Jennylyn Mercado

Family In the October 14, 2004 episode of TV drama series Magpakailanman of GMA Network, which featured her life story, viewers learned more about her childhood. In May 4, 1991, when she was nearly four years old, she made headlines as a battered child. Her assailant was her stepfather, who burned her skin with cigarette butts and whacked her back with a flat iron. Her mother, who was then in Dubai working as a domestic helper, immediately came home. She came not to take care of her daughter, however, but to bail out her partner, who was in detention. Her mother migrated to London and had her own family. Jennylyn's aunt, Lydia Mercado, legally adopted her. In June 2004, Jennylyn's biological father, Noli Pineda, now 50, came home for a holiday. His arrival did not go unnoticed by the press. Reports came out saying that he was asking for money from his now self-sufficient daughter (an accusation she has strongly denied, insisting that her father wanted her to use his surname Pineda)