Phoemela Baranda on her daughter Nichole’s suitor Manolo Pedrosa: 'Okay ako diyan!'

After her daughter Nichole became the latest evictee from the Pinoy Big Brother house last June 29, Phoemela Baranda admits she has mixed feelings about her daughter’s eviction. During Nichole’s stay inside the house, there was a brewing romance between her and fellow PBB All In housemate Manolo Pedrosa, who Phoemela has approved of so far. “It feels bittersweet because she’s out of the PBB house and yun nga it’s just halfway pa lang so sayang na halfway pa lang din yung sa kanila ni Manolo (laughs). Medyo busy ako pero I make it a point that we’re together as much as we can. Our life is continuous ganun pa rin pero I think it’s going to be better for us,” she shares during the LG Philippines G3 phone launch event held last July 1 at the Enderun Tent in Taguig city.

Now that life is back to normal in the Baranda household, Phoemela hopes her daughter will remember all the lessons she has learned these past few weeks being part of the popular reality show. “I think she learned from it naman so I will just keep reminding her kasi siyempre she might forget those things that she learned from Kuya but I’ll be here to remind her,” she says. The 33-year-old actress says that just like Nichole, she also can’t wait to see Manolo because he has given her a very good impression so far. “Because I see Manolo’s personality also on the show. He’s  from a good family, a good person, he’s a good kid, has good manners, so as long as they get along well okay ako diyan! (laughs) Kasi importante what happens when Manolo comes out. We’ll wait for him,” she adds.

In the event that Manolo does end up formally courting her daughter after the show, Phoemela says she does not have strong feelings about it. “I think I’m okay naman. I think they will be in the “GTK” stage. Getting to know (laughs),” she admits. After publicly admitting last year that she had Nichole from a teen pregnancy and hid it from the public to save her career, Phoemela says she has fully embraced mommy duties now. “I want to be the cool barkada mom and also the very strict mom so balanced kasi I also have to be a parent to her,” she admits.