Claudine Barretto and Raymart Santiago. Image: screengrab from YouTube/Karen Davila, Instagram/@raymartsantiago

Claudine Barretto once again spoke about the legal battle between her and her estranged husband, actor Raymart Santiago, revealing she has been working on taking back “hundreds of millions” worth of money that the latter allegedly took from her.

In a YouTube vlog with Luis Manzano on Tuesday, Jan. 2, Barretto touched on the matter as she opened up about how the actor-TV host’s mom, Star of All Seasons Vilma Santos, has been a family to her and has urged her to fight for her children.

“Itong recently, I was having a nervous breakdown kasi nga parang may mga humaharang sa mga projects… Tapos I was telling her (Santos) nga ‘yung mga problema ko sa court—ito ‘yung huli na parang feeling ko walang justice na nabibigay,” Barretto said.

“Sabi niya, ‘Pumunta ka sa korte. Magdemanda ka. Ipaglaban mo ‘yung pagiging nanay mo; ipaglaban mo ‘yung pagiging asawa mo; kunin mo kung anong nawala sa’yo,’” she quoted Santos as saying.

Barretto did not immediately name anyone, but when Manzano asked if the other party she was referring to was her former partner, the actress answered affirmatively, “Yes, my ex-husband.”

The actress said she initially filed a case against Santiago for violation of the Violence Against Women and Their Children (VAWC) Act, but that she dropped the case after Santiago appealed to her to do so.

Barretto noted that Santiago made promises to her, which included the financial support for their children, but that he did not keep them after the case was dropped.

The former couple are now going through the process of annulment, with Santiago—as per Barretto—trying to get the custody of their children Sabina, 19, and Santino, 16.

“Malaki na ‘yung mga anak ko. Sabina wants to study abroad, Santino is in Brent—alam naman natin kung gaano kamahal ‘yon. Since hindi niya nabibigay ‘yung support na inorder ng court, ‘yun ‘yung sinasabi ng mom mo na ipaglaban ko,” Barretto told Manzano.

“This time, kukunin ko na ulit kung ano ‘yung akin. We’re talking about hundreds of million ha… Sa isang bangko pa lang was like P116 million, and ang iniwan was P25,000,” she revealed, noting how she wasn’t notified by the bank when the money was taken from her account.

Barretto said Santiago only returned P7 million to her when they were still together. She also explained that she did not fight for her money at the time because she did not want the father of her children to be branded as a thief.

“But now na lumalaki na ‘yung mga anak ko [tapos] kukunin mo ‘yung bahay, ‘yung bahay namin? Do’n na—okay, magba-VAWC na tayo. Kukunin ko na kung ano ‘yung dapat sa akin. Maglabasan na tayo.”

Barretto stressed that the custody case further dragging their children into the mess was what prompted her to fight back.

“‘Yung mother in me, syempre—you protect [your children] agad. If I was weak before, ngayon para na akong leon,” she stated. “You’re not giving what’s for my kids; you took away what’s for my kids, so you have to give it back.”