Do we like Kris Aquino?
Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, and there's visible generosity, but the record I could open is thinner than her fame suggests.
Kris Aquino is the Philippines' 'Queen of All Media': talk shows, game shows and films across several networks, and a face most Filipinos have grown up with. If you're after a bio, think of her as a national institution who also happens to be gloriously gossip-prone. The records I could open were mostly about her recent return, so the backstory here is deliberately light.
The recent news is a gentle one. On 7 August 2026 Netflix Philippines put her in a two-minute skit as its 'Chief Head of Insight and Kontent Analysis', editing clips from local dramas. Daily Tribune called it her first on-screen project in a long while. A week later she joked on social media that she'd toned down her famously fussy 'maarte' side by at least 30 percent, and floated a reality show to prove it.
Her best-known public stoush was with Mocha Uson in 2018. Uson, then a Duterte communications official, posted a video that put Aquino's late father's 1983 airport footage next to Duterte kissing a worker in Korea. Aquino objected and challenged Uson to meet her face to face. Duterte's camp apologised to Aquino through an aide, Uson refused to, and Duterte said she was exercising free expression. It shows a woman who will defend her family name loudly.
On the harm test, the record I found is clean. There's no sign of conspiracy talk, culture-war grift or attacks on any group, and no dodgy co-stars or studios turned up. Philstar's 2016 headline had her saying yes to same-sex marriage on her show, which is the opposite of harm. I couldn't open that page, so lean on the headline only. She also had a long, messy legal fight with a former business manager around 2018 to 2020, with complaints flying both ways and several tossed out.
The good stuff is practical. In January 2022 she announced donations of 800 COVID-19 antigen test kits to Bureau of Immigration staff and cheese pandesal for hospital staff and patients at the Philippine General Hospital. It's the sort of low-key giving that doesn't need a press release, though she did publicise it.
So: would we support her? Yes. She's a fighter, she can be dramatic, and the feuds were real, but nothing harmful turned up and she gives back. The caveat is honest: several Philippine outlets wouldn't open for me, so some of her older stories are only from search listings, not full reads.