Seasoned director Olivia Lamasan has attested to the generosity of actress-TV host Toni Gonzaga who gave a big portion of her talent fee to retrenched employees of ABS CBN last year.
"Alam niyo po mga kaibigan, ito pong si Toni gave a generous portion of her talent fee, if not all. 'Di ba anak, all your talent fee? Para po sa mga empleyado ng ABS-CBN na nawalan po ng trabaho nu'ng inorder po ng Congress na i-shutdown kami. So I will never forget that kasi napaiyak mo ako noon sa sobrang kalakihan ng puso mo at kabutihan mo," Lamasan said during a recorded message for the Multimedia Star in a special birthday episode on Toni's show "I Feel U."
"Maraming, maraming salamat! And I pray that, you know, God returns your generosity a thousand-fold and that blessings may continue to abound you in all aspects of your life."
The ABS-CBN executive also expressed gratitude to Toni for accepting their online show during the early stage of pandemic and franchise renewal last year despite the salary being below the basic rate.
“Nu'ng una ka naming pinakiusapan gawin ang programang ito, sabi namin kung pupuwede tanggapin mo ito sa starting rate namin. Ni hindi kami nagdalawang salita. You readily accepted it, believing in the purpose, believing in the objective that we have -- which is to maintain our presence and for us to continue serving the Filipino audience. For that, truly, truly, truly I am so grateful to you,” Olivia told Toni.
The writer-producer said she's looking forward to work again with Toni as actor-director, relating that her film "Starting Over Again" with the singer-actress remains one of her favorite movies to this day.
“Happy, happy birthday Tin. I am sending you my heart that so full of love and gratitude for everything, everything -- all the support that you have given ABS-CBN, that you have given ABS-CBN Films, Star Cinema, sobrang maraming, maraming salamat, anak. Thank you so much for staying on with us,” the head of ABS-CBN's Creative Department said.