Before Juan Karlos Labajo gained the title of
a runner up on the top-trending ABS-CBN show,
“The Voice Kids”, 13-year old JK was
actually a target of bullying in his school.
During last Monday’s
episode of Aquino & Abunda Tonight,
JK had shared more about his school life and how he was a target of bullying
from some of his classmates because of his mixed race of half German half
Filipino.
The proud Cebuano from
Cebu City said, "Marami din pong nag-bu-bully sa akin, especially po sa
school, noon po. Kasi po 'yung parang not accepted by the community.”
JK went through a
rough time as his Filipino mother had died last November 2013 and his German
father had already left both him and his mother when he was born. Juan Karlos
had a step-father but according to him they have lost contact. He is now being
taken care of by his uncle, Giovanni Labajo.
During JK’s interview,
his maternal grandmother, Erlinda sat beside him and also shared moments of
Juan Karlos’ experiences. She had admitted that the young singer would get
punched multiple times by a group of students and that in order for Juan Karlos
to avoid disputes by his classmates, he would have lunch break under a tree.
Also admitted by
Erlinda was that Juan Karlos had even acquired scratches from being pushed into
a thorny plant by his classmates. Also according to JK, 10 kids would bully him
at the same time and encourage him to fight them back.
During the interview,
Juan Karlos was asked how all the bullying affected him and a he gave the crowd
a sweet answer with, "Actually po, to all the bashers and the haters,
nagpapasalamat po ako kasi naging motivation ko po kayo na mag-perform
better."
Juan Karlos currently
has many guest stints ever since his amazing performance during “The Voice
Kids”, but is now a supporting cast during the primetime series “Hawak Kamay” co-starring Iza Calzado, Zaijan Jaranilla and Piolo Pascual.
Don’t forget to
support JK in “Hawak Kamay” every Monday-Friday at 7:45pm!
What are your thoughts
about JK and the bullying he received before? Are you a bullied target also?
Post your thoughts and comments below!