GMA Senior Vice President Annette Gozon-Valdes has publicly come out in support of actress Shuvee Etrata, defending her after a viral video showed Etrata expressing sympathy for former President Rodrigo Duterte. The video, a screen-recorded clip from a March TikTok Live where Etrata spoke about Duterte’s arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC), resurfaced and drew significant online criticism.
In a statement posted on her Facebook page on Friday, September 26, Gozon-Valdes stressed that she is ready to support Etrata—or any of the network’s artists—when they are “wrongfully and unfairly attacked.”
The GMA executive defended Etrata’s comments, claiming she is not a “die-hard” supporter of any politician. Instead, she characterized the controversial remarks as Etrata simply giving her “personal observations and opinions.”
“Shuvee is not ‘die-hard’ for any politician. She has had very, very few (and short) posts that have political color in the past,” Gozon-Valdes wrote. “She gave her personal observation and opinions on what she believed to be good acts and bad acts done by the [government].” Gozon-Valdes urged the public to “respect each other’s opinions” and stop “spreading hate and attacks.”
“Rather than spread hate and attack each other, we should unite against our common goals such as searching for the truth, and ending corruption,” she stated. “Let’s join forces to cancel corruption, not people who work hard for their family.”
Following her defense, Gozon-Valdes shared a photo from the set of Etrata’s upcoming film, Huwag Kang Titingin, praising the actress’s dedication. In a subsequent post on Saturday, September 27, she also called out an unnamed news site for “peddling fake news,” citing Romans 12:19.
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The controversy stems from a TikTok Live clip where Etrata—a former Pinoy Big Brother alum—expressed her emotional response to the news of Duterte’s ICC arrest.
“I really cried last night because I’m an empath. In our area, PRRD was a huge help, especially with drugs. Really, guys, that’s a big thing. I don’t know about you, but I’m really grateful to Duterte,” Etrata said in Cebuano.
In response to the ensuing backlash, Etrata apologized for having hurt her fans with the remarks. She acknowledged that politics is “divisive” and assured her followers that she will “learn and grow” from the incident.
