Dennis Trillo has responded sharply to Gelli de Belen after the actress called for restraint amid the renewed controversy involving his wife, Jennylyn Mercado, and her former partner Patrick Garcia.
In a recent episode of GTV’s entertainment program ‘Chika Kart’, Gelli expressed concern over how the issue had escalated following Patrick’s interview with Ogie Diaz, particularly its impact on the children involved.
“Hindi kailangan ito. Hindi kailangang maging ganito kalaki kasi the reason why this was brought up was because nasasaktan yung anak ni Patrick. Sa kagustuhan naman makatulong ng ama parang lalo, nagkaroon naman ng problema,” Gelli told host Jeff Fernando.
She urged the adults involved, as well as the public, to consider the children before prolonging the controversy.
“Sana ‘wag nating kalimutan na may mga batang pinaguusapan at ‘yun naman sila talaga ang pinakaimportante dahil ‘yung mga magulang, mga nakakatanda, nakapag-move on na sila sa mga buhay nila. So sana let’s show the young ones what is right, what should be done, and not show them all this bad stuff.”
Dennis, however, took issue with her remarks and responded in the comments section of ‘Chika Kart’s’ official Instagram post, emphasizing that his family had remained silent before Patrick publicly revisited the matter.
“nananahimik kami…” the Kapuso actor wrote. “Lahat yan ay natural na reaksyon ng matinong TAO! Pasalamat kayo, dinaan ko nalang sa ganyan. Oo kawawa talaga mga bata, may mga anak din kami! Sisihin mo yung nagsimula ng gulo!”
Dennis also appeared to question whether Gelli and the program were taking sides.
“Is it just me or do these ‘talented’ ones seem to be taking sides? Congrats on the new show on GTV !!!! you guys fit right in there,” he wrote, accompanied by poop emojis.
In another comment, he added, “These #8080 folks are just agreeing non-stop.”
The exchange comes days after Patrick denied deliberately abandoning Jennylyn during her pregnancy with their son, Alex Jazz, in an interview on Ogie Diaz Inspires.
Patrick acknowledged that he was absent during that period but maintained that communication between them had broken down. He said he decided to speak after his daughter Michelle became the target of online criticism.
Jennylyn has declined to respond publicly to Patrick’s account. Through Aguila Entertainment, she instead appealed for an end to the bashing directed at his family, especially Michelle.
Dennis previously drew attention for his seemingly pointed social media posts about the controversy before calling on netizens to stop the online attacks for the children’s sake.