Ronnie Ricketts on being acquitted of graft case after 10 years: ‘Ang sama ng loob ko noon’

Ronnie Rickets admitted he felt bad when people wrongly judged him while he was going through his graft case that spanned nearly 10 years.

The case concerned the “mishandling of seized pirated DVDs and VCDs in 2010” during his stint as the chairman of the Optical Media Board, for which he was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2022.

“Pero the funny thing, hindi na masyadong na-news [yung acquittal] eh,” he said on Wednesday’s episode of “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda.”

“Pero nung ako ‘yung natalo noong una, grabe banat sa ‘kin left and right. So ang sama ng loob ko noon,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ronnie’s wife Mariz said her husband’s graft case was the biggest trial they had ever face as a couple, and as a family. 

“’Yun din ang nagpatapang sa ’kin kasi nakita ko gaano ka apektado si Ronnie and, really, he was so, so sad, Naawa ako sa kaniya,” said the “Asawa Ng Asawa Ko” actress.

The King of Talk asked Ronnie if he would ever go back to politics, but the former actor said, “Na phobia ako.”

“Actually, may offer sa ’kin bumalik, pero ganu’n lang (snaps finger), kayang sirain pangalan mo,” he continued. 

Still, Ronnie doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. Public service, he said, is a calling and not solely based on himself. 

In the interview, Ronnie also revealed Dolphy‘s hand in his career, and spoke about his long-lasting marriage with Mariz.  

— Hermes Joy Tunac/LA, GMA Integrated News