MANILA – With the annulment case still ongoing, actor-director Cesar Montano is not about to give up his rights to see his three daughters with estranged wife Sunshine Cruz.
“I have all the rights to see my children… Malungkot isipin, pero hindi pa rin ako nalulungkot nang tuluyan dahil alam ko darating ang panahon na magkakasama pa rin kame at magiging masaya pa rin kami,” he says in an interview with PEP.ph.
(I have all the rights to see my children… It may be sad thinking about it, but I’m not losing hope because I know the time will come when we’ll be together again and we’ll be happy.)
Montano also discloses that he still provides for his daughters and that he has always been a good provider for his family.
“Kahit hindi naman kami nagkikita, ayun, naka–enroll sila for 2016. Buong taon ko silang binayaran… From day one, ako naman ang nagpapaaral sa mga bata. Hindi naman siya (Cruz) nagtatrabaho nun. Hindi ko naman talaga siya pinagtrabaho nun. Gusto ko hands–on siya sa mga bata,” he says.
(Even if we don’t see each other, they’re enrolled for 2016. I paid [their tuition fees] for the whole year… From day one, I’ve always been the one who pays for my children’s education. She wasn’t working then. I didn’t want her to work then. I wanted her to be hands-on with our kids.)
“From time immemorial, ako ang nagpapaaral. Until to this day, ako ang nagpapaaral and it’s my passion… Walang makakapagtanggal sa akin nun.”
(From time immemorial, I’ve always paid for their school fees. Until to this day, I’m still doing so and it’s my passion… No one can take that away from me.)
Committed to raising his daughters well and continuously giving them good education, the 53-year-old TV5 actor says he opted to stay ‘single and happy’ amid rumors of his alleged relationship with a Filipina beauty queen.
“Andirito ako (I’m just here). I won’t leave you and your father will still be the same. Stick with the truth. Do not allow anybody to teach you how to lie, okay? Please pray for daddy. Pray for mom. Stay with the truth, sweethearts,” he says in a different report, addressing his three girls.
It can be recalled that Montano has been barred from seeing his daughters since 2014, following his wife’s allegation of child abuse after he performed lewd acts in the presence of their children. He, however, denies the accusation, stressing that he could never do such an act as he even brings his kids to church and teaches them to pray.
“If something doesn’t make you happy anymore and makes you miserable, bakit mo itutuloy ‘yun? (why will you continue it),” Cruz has earlier said. “We kept quiet but it was too much already.”
The celebrity couple separated in January 2013.