Katrina Halili’s townmates in El Nido supportive, shameful
EL NIDO, Palawan – People in this laid-back municipality in Palawan province has cheered Katrina Halili’s success as an actress and model. Now they cringe as they also share in her dilemmas.
The controversial TV and movie personality who figured in a sex video scandal involving her liposuction doctor spent countless vacations, birthdays, and other special occasions in El Nido, the hometown of her mother’s half-Chinese family.
While fans adore her on screen and in pages of sexy magazines, the Cuyonons (El Nido natives) consider her as one of them. They refer to her as “Chiqui,” Halili’s childhood name.
Local people in this town with 30,000 residents are her relatives, her playmates when they were young, her grandmother’s scholars, her mother’s clients when they had a bakery, or the patients of her mother’s partner who is the town doctor. They saw her from the time she was a chinky-eyed fair-skinned child among tanned kids until she blossomed into one hot babe.
Months after the scandal broke, people in El Nido now harbor mixed feelings toward Halili. Their emotions range from sympathy to shame.
To show their support for Halili, the Palawan province chapter of the League of Mayors passed a resolution last June 14 that “strongly condemns the acts of Dr. Hayden Kho,” according to El Nido Mayor Leonor Corral.
We are making a stand for Chiqui, Corral told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak. She added that they will also provide a token financial assistance to Halili who has lost acting projects and endorsements during the height of the sex video scandal.
Corral’s sister-in-law is the sister of Malou Pe-Halili, the actress’ mother.
The mayors’ sentiments are shared by many, including Joel Resanto who is obviously protective of the actress. He knows that some of his fellow Cuyonons have watched the Halili-Kho sex videos on the internet and even on phone screens. “If I catch anyone watching those sex videos, I will apprehend them,” Resanto said with the same resolve as how he leads the town’s environmental patrol team.
“She’s a good girl. She is not difficult to approach. When my nephew got sick, she sent P5,000 to help with hospital expenses,” Resanto shared.
Raised and sent to school by Halili’s grandmother, Resanto had been requested by Halili to cook seafood cuisines whenever she visits El Nido in between her previously busy showbiz schedule. <br>
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Resanto said that in Halili’s recent visits, she usually stayed at her 4-year old 2-level no-aircon “Barbie House” that sits on a 5-hectare property in Villa Libertad, a village about 7 kilometers from the town proper. Whenever Halili had to recover after cosmetic surgeries, she stayed at her room, which has a tranquil view of the nearby farm lots. Spring water snakes around the property.
Residents who travel to other parts of Palawan shared that the impact of the Halili-Kho scandal has taken a more personal note than in El Nido.
“When I arrived in Puerto Princesa to pick up guests a few weeks ago, boatmen there were talking about the sex video. Then they turned to me, ‘Isn’t she your townmate?’ I was so ashamed,” shared Masangkay.
He said the feelings were the exact opposite of times when they cheered on and sent text votes for Halili back when she joined a reality talent search show that propelled her to stardom.
Bing-bing, too, remembered how proud they were when Halili was getting juicy roles in TV soaps. “We really followed all her shows. She is very good as a villain. It suits her.”
She added, “When her career in show business was getting better, people kept on saying that they hope she’ll keep on honing her skills and stay beautiful because we share in her success. We were proud telling other people that Katrina Halili is from El Nido.”
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