Entertainment

'Like he's trying to fight, ruin me': Liza admits 'tampo' with Ogie Diaz

March 13, 2023 | 7:41pm

'Like he's trying to fight, ruin me': Liza admits 'tampo' with Ogie Diaz

Ogie Diaz with Liza Soberano, his most popular talent

MANILA, Philippines — Liza Soberano admitted that she was hurt by what her former talent manager Ogie Diaz has been saying, some of which were "untrue."

In the second part of her interview with Boy Abunda on "Fast Talk with Boy Abunda" aired this afternoon, the actress was initially hesitant to talk about commissions because she felt it was a private financial matter.

Boy said he had to ask since he saw a post about the commissions her former managers were getting from her.

Before signing with James Reid's Careless last year, Liza was in a 10-year contract with Ogie Diaz. Apart from Diaz, she was also under her father's first cousin whom she called Tita Joni, who also served as her road manager/personal assistant, and ABS-CBN's talent arm, Star Magic.

Breaking down the commission fees

"Nakita ko rin po 'yun sa Twitter. I think people were accusing Tito Ogie of taking 40% from me. I wanna clarify na hindi din po 'yun totoo," Liza said.

Liza started under Ogie's care at 12 years old. The 25-year-old actress said Ogie's commission was 30% until she was 17 years old. Her Tita Joni was taking 20, while Star Magic was taking 10%.

The remaining 40% was further cut into 30% because she had to take 10% for the taxes she is paying in the United States and the Philippines since she is a citizen of both countries.

Her Tita Joni started to feel bad for her situation so she and Ogie agreed to lessen their commissions because both of them felt bad for her for putting in a lot of work, Liza said.

Eventually, Ogie's commission was trimmed down to 20%, Joni to 15%, while Star Magic's remained at 10%. She clarified though that Star Magic does not take commissions from her projects from ABS-CBN, meaning from her TV shows and movies, but only from her endorsements.

Liza said she never complained because it was stated in her contract and she felt it was fair.

The actress said she now has a better financial arrangement with Careless because she gets to take home 80%, because the agency is the only manager she has in the Philippines.

"Before my original set-up when I was taking home, 40% without minusing the taxes and everything, I honestly felt that that was a little unfair. Kaya napag-usapan 'yung bringing down the percentages because, yes, they were working for me, marami din pong ginagawa.

"Si Tita Joni, she served as my road manager/PA at that time. Siya po talaga nag-aassist sa akin sa taping. Lahat ng schedule ko kasama ko siya and nu'ng una, ang gusto niyang mabawasan si Tito Ogie because hindi po siya pumupunta sa taping. Hindi po siya pumupunta sa endorsement shoots. He would book the jobs for me," Liza said.

They were all able to talk it out well and the set-up carried on from 2015 to present.

Incorrect

Liza turned emotional, and even cried at one point, when Boy asked her if it is true that Ogie has stopped collecting his commissions in the last two years.

"It's not right. That's incorrect," Liza said.

After a few seconds of silence, Liza continued: "It actually hurts me that he's making up those lies about me 'cause... I feel like he's trying to make it seem like I was inprofitable in the past two years that we were working together. He knows the truth. He knows my pains. He knows the things that I felt were the things that were mishandled and stuff like that.

"So, it's kinda unfair that he's... I feel like he's trying to tarnish my name. And he knows. Like, I don't wanna bring this up but he still gets commissions from some of the endorsements of mine. Like, that still fell under the time that I was under contract with him even though he has no more obligations. We told him he has no more obligations towards me in those endorsements.

"Literally last month, we gave him a paycheck for an endorsement that was renewed before our contract ended. And kahit na wala na po siyang ginagawa for them, we give him his commission because that's what's right. I wouldn't breach my contract," Liza shared.

She revealed that it was not the last time that she paid her commission to Ogie. Liza said that at the time of their interview earlier this month, Ogie was set to get another commission in that week.

'May tampo'

When Boy asked if she has "tampo" or hurt feelings toward her former manager, Liza said that she has as of that moment.

"Ngayon po, opo," Liza confirmed.

She said that they ended their contract in a good way. She felt that she and Ogie were able to talk things out and she was able to explain her side five months before her contract with him ended.

She shared that she explained that it's not like she did not like working together with Ogie for the past 11 years. It was because she wanted growth and she believed that she could find it by working and learning with other people and taking on new experiences.

Liza recalled how supportive and understanding Ogie was when she talked to him about her plans. In fact, he reached out to her when her supposed social media accounts were hacked last month. She thought they were okay.

"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," Liza said.

Boy asked Liza to clarify her statement.

"Because he's saying so many things that are untrue," she answered.

"Like for the past two years, hindi po siya kumukuha ng commission. That just makes me look... It makes me sound even more ungrateful to the people na hindi naman nakakaalam kung ano naman ang mga nangyayari sa loob.

"He's calling me ungrateful when he knows very well how grateful I was to ABS-CBN, na kahit wala akong kontrata, I was doing so much work for them," the actress explained, adding that she was one of those who rallied for ABS-CBN when its franchise was not renewed by Congress.

"He knew how grateful I am to him and to everyone. Siya po mismo nagsabi na masunurin ako, mabait ako na bata. So why is he trying to say things to make people turn against me?" asked Liza.

When asked if anybody has reached out to her, she said nobody did. When Boy asked if she tried to reach out, Liza said she did not feel the need to message Ogie privately after the latter took things publicly without reaching out to her first.

When Boy asked if that was were her pain was coming from, Liza said yes.

"Anak pa man din ‘yung tawag niya sa akin. Gagawin niya ba ‘yun sa mga anak niya? Would he have done that to his daughters? He has five daughters.

“Sana kinausap man lang niya ako, you know. Before naman whenever we would have problems, we would talk it out. Dito 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… Para namang wala kaming pinagsamahan. Parang hindi niya ako anak kahit ‘nak ang tawag niya sa akin,” Liza said.

Would she dare to call him, Boy asked.

"I'm not just ready," Liza replied.