For real? Robin weds Mariel in Ibaloi rites

By Vincent Cabreza, Elmer Kristian Dauigoy, Inquirer Northern Luzon, Bayani San Diego Jr. Philippine Daily Inquirer Most Read BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—The priest thought it was just a movie shoot. Monday in Baguio City, actor Robin Padilla and television host Mariel Rodriguez were wed in a tribal ceremony officiated by an Ibaloi mambunong (ritual priest). The secret rites were held in a compound owned by Padilla’s relatives in Barangay Camp 7. Marvin Binay-an, barangay captain, said many of the participants were given details of the event on the day itself. “Robin’s stunt men [some of whom are Baguio residents] had searched various barangays for a mambunong before they contacted me,” Binay-an related. He referred them to Jimmy Ong, he said, who was busy elsewhere when asked to join the celebration. According to an ABS-CBN news report, Ong initially thought it was “just for a shooting.” The report also said Padilla and Rodriguez were also wed by a Christian pastor after the tribal ceremony. Do back-to-back “I dos” make it legal? No license There is no trace of a wedding license, either at City Hall or at the registries of neighboring Cordillera provinces. A check made Friday with civil registry officials in Baguio City, Benguet, and Mt. Province yielded no license made out to Robin, whose mother, Eva, is a member of the Ibaloi Cariño clan of Kapangan, Benguet. Not even an application. But to any Ibaloi, the ceremony alone makes Padilla, 42, the husband of Rodriguez, 26. The two are both on leave from the ABS-CBN daily game show, “Pilipinas Win Na Win,” where they are program hosts. Baguio civil registry officials said Padilla could have acquired his marriage license elsewhere. Every applicant undergoes a lengthy process, which includes mandatory counseling. When the license is issued, however, the wedding could be held anywhere, said one official. Lynn Madalang, executive director of the gender rights group Ebgan Inc., said Padilla’s wedding was “as binding as any ceremony to an indigenous community.” Betchay Vidanes, Padilla’s manager, was happy to take the same position. She told the Inquirer in a phone interview Friday that Ong assured the couple that an Ibaloi wedding ceremony was “legal and binding” in the country. On the other hand, Madalang noted, the Ibalois also recognized divorce. Linda Grace Cariño, a member of the clan, pointed out that the double rites represented the “hybrid weddings of many Ibalois today.” For example, she explained, modern Ibalois who tie the knot before a Catholic priest or a Christian pastor or minister, are still bound by tribal custom to butcher a native pig for cañao (ritual feast) and serve tapuey (rice wine). Cariño said Padilla had never denied his Ibaloi background. “In one [TV] interview,” she recalled, “he was asked about the tattoos on his wrists. Robin said they were authentic Ibaloi tattoos that marked him as a warrior.” The cañao means “the whole world testifies that you have wed,” Cariño said. A photograph circulated online shows Padilla and Rodriguez in Ibaloi attire and standing before Ong. According to Internet reports, the couple “drank rice wine ... and danced the tayaw, a ritual dance. The reports said the ceremony lasted an hour and a half, and included the requisite pig sacrifice, after which the animal’s blood was brushed on the couple’s cheeks to seal the bond. Binay-an said most of the guests saw the couple just before the rites. “[Padilla] was very quiet,” he recounted. “He was accompanied by a child and one of his sisters. There were only about 50 people.” Guests and onlookers alike were prevented from taking photographs, Binay-an added. But he said two official videographers recorded the event. Vidanes said that, apart from Padilla’s relatives from the Cariño clan, his children Kylie and Ali witnessed both the Ibaloi and Christian rites. Padilla just recently divorced from first wife, Liezl Sicangco, who is based in Australia. Manager surprise Like most of show biz, Boy Abunda, Rodriguez’s talent manager, was caught by surprise by the wedding. “I was kept in the dark about the exact date,” Abunda told the Inquirer by phone. Some of Padilla’s Baguio-based friends were just as surprised. Imam Bedejim Abdullah, a leader of the city’s Muslim community, said Muslims in the city were not clear as to how the Ibaloi and Christian weddings addressed Padilla’s faith. The actor converted to Islam while serving a prison term in the mid-1990s. Abdullah said Muslim men were allowed to marry women of different religions “because the marriage depends upon the man [who supports the family]. What is forbidden is for Muslim women to marry outside the religion.” Robin explained, in a text message that beats any of his famous movie or ad lines: “Walang dapat ipangamba ang mga kapatiran, kababayan at katribo sapagkat ang pagsunod namin ay sa Islam, ang pagpupugay namin ay sa Kristiyanismo at ang pakikiisa namin ay sa kultura at tradisyong Pilipino. (Our brothers, countrymen and tribesmen need not worry because we follow Islam, we honor Christianity and we abide by Filipino culture and traditions.)” “Robin is hard to read, but he and Mariel seem very happy,” Vidanes, his manager, said. Abunda said he respected Rodriguez’s decision to get married. “I can very well see that she’s happy to be with Robin. I also think she will stay in show biz because Robin is in show biz.” No doubt. Padilla’s perplexing text message concluded: “Ang mga naganap sa lupa ng mga Cariño sa Baguio ay isa lamang sa mga nagaganap na yugto sa aming pag-ibig at nalalapit na programa sa ABS-CBN (What happened in the land owned by the Cariños in Baguio is but one chapter in our love and forthcoming show on ABS-CBN.)” When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Published in Philippine Daily Inquirer September 18, 2010.