Forgiveness appears in various shapes and forms. It isn’t something you fit into a cookie cutter—something you can mold into however people want it to look like. Forgiving someone can take as long as it needs—until it truly feels real and personal. Or, like some, you may never forgive at all.
In light of this, ABS-CBN Studios asked several celebrities to share their thoughts on what forgiveness means to them. Here’s what they had to say:
For Julia Montes, forgiveness is the true symbol of love. Julia clarifies, “If you don’t know how to forgive, you don’t know how to love.” She strongly believes that love and forgiveness go hand in hand. That being able to love a person also means being able to forgive them.
Gela Atayde has similar sentiments. According to her, you couldn’t forgive someone without actually loving them in the first place. “If you still have it in your heart to forgive them, that means you love that person,” she elaborates, attesting that forgiveness is truly a testament of one’s love.
Much like the compassion she embodies as Darna, Jane De Leon believes that forgiving someone also means giving them a second chance to do better. Jane acknowledges that human beings aren’t perfect. We all make unintended mistakes.
Musician Jeremy Glinoga agrees with this reasoning. To him, however, forgiveness is also a sign of respect. You respect a person to the extent that you give them another chance to be in your life.
JM Ibarra has a simple answer. To JM, forgiveness is everything, because it shows humanity in its barest form. Likewise, Anji Salvacion knows that forgiveness means many things to her. She forgives, but she doesn’t forget. Anji explains, “I don’t want anybody to think na they have access on my life and have access or power to hurt me again.”
Bamboo and Diego Gutierrez take a more compassionate approach to the question. Bamboo wants to always give room in his heart to forgive. To him, forgiving involves thinking of everyone as a brother, sister, father, or mother and to see and treat others like family. For Diego, forgiveness includes acceptance—to have peace in your heart to forgive people who have wronged you.
There are moments where forgiveness is given for the sake of oneself. “Your Face Sounds Familiar” celebrity performer Alexa Ilacad expresses identical opinions on forgiving a person. “Forgiveness is, for me, giving myself peace and freeing myself from anger… and pain,” says Alexa. “ASAP” power vocal Jona understands forgiveness just the same. Despite all the pain and hurt, she chooses to forgive again and again to ease her emotions, protecting her peace the best way she knows how.
Billy Crawford finds forgiveness to be a very tricky topic. “It’s not as easy as everyone says it is,” he mentions, emphasizing how complex forgiveness is, “You can forgive someone, but still keep that pain.” In the end, he imparts that forgiveness is freeing, allowing us to let go of our painful past.