Liza Soberano and Ogie Diaz. Image: screengrab from YouTube/GMA Network, Instagram/@ogie_diaz
Liza Soberano admitted she was hurt by the statements—some of which she dismissed as “untrue”—made by her former talent manager Ogie Diaz, noting how she feels like the latter is “trying to say things to make people turn against [her].”
In her interview with Boy Abunda, the actress has spoken up about her seeming falling-out with Diaz and made clarifications on some of the points publicly raised by the latter, including their then-financial arrangement.
Soberano supported Diaz’s claims that his commission on the actress’ talent fee was only 20%, confirming that it was supposed to be at 30%. Soberano explained that Diaz was initially taking 30% from her talent fee, while Star Magic was getting 10%, and her Tita Joni, who also managed her, 20%.
Diaz and Joni eventually agreed to lessen their cuts after the latter “felt bad” for Soberano. The actress said she never complained because it was what was stated in their contract, and that she deemed it “fair” at the time. When asked if she has a “better financial arrangement” now with her talent agency, Careless Music, she responded, “Yes.”
Soberano then began tearing up when Abunda asked her to confirm if the claims about Diaz getting no commission during the last two years of their contract were true.
“It’s not right. That’s incorrect,” she said. “It actually hurts me when he’s making up those lies about me because… I feel like he’s trying to make it seem like I was unprofitable in the past two years that we were working together when he knows the truth, he knows my pain, when he knows the things that I felt were mishandled.”
“It’s kind of unfair [because] I feel like he’s trying to tarnish my name,” she continued, revealing Diaz still gets commission from some of her endorsements until now. “Literally last month, we gave him a paycheck for an endorsement that was renewed before our contract ended. And kahit na wala na siyang ginagawa for that, we gave him his commission because that’s what’s right.”
The said endorsements were those that “fell under the time that [she] was under contract with him.” Soberano also revealed that Diaz will be getting another paycheck from them this week, noting how she does it to “not breach [her] contract.”
Strained relationship with Diaz
“May tampo ka kay Tito Ogie mo?” Abunda directly asked, to which she replied, “Ngayon po, opo.”
Soberano lamented how their relationship turned out the way it did when they ended their contract on good terms. She then recalled how she explained with utmost respect to Diaz her decision to not renew her contract, saying she decided to do so to seek “growth.”
“Nilinaw ko sa kanya, ‘Tito Ogie, I’m grateful for you. I’m so thankful for everything that I’ve achieved and experienced because of you and your guidance, and I will forever hold in my heart the lessons that you have taught me. It will forever be a part of me’” she recalled, noting how Diaz was “very supportive and understanding” at the time.
“We were OK,” she stressed, adding that Diaz even reached out to her when she wiped clean her social media pages. “So I don’t understand why he is choosing to fight me. It feels like he’s trying to fight me, or trying to ruin me when I never said a single bad thing about him.”
Abunda made a follow-up and asked why Soberano thinks Diaz is “ruining” her, which led her to explain, “Because he is saying so many things that are untrue like for the past two years hindi siya kumukuha ng commission.”
Soberano pointed out how Diaz’s claims make her “sound even more ungrateful” to the public, even if he knows how grateful she is to everyone who has been part of her career, especially ABS-CBN.
“Siya na mismo ang nagsabi na masunurin ako, mabait akong bata, so why is he trying to say things to make people turn against me?” she continued.
She also admitted that she is not ready to reach out to Diaz yet because he already took the issue publicly without talking it out privately first.
“Sana kinausap niya man lang ako… Kung na-hurt siya sa mga sinabi ko, sana sinabi niya muna sa akin personally instead of treating me like everyone else in the industry that he talks about on his channels,” she noted. “Parang hindi niya ako anak kahit anak ‘yung tawag niya sa akin.”
Embarking on a new journey
Soberano then talked about the new trajectory in her career as well as the several Hollywood auditions she had, admitting it’s tough to secure roles when she’s competing with the “world.”
Despite difficulties and challenges, Soberano said she is able to soldier on because she likes what she does. Abunda then asked the actress, “What if you fail?”
“At least I tried. At least wala akong regrets pag tanda ko na hindi ko man lang sinubukan ‘to,” she responded. “It’s not that I wasn’t happy in all those years that I was in a love team, all those years na nakatrabaho ko ang ABS-CBN, si Tito Ogie, si Quen (Enrique Gil).”
“I achieved everything that I have now because of that and I left it happy, I left it fulfilled but that doesn’t mean I can’t want more,” she added.
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