‘I’m scared, too’: ABS-CBN star Nadine

Lustre breaks silence over network’s

shutdown
Coconuts Manila

yesterday

After drawing flak for supposedly keeping mum about ABS-CBN’s shut down
when it failed to secure a broadcast license, actress Nadine Lustre, who
appeared in the network’s popular primetime dramas, yesterday said that she’s
in the same boat as the media giant’s supporters.
Better late than never, we guess.
Lustre wrote online that she remains a kapamilya,  a nickname given to
supporters and workers of ABS-CBN.
“Like you, I’m scared of what’s happening too. Like you, I’m saddened for the
more than 11,000 people who lose their jobs. Like you, I cry for my own country.
Because like you, I’m also a Filipino. I am part of this fight. I continue to help and
pray [for the situation] amid mourning,” the 26-year-old actress wrote on
Instagram.
Read: ABS-CBN retrenches workers after failing to get Congressional
license
“Let us please turn our attention to things that warrant real attention. Please,
let’s not fight or divide amongst ourselves. We’re out of time,” the actress
pleaded to the public.

Photo: Nadine Lustre / IG

Supporters of Lustre came to her defense on Twitter, with people like

@peachesXpoison saying, “Nadine said her piece. She Supports ABS-CBN.”
Like Lustre, her fan called for unity instead of squabbling amid the aggrieved
broadcaster’s closure.
“Let’s unite. We’re running out of time. NOW GO, DIRECT YOUR HATE TO THE
REAL ENEMY!”
Lustre’s statement however, comes after fellow ABS-CBN actress Angel Locsin
over the weekend attended a protest against the network’s shutdown. During the
rally, Locsin urged celebrities who remained silent on the media giant’s
shutdown to speak up, as they apparently had nothing to lose or an image to
protect anymore.
“To my fellow actresses who aren’t speaking up, do you still have a career? You
don’t have a network anymore!” an impassioned Locsin said in Filipino.
“Even if you try to look cute on Instagram, or send a sad face, you are not
sympathizing with your fellow workers who are the reason why you became
famous!”
“Don’t be scared. You no longer have a career or image to protect,” Locsin, long-
known for her outspoken views on the franchise, said.
Read: Actress Angel Locsin tells Calida: ‘You will be remembered as the
man who killed ABS-CBN’
Many believe that the non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s license to broadcast is
politically motivated because President Rodrigo Duterte had publicly threatened
to block it multiple times, and even bragged in a speech last week that he
“dismantled the oligarchy” shortly after the media giant’s license was rejected by
Congress.
After the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly against ABS-CBN’s
franchise renewal, the media giant announced that it would retrench its workers
starting next month. Among those let go were veteran broadcasters Ces Drilon
and Korina Sanchez, both of whom expressed their sadness on social media.
Meanwhile, rival network TV5’s chairman, billionaire businessman Manny
Pangilinan told The Philippine Star  over the weekend that it may absorb the
displaced ABS-CBN workers. Pangilinan said that he is willing to offer jobs for
the soon to be out-of-work employees if they are willing to lend their talents to
TV5.
ABS-CBN has said that it suffers losses of up to PHP35 million (US$708,581)
every day that it is off the air.