In Piolo Pascual’s contract signing with ABS-CBN on Thursday, September 16, it was noticeable that Star Magic executives were not present during the occasion.
Those who attended the Ultimate Heartthrob’s welcoming committee were ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, COO for broadcast Cory Vidanes, group CFO Rick Tan, Dreamscape Entertainment head Deo Endrinal, including his talent manager, Lulu Romero.
Star Magic’s new head Direk Laurenti Dyogi, on the other hand, was not present.
Pascual will instead remain a Cornerstone talent from now on.
When ABS-CBN got forced to go off the air in 2020, the actor was among the first to decide to leave the Network, causing outrage from Kapamilya supporters. He decided to follow former Star Magic head, Johnny Manahan to TV5.
For 24 years, he was with Star Magic since 1996. On his 10th anniversary of being a Star Magic artist, he had a coffee table book titled Piolo: Believing, a fifth album, and a solo concert in Araneta Coliseum.
After becoming a Kapatid, the actor joined Brightlight Productions, the television company that serves Cignal, TV5, and now a block time partner of ABS-CBN.
His transfer also sparked a rumor of a ban to fellow transferee Maja Salvador from ABS-CBN.
Meanwhile, Manahan previously admitted that he regretted dragging Pascual and Salvador to TV5, following the cancellation of the variety show Sunday Noontime Live (SNL), which the stars had hosted for a short period.
“Kaya hiyang-hiya ako sa dalawa, e. I talked to them and I said, ‘I’m so sorry for dragging you into this,'” said Manahan after people said that the artists showed no loyalty to ABS-CBN, especially since the two who transferred shortly after the Network’s shutdown.
Does this mean that Pascual has severed his ties with Star Magic and is no longer part of the roster of artists?
