Do we like Darren Espanto?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record as an adult, real climate and charity work, and one teenage Twitter blow-up he apologised for.
Darren Espanto is a Filipino pop singer who started young and just marked his 12th year in showbiz and his 25th birthday. He's now a regular host on the noon show It's Showtime. He's one of those kid stars who grew up on camera, which matters for the next bit.
The one stain is a 2018 Twitter stoush with fellow singer JK Labajo. It began over a tweet that Espanto said tagged him, and Labajo said a hacker posted it. Espanto used the Filipino word bakla as a jab at Labajo, then posted that he hadn't meant it as a derogatory term and was sorry if it offended anyone. He also told Labajo to meet him in court and added that he was only 17 and tired.
On the planet, he's been a United Nations Development Programme youth advocate in the Philippines. The role covers climate action, biodiversity and youth empowerment, and he was reappointed for a second term in 2021. That counts for more than a hashtag.
Treating people well is where he shines. In 2025 he publicly backed his best friend AC Bonifacio when she copped online criticism during a reality show stint. He didn't excuse everything she did, but he asked people to understand her more. Back in 2020 his online birthday concert raised more than ₱800,000 for a food program for people who'd lost income in lockdown.
Nothing new on him lately beyond birthday celebrations and a Coachella trip, and no recent controversy turned up. Searches for lawsuits, convictions or accusations against him came up empty, so there's no court record to report.
So would we support him? Yes. He's a talented, mostly drama-free performer who grew out of one teenage slip. The bakla tweet is worth knowing about, but it's a boy's bad day, not a pattern.