Claudine back, shuns interview with media

Bereaved actress Claudine Barretto appeared to have lost weight when she arrived home yesterday from a five-day vacation in Hong Kong.

Wearing denims, a white T-shirt and dark glasses, the television and movie actress was tight-lipped after disembarking from a Cathay Pacific flight at 4:15 p.m. until she boarded a Ford Expedition parked outside Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City.

Claudine was reportedly under instructions from television executive Johnny Manahan of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. not to talk to reporters because the television station had rights to an exclusive coverage of her arrival.

Breaching airport security, Manahan went to the dignitary lounge to wait for Claudine without any proper access pass pasted on his chest as NAIA regulations require.

But actress Marjorie Barretto, who accompanied her sister to Hong Kong, told reporters after Claudine had left that her sibling should be given some peace of mind as she is still feeling the loss of the late actor Rico Yan, her former boyfriend.

"Let’s give her a chance," she said. "She is a human being who has feelings."

Marjorie said they have not yet decided when Claudine would give a press conference.

Before leaving for Hong Kong, Claudine said she will give a press conference upon her return but she apparently changed her mind after receiving instructions from Manahan.

Yan died from bangungot (sudden death syndrome) at Dos Palmas island resort off Palawan on Good Friday.

During Rico’s burial, it appeared on television that Claudine was prevented by plainclothes security men from getting near the casket of her ex-flame.

In an interview with GMA news, movie and television actor Raymart Santiago said he was courting Claudine, and that fueled rumors that he was the cause of the breakup of Claudine and Rico.

"Anyway, she and Rico had already broken up," he said in Filipino.

Businessman Tony Boy Cojuangco and Claudine’s elder sister, Gretchen and two nieces were also seen with the movie and television actress upon her arrival from Hong Kong.