Jomari: It isn't about money!

I got a call from Jomari Yllana yesterday afternoon. He was reacting to Funfare’s banner story that he and Pops Fernandez have broken up not because of a third party but, according to somebody close to them, about money.

“It’s not really about money,” clarified Jomari. “Let’s just say that Pops and I have...how do you call it?...yes, irreconcilable differences. Maraming dahilan and money is not one of them.”

Pressed about the “money issue,” Jomari said, “Wala akong problema sa pera,” carefully choosing his words, adding, “Ayoko kasi makasakit, eh.”

Reports of the break-up surfaced only three weeks after Pops and her ex-husband Martin Nievera topbilled a successful reunion concert titled Missing You at the Big Dome, produced by Jomari under the Fearless Productions he and his friends, Singson brothers Ronald and Ryan, have put up.

“It was our (his and Pops) first project together and we achieved what we wanted, even more than what we expected.”

Jomari admitted that he and Pops haven’t been talking to each other for two weeks now.

“We broke up nicely,” said Jomari. “Naghiwalay kami ng maayos. No fights, no third party, nothing. After we decided to break up, we even talked for a while, pero wala na talaga, eh.”

And to think that, if you believe “reliable sources,” they were already talking about getting married since Jomari has become close to Pops (and Martin’s) sons Ram and Robin. So comfortable have they become with one another in their almost two-year relationship that, Jomari admitted, “I would sleep over at her place.” And did Pops also, ehem, sleep over at his bachelor’s pad (in Parañaque City)? Jomari was mum. They never lived together.

“Actually, we never talked about marriage,” added Jomari whose first marriage (to Quezon City Councilor Aiko Melendez with whom he has a son) was annulled. “We have both come from broken marriages at pareho kaming may trauma.”

Single again, Jomari said that he will concentrate on Fearless Productions whose next projects are the concerts of American Idol champion David Cook and AI finalist David Archuleta sometime in May and Britney Spears maybe in September.