MANILA – Piolo Pascual thanked Claudine Barretto for going out of her way in defending him against netizens who maliciously commented on his photo with his son Inigo, who was embracing him while sleeping.

In her Instagram post, Barretto said she will not back down against those bashing Pascual and his son because she loves and knows the two so well.

“Gusto ko pong makiusap at mapagtanggol si Piolo simply because I know him very well. U guys r hitting not only a good but GREAT MAN! Wala hong ginagawa sa kanila yung tao rumespeto naman tayo sa inambag ng isang Piolo Pascual sa industria,” she wrote, unedited.

A photo posted by Inigo Dominic Pascual (@iminigopascual) on Jul 27, 2016 at 5:52pm PDT

In an interview on Sunday, Pascual said he immediately sent Barretto a message when he saw Barretto’s Instagram post.

“Nag-text ako sa kanya, nag-thank you ako kasi kahit hindi kami nagkikita, sabi niya ‘Hindi lang ikaw, pati na rin si Inigo. I’m here to look out for you guys.’ Ang sarap ng ganung pakiramdam na may magandang relationship ka sa mga kaibigan mo,” he said.

Pascual said he did not expect that Barretto would do that although it is in the actress’ personality to stick to her friends no matter what.

“Nakakatawa, sabi ko, ‘Clau, you haven’t changed.’ Back in the day, ganun na si Clau. Kapag may mga nang-aasar, siya talaga yung lumalaban, siya talaga yung humaharap,” he said.