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Ricci Rivero spotted holding hands with Leren Mae Bautista

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Paulea Jence Benoza

<p>Are Ricci Rivero and Leren Mae Bautista the newest celebrity couple?</p><p>After sparking dating rumors last June, the pair ignited speculations about their romance when they were seen together  during the Banamos Festival in Los Baños, Laguna on Saturday, September 23.</p><p>In a clip posted by a fan on TikTok, the basketball player, 25, and  beauty queen, 30, were spotted holding hands while posing for pictures and mingling with their fans during the event. Another showed the rumored couple sitting close to one another as they enjoyed the festival.</p><div><br/></div><blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@memememe.meow/video/7282233331041717510" class="tiktok-embed" data-video-id="7282233331041717510" id="v90264624392917440" style="max-width:605px;min-width:325px"><iframe name="__tt_embed__v90264624392917440" sandbox="allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-same-origin" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7282233331041717510?lang=en-PH&amp;referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fent-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aent-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2023-09-26T07%3A44%3A05.161808%3A5f185aa7-7e8d-4d25-bc78-280bdb45c4ea%26action%3Dedit" style="width:100%;height:757px;display:block;visibility:unset"></iframe></blockquote><script async="" src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><p>Ricci and Leren were first romantically linked in June shortly after he split from his girlfriend, actress Andrea Brillantes. The athlete-actor confirmed their breakup in a brief statement on X (formerly Twitter) amid rumors that he cheated on Andrea with Leren.</p><p>“I own up to the mistake of not making my relationship status public because I felt there’s no need to add up to what were going through. Please respect our decision to keep it to ourselves so that we can preserve what’s left of our friendship,” Ricci wrote.</p><p>“I hope let’s stop creating your own versions and dragging other characters into these false accusations. I am sorry for whatever disappointments it may have caused you—for everyone’s peace of mind, please allow ourselves to heal and move on peacefully without hate and pain,” he added.</p><p>At the time, Leren — who serves as a councilor of Los Baños City — also denied her romantic involvement with Ricci, calling the romance rumors &quot;entirely false” and “have no basis in reality.”</p><p>&quot;Councilor Leren Mae Bautista has dedicated herself to serving the community of Los Baños with utmost sincerity and integrity. Her commitment to public service has been shaped by the support and trust of the people she represents,” a statement released by her office read.</p><p>&quot;We encourage everyone to refrain from creating malicious and insinuating comments on social media. Likewise, we call on everyone to understand the importance of fact-checking information shared across various internet platforms,” it added.</p><p>Opening up about his split from Andrea, Ricci said there were a lot of factors that contributed to their breakup. </p><p>&quot;Marami na rin po kaming sinusubukang ayusin na problema. Personally, hindi naman siya sa may mali kasi ganito or may kasalanan or whatsoever. Siguro doon lang sa the way we are sa isa&#x27;t isa,&quot; he told host Boy Abunda.</p><p>&quot;Marami naman siyang puwedeng factors — could be both &#x27;yung maturity namin pareho, puwedeng ganoon. For whatever reason lang, may inaayos kami na sa&#x27;kin normal naman po para sa relationships,&quot; he added.</p><p>Ricci also denied that Leren was a third party in their relationship.</p><p>&quot;Wala pong kinalaman si Councilor Leren. We met kasi nung outreach na, &#x27;yun &#x27;yung May 26, birthday ko po &#x27;yun na parang outreach kasi ginagawa ko siya every year, ever since naman nung first year college ako ginagawa ko na siya,&quot; he explained.</p><p>&quot;Galing po kasi ako ng province, doon po ako nag-celebrate ng birthday ta&#x27;s nung papaluwas po ako rito, may mga common friends kami na &#x27;yung mga madalas ko pong kasama lately for the past year na sabi ko baka pwedeng makapag-feeding program tayo kasi ginagawa ko &#x27;to palagi and wala akong magawa ngayon dahil nasa biyahe po ako sa Isabela,&quot; he added. </p><p>He added that it was Andrea who wished that they keep quiet about their split.</p><p>&quot;Nung nag-break po kami, she asked for it and I gave in ... &#x27;Huwag muna sana natin ilabas.&#x27; Sa&#x27;kin &#x27;yung naisip kong reason, hindi ko na rin natanong (kay Andrea), ang dami nang tumatakbo sa isip namin pareho,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s a breakup, mabigat na &#x27;yung nararamdaman namin pareho, why add? Siguro naman, hindi naman kami naging madamot sa mga fans. Sana maintindihan lang din ng fans na it&#x27;s not an easy way for us to share to people na ganoon &#x27;yung nangyari sa&#x27;min,” he added.</p>

Ricci Rivero spotted holding hands with Leren Mae Bautista

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Ricci Rivero spotted holding hands with Leren Mae Bautista

Leah Bueno

Published September 26, 2023 08:42 PM PHT

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Ricci Rivero

Leren Mae Bautista

Ricci

Leren

Andrea Brillantes

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