Photo from Instagram/@frankiepangilinan
Singer-actress speaks about her relationship and says she continues to love and miss her older sister
MANILA, Philippines — Frankie “Kakie” Pangilinan has confirmed that she is in a relationship with Daniel “Dan” Laurel while also speaking carefully about a prolonged period of distance from her older sister, KC Concepcion.
In an interview with Ogie Diaz released Sept. 6, Pangilinan said she found earlier references to Laurel as her “rumored boyfriend” amusing because she had not previously been asked directly to confirm the relationship.
She had already shared photos with Laurel in April and jokingly referred to him as her “rumored boyfriend” in a May birthday greeting.
Pangilinan said romance had not been a priority while she was studying in New York because she expected eventually to return to the Philippines. She graduated from The New School in May 2025 and said she became more open to a relationship after settling back home.
“He’s just wonderful,” she said of Laurel.
Pangilinan said character was the quality she valued most in a partner. She also said her parents, singer-actress Sharon Cuneta and Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, were happy about the relationship, describing her mother as particularly enthusiastic and her father as somewhat more protective.
Laurel is a great-grandson of former President Jose P. Laurel and is outside the entertainment industry.
In the same interview, Pangilinan said she and Concepcion had not spoken or seen each other for a long time but emphasized that her feelings toward her sister had not changed.
She declined to discuss the circumstances behind their distance out of respect for their parents, saying only that the family was working through private matters.
Pangilinan said she has always regarded Concepcion simply as her sister rather than as a half-sister and that she continues to love and miss her.
Questions about their relationship intensified in 2023 after Concepcion confirmed that she had unfollowed Frankie and Kiko on Instagram. No public account has established that episode as the cause of the sisters’ current distance.
Pangilinan is also making her acting debut in Edjop, portraying the young Joy Jopson in the historical drama scheduled to open in Philippine cinemas on Sept. 16.
