Are Joshua Garcia, Julia Barretto back together? JoshLia sets record straight

MANILA, Philippines — A day after their online exchange about following back each other went viral, actors Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto virtually faced the press in a teleconference — again, as the beloved love team JoshLia.

“Na-miss ko talaga working with her although always naman ako connected kay Julia. Walang pinag-iba,” said Joshua during Tuesday’s teleconference with Philstar.com and other media for his and Julia’s original digital special “Love Unlock.”

“Of course, with this project, I’m also excited to be reunited with Josh. The last project we did was ‘Block Z’ and that was a year ago. So, na-excite ako na makatrabaho s’ya ulit. Kilig ka naman!” Julia teased Joshua.

Julia just started following back Joshua on both Twitter and Instagram after she unfollowed him last January alongside his JoshNella love team partner Janella Salvador, when the two were rumored to be dating at that time.

According to Joshua, he saw Julia the day after the unfollowing happened and they just laughed it off.

“Actually, yun na yung pinagtatawanan namin sa eroplano. Actually, second day na ‘yun ng pagkaka-unfollow. Sobrang pinagtatawanan lang naming,” he shared. 

“Lagi nya ko tinutukso (about the unfollowing),” Julia added.

According to the pair, they never lost communication even after they first broke up.

“May awkwardness ba? Wala naman… Kasi simula nu’ng naghiwalay kami, parang ‘di naman kami nawalang ng parang connection sa isa’t isa. Parating nagkaka-text naman kami,” relayed Joshua, who even visited Julia in her house several times after the breakup.

“Baka feeling lang ng ibang tao kasi s’yempre, naghiwalay kami, ganun. Pero wala naman po.”

“Wala ako ever na-encounter, nakita in any way (na awkward),” Julia echoed.

“Love Unlock” director Dado Lumibao said the two were very professional and there was no awkwardness between them at all while shooting the mini movie during the May lockdown. He said the project really aimed to revive romantically linked love teams since it is hard to build chemistry between new love teams for a virtual production, and JoshLia did not disappoint to deliver.

“Meron talaga silang ibubuga,” vouched the director who has worked with JoshLia in previous projects like “Maalaala Mo Kaya.” 

Apart from their acting, he was all praises for their multitasking abilities, from doing their own makeup to setting their own camera, lights, sound and other technical skills that were usually executed by a crew in a “normal” production setup. 

“It’s fun but also very difficult. Kasi virtual, kailangan ng mabusising pre-production,” the director opined.

“Love Unlock” is a back-to-back mini movie special. Joshua and Julia star in “E-numan” as Joshua and Julia play ex-lovers who will have the chance to talk and reminisce about the past with their friends in an online reunion. Their happy and harmless rekindling, however, takes an unexpected turn as they unearth unresolved issues that will test their clique’s bond.

According to Joshua, his character in the movie was not hard to portray because the character is near his real personality. 

Likewise, in the movie, “Parang may pagka-kami pa rin pero s’yempre, character pa rin,” he said.

“We’re so excited to be reunited for this project… We’ve always wanted to pitch stories,” enthused Julia.

“It was fun, it was nice to be working with him talaga. I feel like iba ‘yung pagkakaintindihan namin ni Josh kapag umaakting na kaming dalawa… Kaya kahit Zoom lang s’ya, it was so easy to do the scenes. Kaya bawat break, bawat take, naiintindihan na namin kung kailan kailangan ng another take, kung anong magiging atake namin. I mean, it came so naturally.”

Since it feels natural for them to work together, are they really now back in each other’s arms?

Although Joshua thanks their JoshLia fans for always supporting them, Julia stressed that she and Joshua are nothing more than just good friends.

“Ang talagang kinakatuwa namin pareho ‘yung friendship na mine-maintain namin. It’s a good friendship right now and we’re really enjoying each other. Nagkakatuwaan pa kami like what we’re doing last night and it’s so nice to have that. Being good friends and being at peace with each other is the reason why we’re both in a really good place right now,” she explained.

The key to being friends and even working again with her ex-boyfriend, she said, is to always cherish the good things they formed together despite the ugly things that caused the breakup.

“It takes two to tango… It’s both from our ends, my end, Josh’s end, we really chose to save the friendship kasi sayang eh. We had a lot of good memories together. We were also friends before we became lovers, so we really want to save that,” Julia espoused.

“With friendship, you can naturally do everything in peace. Grateful ako kasi pinag-mature kami ng panahon.”

“Love Unlock” which will exclusively premiere on Kapamilya Online Live on YouTube and Facebook this Saturday (August 15), 7:30 p.m.

RELATED: Julia shares lessons learned from Barretto family, Bea-Gerald controversies