Claudine Barretto reunited with Teresita Yan, mother of her former boyfriend and late actor Rico Yan, on his 20th death anniversary.
The actress, along with Rico’s family and several fans, gathered at the matinee idol’s resting place at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque on Sunday, March 27, to commemorate 20 years since he passed on.
As seen in a video reposted in an Instagram fanpage of Claudine and Rico, Teresita expressed how thankful she is that her son is remembered and still alive in the hearts of people who love him two decades after his death.
“I know people who still love him and I am very, very grateful for that,” said Teresita.
“Kaya even if he’s gone, of course we miss him, that’s natural, but, I think he lives in your hearts, he lives in our hearts and, of course, in Claudine’s heart,” said the late actor’s mom who was joined by Claudine during her speech.
“I decided to invite Claudine after 20 years. She’s been part of Rico. Rico loved her. She loves Rico. That won’t change.”
“So now let’s celebrate that, not only the 20th death anniversary of Rico, but with Claudine by my side,” added Teresita who was then embraced by an emotional Claudine.
Meanwhile, Claudine thanked her late boyfriend’s mother for the invitation, as well as their supporters for coming to celebrate Rico’s memory.
“Rico is so happy right now, sobrang saya niya. Isa lang talaga yung hiningi ko, 20 years ago, na huwag natin siyang kalimutan. Pero ginawa niyo talaga, so thank you so much. Sobra talaga,” she said.
In a previous Instagram post, Claudine uploaded a photo of a birthday cake to mark what would have been Rico’s 47th birthday.
Rico died of acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis on March 29, 2002 at the age of 27.
