreement against the claim of a Star Cinema representative stating that “Beauty and the Bestie” was the number one top grossing on the second week run of the MMFF 2015.
Ai-Ai countered this claim and stated that “My Bebe Love:#KiligPaMore” was the No. 1, though she didn’t give any exact figures with a series of Instagram posts implying about the ticket swapping issue.
READ: Ai-Ai delas Alas strongly believes “My Bebe Love:#KiligPaMore” is number one: “Dun tayo sa totoo”
Many viewed de las Alas’ emotional statement as a a ramblings of someone who can’t accept box office facts and ungrateful towards ABS-CBN whom she once worked with; one can very well be say that this is where she got her moniker as the “Philippine Queen of Comedy” and “Comedy Concert Queen”.
Accusations of cheating, dishonesty, and lack of integrity seemingly directed towards Star Cinema didn’t go unnoticed as the same representative released a similarly intriguing remarks aim towards the “Queen of Comedy”.
Then there was silence from both parties and even from the MMDA which should be releasing the official sales record for fact checking and resolution of ticket swapping complaints.
READ: Star Cinema reacts to Ai-Ai’s allegations about MMFF anomalies
This February 2016, in the recent interview conducted by the Philippine Entertainment Portal for Ai-Ai delas Alas upcoming indie movie “AREA (Magkera Ka, Magkanu?)”, the ‘Comedy Concert Queen’ finally ends the issue on which MMFF 2015 entry is number one and decides to simply move on. “I admit naman na emosyunal ako. And siguro, hindi ko na rin yun dapat sinabi. Di ba, tayo naman ay may kanya-kanyang opinion? And siguro nga ay hindi lang nagkaintindihan,” (“I admit I was emotional and I probably shouldn’t have said that. Don’t each of us have our own opinions? I think there was just a misunderstanding,”) Ai-Ai stated.
The Kapuso actress previously said that she never lost and never will lose her gratitude towards ABS-CBN wherein she spent fourteen flourishing years with. Ai-Ai proceeded that her relationship with Vice Ganda was not negatively affected by the issue and their friendship remains intact.
The Kapuso comedienne mentioned that she wanted reconciliation as much as the next guy and added, “Magkikita-kita naman kami ng mga ‘yan. Ayoko nang magsalita, ang hirap naman kasing magsalita.” (“Our paths will cross again. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Talking might be more complicated.“) Ai-Ai delas alas continued talking and promoted her latest film project; that she was thankful for all the blessings and challenges that came along her way.
Ai-Ai delas alas seems to not find anything worth apologizing for her MMFF 2015 number 1 claim outburst and emphasized that it was more of an misunderstanding of opposing opinions; “opinion” which The Oxford Dictionary defined as “A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge”.
Is this Ai-Ai indirectly admitting that the basis of her outburst was of an opinion not backed up by statistics? Is her pride getting in the way of simply owning up for her seemingly ungrateful remark that draw ire and flak from Filipino netizens? Did Ai-Ai delas alas truly retracted her previous statement that got the best of her?
Whatever is going on in the head of Ai-Ai delas Alas, it seems like this would be the last that we would be hearing from her about the issue. That she simply wants to put it behind while she promotes her latest movie project which she hopefully want to gain support from every movie-going Filipinos.
