A photo posted by Jake Ejercito (@unoemilio) on Apr 18, 2016 at 1:45am PDT

MANILA – For the first time, actor Jake Ejercito confirmed that he is the biological father of Ellie, the daughter of actress Andi Eigenmann.

In an interview with the entertainment website Pep, Ejercito made it clear that he has never denied being Ellie’s father.

“Yeah,” he said when asked directly if Ellie is his daughter. “Never ko namang idinenay eh (I never denied it).”

According to Ejercito, he found out a year ago that Ellie is indeed his daughter after taking a DNA test.

“I was really surprised,” he said, recalling the time he found out about the results of the DNA test. “But I’m happy and I have no regrets.”

Explaining why he has chosen to remain silent over the past months instead of clearing the issue, he said: “It’s all because I was trying to protect Ellie. Kasi, ‘di ba, ang daming parties involved (There were so many parties involved).”

“All I wanted was to protect Ellie. Kasi ayoko talagang pag-usapan (I don’t want people to talk about her),” he added.

NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE

Last month, Eigenmann’s half-sister Max claimed that a DNA test has proven that Ejercito – not actor Albie Casiño – is Ellie’s father.

Casiño has said he has no plans of taking legal action over the paternity issue of Ellie – which hampered the early parts of his career as an actor – saying he is just happy to be cleared from the issue.

JAKE’S MOM REACTS

Meanwhile, in an interview with the entertainment website Push, Ejercito’s mother Laarni Enriquez said she is just waiting for Eigenmann to speak up and reach out.

“Alam mo ang importante kasi diyan kung ano ang sasabihin ng nanay. Ako naghihintay lang ako, and I’m open, I can accept,” she said.

(You know, what’s important is what Ellie’s mother will say. I’m just waiting and I’m open, I can accept.)

“Napakaraming bata na [ang] minahal namin na hindi sa amin. What more kung sa amin, siyempre tatanggapin namin, mamahalin namin at ipagmamalaki namin siya (We’ve welcomed children who are not even ours. What more if they’re of our family? Of course we’ll accept them, we’ll love them and we’ll be proud of them),” she added.