Martin Nievera said quite a mouthful when he met the press at ABS-CBN for the presscon of his biggest concert to date titled Milestones set on February 1 at the Araneta Coliseum. He’s marking his 25th year in the music business and the concert is his celebration for this milestone.
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Of course, when you are face to face with Martin, it can’t be helped that the main topic would be the status of his relationship with his ex-wife Pops Fernandez, who herself said quite a mouthful to Yes! Magazine about a marriage that ended 10 years ago.

Obviously, after his wife’s tell-all was published in the latter half of last year, it led to an exchange of…dead silence. Meaning, reminiscent of marriages in crisis, Pops refused to speak to him and Martin did plenty of his talking on air and in print.

When Pops mounted her own silver anniversary concert late last year, everyone expected Martin to stride onstage and kiss and make-up with his former wife. That never happened.

So, it behooves us reporters to clarify a rumor that’s been floating around – that he and his ex-wife were exchanging text messages at last.

“We’re at least…we’re texting again,” he confirmed. “There was a time we were ‘sexting,’ but now it’s texting,” he added as a joke.

“Yeah, we are, we are texting now. Since the last I announced that we were exchanging ‘Happy New Years,’ she texted me to remind me that we’re not yet okay.”

This, Martin admitted candidly, was in response to an earlier press conference when Martin had let out that the communication lines were open again via SMS. “It came out wrong,” he said of his first admission, “cause everyone says it’s great, they’re friends again, things like that.”

But, he clarified, “All I said was we exchanged ‘Happy New Year.’” He reconsidered his statement then laughed. “Which is almost the same thing actually, if you’d think about it.”

Not one to put his guard up, Martin said that texting was a “big deal” for him. But Pops, he said, “got kind of upset that it’s just being announced when we have not yet spoken face-to- face.”

Which, he also let on, would happen later that evening. “Which is good, right?,” he said. “She wants to have a face-to-face and we’ll have a face-to-face, whatever she wants. That’s the way it works.”

In public, Martin has always deferred to his ex-wife, declaring that he will “always love Pops” for being the mother of his children, Ram, 21, and Robin, 19. And, while, for the most part, Pops has played it cool, she has dropped her own strategic bombs. The Yes! interview was one; another was her ballistic reaction to the “monkey” comment Martin’s current partner Katrina Ojeda reportedly said of Ram and Robin.

So all’s well that ends well?

Well, they did greet each other at ASAP but reportedly steered clear of one another backstage during Sharon Cuneta’s free birthday concert earlier this month.

But Martin remains hopeful. He says the meeting was something that he should have done but didn’t. It should have been something that happened but did not. So he’s glad it’s finally materializing.

As for Pop’s own bigmouth moment with Yes!, Martin says he no longer thinks about it.

“I guess she needed to say it, if she feels better, then great,” was his reply.
In another interview just before Christmas, Pops said of her belated tell-all: “I think I was only ready to talk about it. I think I was too afraid before and that I had so many fears. Actually, it felt good after. It’s like being free of a lotta stuff, you know what I mean? A lot of pain and yun na nga, maybe I’m only strong enough to discuss it now.”

Which elicited an effect on Martin the public had never seen before. In an interview aired on TV Patrol where he opened up his feelings regarding the article, he actually shed tears.

“Sana it’s the last,” he says of crying. “But I can’t promise you that. I think it was a mixture of frustrations because first, I don’t think I’ve physically done anything wrong to deserve it.

“I thought I deserve something better than that because I tried to be the best ‘ex’ that I could be. Actually, I’m a better ‘ex’ than I was a husband.”

Also for the first time, Martin took the occasion to answer the accusation that the only reason he married Pops was because she got pregnant.

“That’s not true. We shouldn’t have lasted for 12 years, we should have ended up for two years, if that’s the case, or a year, or six months or Britney Spears, two hours,” he says.

Martin said that he somehow feels that he’s being punished because of the situation that he’s in right now, that he’s torn between his first family and his second family plus the idea that Katrina and their son Santino is in the United States while Pops and his sons Robin and Ram are here in the Philippines. But he has no choice.

“I’m a product of my own decisions,” he said.

During the interview, Martin said that he had a very bad day last Wednesday (January 16) but he didn’t go into details. He said that maybe someday, he’d tell why.

But the show must go on, so he brushed aside that problem (if it was indeed a problem), so he could prepare for his forthcoming anniversary concert.
Unfortunately, partner Katrina would not be able to attend as she had to work that day.

The concert is produced by XVR Events and 105.1 Crossover, which also produced his past concerts.

“It’s my 25 years of music. Everything I ever recorded will be there. From ‘Be My Lady’ to my latest songs to some songs I’ve recorded but haven’t sung live before.”

Special guests of the concert are sons Ram and Robin who themselves asked if they could join and appear in his silver anniversary concert.

Martin Nievera XXV is directed by Rowell Santiago with Louie Ocampo as musical director. A 28-piece orchestra under the baton of Gerald Salonga will accompany Martin.