MANILA — Piolo Pascual said Monday he remains “Kapamilya forever,” amid his situation of starring in a show airing in the same time slot as his former ABS-CBN program.

Pascual, 43, has been with ABS-CBN’s talent agency Star Magic for 24 years. Under the Kapamilya network, Pascual steadily rose as a sought-after leading man and is now regarded as a film and TV superstar, if not yet a showbiz icon.

Pascual spoke candidly of his recent departure from “ASAP Natin ‘To,” which he had been a part of for over two decades, in an online interview with former ABS-CBN president Charo Santos-Concio.

Pascual was Santos-Concio’s guest in the November 2 episode of her Kumu talk show “Dear Charo” with Robert Labayen as her co-host.

Pascual regards Santos-Concio as a close friend and mentor in showbiz. Labayen, meanwhile, is head of ABS-CBN’s creative communication management, which is behind the network’s popular station IDs such as “Bro, Ikaw ang Star ng Pasko” and “Family is Love.”

During their interview, Pascual asked Labayen how the 2020 Christmas station ID coming along, with the executive responding that preparations were underway.

“So kailan tayo mag-i-SID ulit?” Pascual asked.

“Inuumpisahan na!” Labayan answered.

At that point, Santos-Concio quipped: “‘Yan ha, sabi ni PJ, kailan daw tayo mag-i-SID. Why not? Kapamilya forever.”

Pascual affirmed, “Kapamilya forever.”

As one of ABS-CBN’s prime stars, Pascual has been prominently seen in its annual holiday station IDs, aside from having a singing part in some of them, notably “Star ng Pasko.”

He was also a main figure in the 2011 “Lupang Hinirang” video of ABS-CBN, which Pascual mentioned in the interview.

When Santos-Concio said it was due for an update, given nearly a decade has already passed, Pascual said, in jest, “Huwag, Tita, 'pag pinalitan ‘yon, baka mawala ako!”

“Oo, huwag na,” Santos said, laughing. “Baka… Nangangapit-bahay ka lang.”

Pascual clarified, “Nagtatrabaho lang po.”

“But, Tita, come on, that’s not something we talk about, but napakaliit ng industriya,” he said, referring to his current show being aired on TV5.

Pascual as well as other Kapamilya stars’ appearance in TV5 programs were the indirect result of ABS-CBN’s broadcast shutdown after its franchise was denied by the Duterte administration in July. As ABS-CBN was forced to retrench thousands of its employees, some of them found work opportunities in other networks, including TV5, through a blocktime agreement with Brightlight Productions.

“Nakapaliit ng mundo natin. I guess, tatanda po tayong magkakasama… And I’ll always be grateful for the chance to know people like you, especially you, Tita,” Pascual told Santos-Concio.

Pascual also credited Santos-Concio’s “wisdom” as instrumental to his longevity in showbiz. Earlier in the interview, Pascual recalled that if it weren’t for her, he would have gone through with his plan of retiring from showbiz and settling in the US in 2014.

“If not for your sound advice, siguro I would have made some choices that I would regret. But you were there, you were always around, you always made yourself available for me whenever I needed it,” he said.

“It relaxed me, made me feel secure, knowing that I had a home, I had a place wherein I can grow and where I can be myself. So thanks for that.”