Jonica Lazo and Glenn Ong speak out amid dating speculation

Veteran local radio DJ Glenn Ong and Filipino actress Jonica Lazo have both clarified that they are “just friends”.

In an Instagram post on Oct 7, Lazo, 25, said: “Once and for all, me and Glenn Ong are not in a relationship, we are good friends. Stop spreading false news.”

She ended the post with a hashtag calling for everyone to be kind, and added: “Let’s all move on.”

Ong shared Lazo’s post on his Instagram page on Oct 8, with Lazo returning the favour with his post on the same day.

Ong, 55, initiated a “Not Gonna Lie” segment on The Big Show With Glenn, Angel & Tim on SPH Radio’s Kiss92 on Oct 8, during which he said he wanted to clarify the situation with Lazo and invited listeners to send questions and comments to the show.

In it, he said he and Lazo have been going out during her stay in Singapore, but they are “not going steady”.

Their statements come on the heels of recent reports about her and the Kiss92 presenter.

A social media post by Ong on Sept 30 sparked widespread chatter that he was dating Lazo, with Ong initially saying he would “neither admit nor deny” it.

During his morning show on Oct 8, he said he had told his mother over the weekend that he would clarify the situation.

“The truth of the matter here is that we are just friends. We are not a couple, we are not going steady,” he added.

The presenters then discussed the difference between dating – which they defined as going out with people – and being in a relationship, or “going steady”.

“It is so amazing how this story has evolved from that very first picture that I posted,” Ong said.

In response to a listener’s question, he shared that he first noticed Lazo when he was at a restaurant in Marina Bay Sands. He approached her to talk while on the way to the restroom and found out she was also in the media industry.

He texted her after he got home to ask her out for dinner the next day, and she agreed. “The rest is history,” he added.

Lazo was in town to attend the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2025 from Oct 3 to 5, and has family here.

Ong previously told The New Paper in a report published on Oct 5 that they are dating, but their relationship is not exclusive and he has no plans for marriage.

He declined further comment when The Straits Times contacted him.

This article was originally published in The Straits Times.