Businessman and singer Jojo Mendrez defended himself from netizens’ suspicions after they were seen in some photos of Mark Herras at a luxury hotel in Parañaque.

On February 5, 2025, a Facebook page shared some photos taken at the hotel, where Jojo and Mark can be seen together and talking.

“The person seen with Herras seems to be the uprising singer who is now trending on social media. The two spotted together in a hotel casino at around 11:30 pm last Feb 5, both seem so happy together,” according to the page’s post.

According to reports, there are witnesses who saw Mark and Jojo entering a hotel room together.

In an interview with Jojo on Pep.ph, she admitted that she and Mark met at the hotel, but it wasn’t planned.

“We met at Starbucks in Okada, but we were there on the dark side because of course I was avoiding the talk that we might have issues because Mark Herras comes from dancing at the bar, right? You know, the talk that has to do with gay issues. So what we did, we were there on the dark side of Starbucks,” Jojo said.

When they met, Jojo said that he wanted them to record a short dance video with Julie Vega’s song “Somewhere In My Past.” Mark agreed to Jojo’s request, so they went to the latter’s room to record the content privately.

“They made it out that Mark Herras and I checked in. When we passed by the lobby, of course he recognized [Mark] and saw us together. We went to the room, but there was no malice. It’s like we just made the content for my ‘Somewhere In My Past’, where he danced,” Jojo explained.

Jojo also denied that she stayed with Mark in the hotel room without her manager.

“After he danced, we should have left there, but I didn’t want to. I told David, maybe what happened with Sandro Muhlach will happen, I was scared. Because Mark and I might have issues if we were left there. We were just talking, but you know, we might have issues, right? That’s why we went to the casino,” Jojo added.

Rumors also spread that Mark had received unwanted offers from various people since he started working at a popular gay bar.