Some KathNiel fans bared that they are willing to cut off their support to the ABS-CBN love team following the decision of Daniel Padilla‘s mother to join a party-list that voted against the network’s franchise renewal.
Over the weekend, a Kapamilya-centered online community shared that an “open letter” was written by some fans of the love team who denounced television host Karla Estrada‘s decision to join Tingog party-list and be its third nominee.
The matriarch filed her Certificate of Candidacy on Friday and said on social media that it was not an easy decision for her and her family to run in the 2022 elections.
The party-list describes itself as a group that aims “to bring forth progress in Eastern Visayas.”
Karla, one of its nominees, hails from Tacloban.
Rep. Yedda Rodriguez, the party-list’s current representative in Congress, has previously voted to deny ABS-CBN of its franchise renewal.
The network also released a statement in response to Karla’s decision, saying that it respects her choice and wishes her well in her new endeavor.
A day after her COC filing, some KathNiel fans released an open letter saying that they are “willing to cut” their support to the love team “until they respond” to their calls.
“On 2020, during those times that we were fighting for press freedom, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla bravely disclosed their stands and made a promise that they will always stand with what they think is right,” it began.
The fans acknowledged that Daniel’s parents, Karla and Rommel, have joined political parties that “denied the ABS-CBN franchise and are involved in other political agenda.”
Apart from Karla, Robin Padilla and his brother Rommel have also joined PDP-Laban, specifically the faction headed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
“We understand that everyone has the right to run for a government seat. As KathNiel followers, we have seen how much they grow, and inspire people and the fandom truly believes that the political views of Daniel’s parents are obviously against KathNiel’s personal political views if we will base it on their statements and posts last year,” the fans said in the letter.
“Ms. Karla Estrada has signed with Tingog party-list because she believes that she can change their stand re: ABS-CBN franchise. We think differently, if you fight for the right, you will never team up with people who once practiced oppression,” they added.
The fans also claimed that the administrators of the Instagram pages of KathNiel “were told to respot the campaign ‘teaser’ of Ms. Karla Estrada.”
“They are not aware that the image is a sign of her candidacy and it is against their own political stand. We are calling out Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla to take themselves out of this, to take a stand and never allow their names to be involved in someone’s political gains that they don’t support and against their beliefs,” the letter said.
The fans also said that if Kathryn and Daniel would “attend campaign programs” of any of the two, it would serve as an “answer” in relation to where they stand.
“We are willing to cut our support of 9 years to KathNiel until they respond to our calls. We do this because we do not support and tolerate people that are too different from our principles, even if we stayed together for more than 10 years. Everything is political and we make choices that involve more than 100 people,” they added.
Following the letter, the hashtag “#YakapParaSaKathNiel” trended on local Twitter on Monday as a response of some fans who disagreed with the planned withdrawal of support to the love team.
“I would like to commend the FB stans for this initiative #YakapParaSaKathNiel. We might be outnumbered by those who are already in doubt but all we want is for KN (KathNiel) to know that KNs are still here for them. Nababawasan mn pero hindi MAWAWALA,” a Twitter user said.
“Before leaving Kathniel world, I want some of you (to) think again, how did (you) became a fan? Despite every challenges, every years’ journey as a fan, what’s (keeping you) going? ‘Di ba dahil mahal mo ang KathNiel? Mahal ko ang KathNiel kaya ako’y patuloy pa rin,” another online user wrote.
“As a KathNiel fan for 10 years, no matter what is the decision of Kath and DJ, still, I will support them, hindi ukol sa politika, kundi sa kanilang mga paparating na projects. We have our own views in politics, we are a KathNiel fan who supported them, makikipag patayan kung kailangan. Sa isyung ito, hintayin nalang natin ang respond ni Kath and DJ, but please don’t stop supporting KathNiel dahil lang sa politika,” a KathNiel Facebook page also said.
As of this writing, Karla, Kathryn and Daniel have not yet responded to the open letter.
