MANILA, Philippines?Martin Nievera admits avoiding former wife Pops Fernandez amid all the controversies that have hounded them, even thinking twice about approaching her in gatherings.

But, as he tells INQUIRER.net in an exclusive interview, this is a thing of the past.

?It?s so funny because there?s a time that I would see Pops there and then I would move away. Oh my God, Pops? there, should I say hello?,? Martin says ?Wala na yun.?

Now, Martin is happy that he has since made peace with Pops, who last year gave revealing interviews about her painful separation from Martin and spoke out against Katrina Ojeda?s alleged ?jumping around like monkeys? remark about her children with Martin, Robin and Ram.

What?s even more remarkable is that Martin even spends good bonding time with Pops and her current boyfriend, actor Jomari Yllana.

?Now I could go into a restaurant, see Jom and Pops and sit down with them,? Martin stresses. ?Jom and I greet each other with a hug. How many ex-husbands and boyfriends do that??

?It?s just a nice place were in right now compared to what it was before. We?re more comfortable with our lives, our separate lives,? Martin adds.

Their new friendship is further emphasized through their reunion concert, ?Missing You,? which is their first concert stage team-up after a long time. And, guess who?s putting it all together? Jomari himself.

Why does Martin think this reunion with Pops should happen?

?We?re probably the best team that I?ve ever worked with. She?s worked with Regine. She?s worked with Kuh. She?s worked with Zsa Zsa. She?s worked practically with everyone you could think of and so with me. But I think that Pops and Martin, the tandem anyway, the team, even though people want to see us get together because of that ?uuuuuyyy? factor, there some people who actually see us as an actual good team, melody and harmony. I think we should not let that slip away,? Martin says.

The Feb. 6 concert at the Big Dome promises to draw Martin and Pops?s legions of fans through the years and present old and new things to the table.

But Martin prefers to stick to the past. ?In our production meeting, I was telling (director) Rowell (Santiago) and the rest, we should really go retro. Everyone else is. But they don?t have the license to go retro. We do. Because we really are retro?the whole Martin and Pops era is retro. It?s very eighties. It?s very fashionable in the eighties to be a love team. We have the license to do that.?

But in the end the decision was for the concert to offer a mix of old and new songs in the repertoire.

?So I want to do a lot of retro, but the rest, sina Pops, Jom, Rowell said let?s do something new naman. Let?s do something different. I think the audience can really expect a good line up of songs but it will be a mixture of both, the old and the new,? Martin says.

Martin reveals plans of taking the upcoming show on a US tour later this year. After that, he says a tour with Gary V would be in the works.

?Pops and Jom are asking for a US tour, but so are other producers asking for a Martin and Gary in a US tour and a big, major show here. I don?t know when that will be but my deal with Gary was for him to do his anniversary show here and abroad first. Get his 25th year all done and now we?re even steven. On both our 26th year, we can join forces here and in America, Europe,? Martin reveals.