MANILA — In explaining why he admittedly finds it difficult to forgive Andi Eigenmann, Albie Casiño pointed out that the paternity controversy in 2011 not only affected his personal life, but inflicted lasting “damage” to his then-rising showbiz career.

Aged 18 at the time, Casiño was Bernardo’s screen partner in the hit primetime series “Mara Clara,” and was regarded among the next big stars in his batch of newcomers.

Whereas Bernardo went on to achieve superstar status due in part to her successful team-up with Daniel Padilla, Casiño had to grapple with the lasting impact of being accused of fathering Eigenmann’s baby and then neglecting her.

Casiño’s name has since been cleared, with a DNA test confirming that actor Jake Ejercito is the father of Eigenmann’s now-10-year-old daughter.

Eigenmann has apologized to Casiño over the debacle, but for the latter his acknowledgment of his ex-girlfriend’s message — as seen in a screenshot made public by Eigenmann’s camp in October — was simply a way to cut short their exchange.

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“If you read my reply, I said, ‘We’re all good. Whatever.’ That was honestly a lie,” he told Cinema News.

“I just didn’t want to talk to her anymore. I feel if I told her how I really felt, the conversation would have gotten longer. ‘I really don’t want to waste any more time of my day talking to you, thinking about you. Be happy in the beach wherever you are and just leave me alone,’” Casiño explained.

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Casiño asked for understanding as to why he still has a hard time truly forgiving Eigenmann, a decade later. He brought up the lost opportunities in his career, on top of the emotional torture the controversy had caused his family.

“Let’s take away all of the bashing, all of the defaming my name in public, even my family’s name. They even went up [to] my mom, all the while knowing I wasn’t the dad. Let’s take that out of the consideration.

“How about I lost a lot of millions of pesos worth of projects and endorsements from that? And it wasn’t just a P100,000, bro. It’s a million pesos worth of, I guess, damages.

“That’s literally money they put out of my bank account. That’s money that could have changed my family’s life. Money that could have changed my life, right? So how can I be okay with them? Why would I be okay with them?” the actor said.

Over the years, Casiño managed to be active again in showbiz, notably with supporting and main roles in several ABS-CBN series.

This year, his weeks-long stint in“Pinoy Big Brother” proved to be “life-changing” for Casiño, as he credited the reality show for reminding him that he is appreciated and has wide support from the public, despite the past controversy that derailed his image and career.