Sharon Cuneta apologizes for calling out Sal Panelo's 'Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas' performance
Sharon Cuneta has apologized for her words fired against senatorial candidate Salvador Panelo after the politician sang her 1986 song 'Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas'.
Panelo first caught the ire of the Megastar when he sang her hit song during a March 10 sortie. Cuneta was upset by the performance and responded with an outburst of rapid-fire tweets.
Cuneta said that she will only allow the song to be sung during a Leni Robredo-Kiko Pangilinan event, as the actress is an open supporter of their campaign.
Through two Instagram posts, the Megastar has now shared that she had thought long and hard before deciding to retract her former statement.
"Truth is, I felt slighted," Cuneta began. "Sa akin, parang minamaliit si Kiko at ang pagtakbo niya ng VP. Dahil sa dinami-dami ng kanta, bakit naman kanta ko pa ang napili? Dahil kaya Goliath ang VP candidate niya sa David kong asawa?"
Without naming names, the actress also admitted to feeling hurt and turning to Twitter to share her sentiments: "Pero dinaan ko sa biro at sarcasm, kaya madaming di nakaunawa."
"My song is thirty-six years old. Ilang libo na ang umawit ng kanta ko sa parties, contests, shows. Never ko ipinagdamot ang awit ko kahit kanino. In fact, I feel honors whenever someone chooses it to sing."
She added that she never meant to gatekeep the song to anyone, but she saw it in a different way in light of election season: "Panahon ng kampanya ngayon iba ang dating sa akin nung inawit ng politiko na hindi namin kapartido."
Upon hearing of Cuneta's posts about his song choice, Panelo said that it was one of his favorite songs to pay homage to his late son, Salvador Carlo Panelo III, who had Down Syndrome.
Carlo died of heart complications last January 2017. He was 27.
Sharon shared that she was not aware of this: "Hindi ko rin naman alam noon na meron pala siyang special child at siya ang naaalala niya sa awit ko. At balita ko, gagamitin na daw niya ito 'to raise awareness on the needs of special children," Cuneta said.
Sharon ended her first post by sending apologies to those who were affected by the issue. "So though I stand by my feelings and thoughts on the matter. I would like to apologize for the words I used in my post and to those who [were] hurt by them. I should have just said exactly how I was feeling, and in a more respectful manner - no matter what."
In a subsequent post, the star shared that she will check on herself before posting on social media with high emotions.
"But I should check myself and never act immediately when I am highly emotional... And thinking back, whenever I have made a mistake on social media, it was always a reaction to something said or done against me," Cuneta said.
The Megastar has since deleted the Instagram post of her initial spiel against Panelo, but her tweets are still visible on her page.