When Ruffa Gutierrez showed up with daughters Lorin and Venice last Saturday afternoon at the Women Crisis Center of the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City for an advance birthday merienda with her fellow domestic-violence survivors, those present hardly noticed that earlier that day, the local spokesperson for the Avon Speak Out Against Domestic Violence Campaign had just survived a minor domestic altercation with her mom, the feisty Annabelle Rama.
The unwitting cause: The actor said to be Ruffa’s new admirer whom showbiz-watchers can easily identify (through gossip columns) as John Lloyd Cruz, a few years Ruffa’s junior with whom she co-starred in the just-concluded ABS-CBN soap I Love Betty La Fea.
For whatever reason, Mama Annabelle frowned on the developing (pa lang naman daw) romance which Ruffa and John Lloyd have already denied, claiming that, ho-hum, they are “only friends” (an overused showbiz alibi).
In a brief joint interview with Startalk and Funfare Update, Mama Annabelle admitted that she strongly reminded Ruffa against entertaining (if she ever did) any gifts or food John Lloyd is reportedly sending her, adding a mouthful about what she (Mama Annabelle) perceived to be John Lloyd’s kapintasan (can’t be mentioned here, sorry).
Coming to John Lloyd’s defense, Ruffa told her mom, “Huwag mo naman lait-laitin ‘yung tao; kawawa naman!”
The altercation erupted, prompting Ruffa to leave the Gutierrez home in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City, with her daughters and seeking refuge in her Greenhills, San Juan City, condo unit.
Mama Annabelle said, addressing John Lloyd without naming him, “Ang bata-bata mo pa nanliligaw ka sa babaing may dalawang anak na,” throwing in a warning, “Kapag hindi mo tinigilan ang panliligaw kay Ruffa, hindi rin kita titigilan.”
On June 20, four days before her birthday, Ruffa will sit down with her family and close friends for a birthday dinner, with probably estranged husband Yilmaz Bektas as “surprise” guest since he’s flying in from Istanbul purportedly to visit their daughters whom he hasn’t seen in one year.
Will John Lloyd show up also as a “surprise” (uninvited?) guest?
To quote John Lloyd in his Biogesic commercial: Ingat!!!
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)