Niño Muhlach has firmly rejected a settlement offer from two contractors of GMA Network, led by bilyonaryo Felipe Gozon, as he plans to sue them for the alleged sexual harassment of his son, Sandro, on the night of the GMA Gala at a hotel in Pasay City.
During a Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media hearing on Monday, Muhlach revealed that he agreed to face the accused, Jojo Nones and Richard Cruz, at the home of GMA senior vice president Anette Gozon-Valdez, who brokered the meeting.
“They were crying when they apologized and even offered to donate a certain amount to a charitable institution of my choice just to settle the issue,” Niño recounted to the committee.
“My response to them was, ‘I’m just human; even God forgives. I can forgive you, but you need to face the consequences of what you did,” the actor explained.
When asked if Muhlach’s claim was true, Nones replied, “No, your honor. That would be very insulting.”
Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada was puzzled as to why they apologized to Muhlach if they had done nothing wrong against his son, Sandro, a GMA Sparkle talent.
“If you did nothing wrong, why apologize?” Jinggoy questioned.
Estrada also asked Muhlach whether Nones and Cruz had admitted to doing anything wrong to Sandro.
“Yes, Sen. But clearly kung okay lang edi wala kami rito sana ngayon. ‘Di ba? At saka hindi sana nag iiyak yung anak ko. Ms. Gozon was our witness during our meeting,” said Muhlach, whose son has gone to the National Bureau of Investigation to file a formal complaint against the GMA executives.
“When they apologized, ang sabi: ‘Sorry talaga, sorry, Niño, kasi akala namin okay lang’. When they said sorry, syempre naintindihan ko na ‘yun — kung ano ‘yung kwento ng anak ko ‘yun na ‘yun. Akala raw nila okay lang,” Muhlach told the committee.
The senator also revealed that Nones allegedly deleted the text messages exchanged between him and Sandro to make it appear that Sandro voluntarily went to their room at the Belmont Hotel, next to the Marriott Hotel where the GMA Gala Night was held on July 20.
“If we recover that (deleted messages) from Globe or Smart, I’ll have you (Nones) jailed,” said Estrada.
The senator also inquired whether Nones had placed a substance hidden in a rolled-up ₱500 bill into Sandro’s wine, but Nones denied this.
Earlier, the two contractors read their statement denying all of Sandro’s accusations.
“Bakla kami, oo, pero hindi kami mga abuser. Bakla kami, oo, pero hindi kami gumagawa ng masama sa kapwa. Bakla kami, oo, at may takot kami sa Diyos.”
They asserted that they had not only excelled in their television careers over the past 30 years but had also earned respect and maintained a clean reputation.
“Kaya, hindi po namin sisirain ang iniingatan naming karera at reputasyon para makapang abuso o harass ng isang tao. Lalo na ang alam naman naming anak ng sikat na artista at maimpluwensyang pamilya. Ano ba naman ang laban naming mga ordinaryong manggagawa lamang laban sa kanina?” they added.