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Almost a week after Donnalyn Bartolome publicized her case against a particular vlogger who failed to pay a Php1 million worth of borrowed money, Jomar Lovena finally broke his silence and admitted that he was the YouTuber the influencer was talking about.
Lovena started his Facebook live a few days ago by saying that it will be the first and last time that he will address the incident. He also clarified that the money he owed to Bartolome was settled and paid for.
“Gusto ko po sana sabihin sa inyo na okay na po. Okay na po lahat. Naibigay ko na yung dapat kong ibigay na utang. Nabayaran na talaga siya,” said Lovena.
He didn’t excuse himself from the issue and shared that the reason why he went live on the platform was to apologize to the people he offended or bothered, especially to Bartolome, even though he never once said her name in the live stream.
“Andito ako para humingi ng tawad dun sa naabala ko, alam niyo naman siguro kung sino yun. Gusto ko talagang humingi ng sorry sa kanya kasi mali talaga yung nangyari.”
The YouTuber came clean and explained that he could not pay back the money he borrowed, not because he got hooked on gambling but because he got scammed.
“Unang-una po, di po ako nagtatalpak. Di ako nagsusugal, di ko po alam yung mga ganon. As in, di ko pa na-try. Ni tumaya ng 10,000 sa mga ganon eh di ko kaya talaga,” Lovena admitted.
“Ang tunay po talaga is na-scam po talaga ako. Natangay yung ipon ko sa YouTube so na-scam po lahat. Ang masama po nun is nadamay yung inutang ko dun sa may investment na sinasabi nila. “
He was pertaining to scams that come from promises where a person’s investment will be double or triple the value after a certain amount of time. A lawsuit is in place in relation to the money scammed from him. The YouTuber didn’t disclose any details but claimed he had filed a complaint to the authorities.
After he apologized to Bartolome, Lovena expressed his gratitude as he shared how she made sure to listen to his side of the story and even offered to help him track the people who took his savings away.
“Alam niyo, sobrang bait [niya] kasi kinuha niya yung story ko talaga, nasabi ko sa kanya, nakwento ko lahat, at sa sobrang bait niya willing to help pa siya na makita yung mga tao na [nanloko].”
Lovena also said that the reason why he opted to borrow even more money from other influencers was that he knew that he needed to pay his loan that has a written agreement.
“Siguro nilakasan ko nalang talaga yung loob ko na mangutang sa iba’t-ibang influencers para mabayaran talaga yung utang ko which is may agreement.”
It was not scripted. The YouTuber said that no one was to blame except him as he was the one who failed to pay back the money, but he had no plans of running away from it.
Guided with a positive outlook powered by his faith and the lessons he learned through the experience, despite everything, Lovena still believes that he’ll be able to get through everything.
“Para sakin po di naman masamang maloko talaga. Nangyayari talaga sa buhay natin yun. Pero ang pinaka-importante eh yung natututunan natin after ng pangyayari,” Lovena shared his insights.
“Alam kong makakabangon ako sa mga nangyari kasi nawala man sakin lahat pero di nawala yung mga taong sumuporta talaga sakin.”
Donnalyn has since deleted or archived her Facebook post regarding the unpaid debt.
