Tim Yap: ‘I’m not hiding and I’m no drug pusher”
AS the guessing game continues as to which showbiz and lifestyle personalities are included in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of celebrities involved in drugs, eventologist and party habitué Tim Yap has not been spared from speculations.
On Thursday morning, Arnold Clavio and Ali Sotto of AM radio station DZBB their program, DobolAsaDobolB, days after blind items both on print and the airwaves had heavily suggested that Yap has been in hiding as of late, and allegedly guilty of supplying party drugs in high end bars in the metro.
“There is no truth to these rumors,” he categorically denied. “My everyday life is on my Instagram account for everyone to see. Every other morning, I go running with Kuya Kim [Atienza] and the rest of our [exercise group], I have lunch meetings, and I carry on attending events through the evening.”
According to Yap, the buzz that he suddenly became less visible in the party scene all started when he failed to attend movie producer Lily Monteverde’s birthday party on August 26. He explained he had prior commitments in City of Dreams that evening so made sure he personally greeted the showbiz stalwart days before her party at her residence.
“I knew I couldn’t make it from City of Dreams to Valencia [Quezon City] to attend Mother Lily’s birthday so I greeted her ahead,” added Yap.
Finally addressing the bigger and more serious allegations that he is a “supplier of party drugs,” the man about town said such malicious ideas were an impossibility especially since he is actively part of the group of bar and club owners actively cooperating with PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa in the government’s anti-drug campaign.
“Moreover, what the public is unaware of is that even before our group met with Gen. dela Rosa, we had long been coordinating with PDEA to help keep the bars and clubs safe from drug pushers. In fact, our bouncers have long been trained to pick up pushers from the scene and bring them straight to police precincts.”
Yap said that until DZBB reached out to him for comment he had no reason to give a statement regarding the said allegations as everything that had come out linking him to drugs had all been blind items.
“How could I comment on anything where my name hadn’t been brought up,” he asked rhetorically.
Admitting he is both hurt and affected that there are individuals out to malign him, Yap said that in his current ordeal, he has found truth in the cliché that you come to know your real friends when times get tough.