Vice Ganda met Punch.
Yes — that Punch.
The tiny baby monkey in Japan who captured millions of hearts online.
On Instagram Stories, the Unkabogable Star shared a photo straight from a Tokyo zoo.
Punch was there. Small. Adorable. Familiar.
“Hi Punch,” Vice simply wrote.
Short. Sweet. But filled with joy.
But on X (formerly Twitter), Vice couldn’t hide her excitement.
“Success!!!! Nakita ko na si Punch,” she shared.
You could almost hear the squeal through the screen.
Then came the update everyone wanted.
“He looks ok. Niyayakap na sya ng malalaking jungoya. So happy!!!”
Relief.
Happiness.
A little bit of maternal energy, perhaps.
Punch, after all, is no ordinary monkey.
He recently went viral after a heartbreaking moment caught on camera. Following an altercation with other monkeys in the zoo, Punch was seen running — not to another animal — but to a stuffed orangutan toy.
He clung to it.
Tightly.
As if it were the only thing that made him feel safe.
The toy was given to him by zoo keepers after he was abandoned by his mother. Since then, he’s rarely seen without it.
In the absence of a mother’s arms, Punch found comfort in something soft. Something steady. Something that wouldn’t leave.
And the internet felt that.
So when Vice finally saw him in person, it wasn’t just a celebrity visit.
It was a moment.
A meeting between someone known for loud laughter — and a tiny creature who reminded everyone about quiet vulnerability.
Vice is currently in Japan with her husband, Ion Perez, for the Philippines-Japan Festival. Her film “Call Me Mother” will open the event, while “And the Breadwinner Is” is also set to be screened.
But between premieres and performances, she made time for something softer.
Something smaller.
A baby monkey named Punch.
And in that simple “Hi Punch,” you could feel it —
Sometimes joy is just finally seeing someone you’ve been rooting for.
