Actress Rica Peralejo has finally opened up about her past romance with actor Piolo Pascual, something that had never been confirmed by the two at the time, 15 years ago.
The 39-year-old actress set the record straight during a recent vlog she posted on her Youtube channel wherein she decided to answer some of her fans’ burning questions and assumptions about her.
When it came to the question of whether she and Piolo had officially been in a relationship, Rica answered honestly: “Hindi ito pa-safe, ha (This is not meant to be a safe answer). Yes and no.”
“Yes, in the sense na ang deep naming dalawa (the both of us were very deep) with each other. But we never put a label on ourselves. Never namin binigay iyon sa isa’t isa (We never gave that to each other),” she clarified.
Rumors that they were dating began in 2006 when they co-starred in the ABS-CBN drama series “Sa Piling Mo.” They never denied or confirmed it, but Rica admitted that they were very much attracted to each other despite not knowing where exactly they stood in each other’s lives.
“Tapos hindi rin kami umamin sa public about dating or liking each other. I’m not sure kung umamin siya. Meron ba? Pero ako, I don’t recall saying [that]. Because I’ve been asked by several reporters about it, pero never kong sinabi na, ‘Oo, kami,’” she added.
(“And we never admitted to the public about dating or liking each other. I’m not sure if he admitted it. Did he? But I don’t recall saying that. Because I’ve been asked by several reporters about it, but I never said that ‘Yes, we’re dating.'”)
“What I remember is that hindi ko rin alam talaga kung ano nga ba kami (even I didn’t know what we really were). But it was very clear to us that we liked each other a lot. We would talk about the future, like being husband and wife, and all that.”
But Rica pointed out that she has done the same with her ex-boyfriends, including actor Bernard Palanca, and that one can’t help but think that far into the future with anyone “you want to be serious with.”
Even though their relationship never worked out, Rica shared that she will be “forever grateful” to Piolo for being the first one to invite her to Victory Christian Fellowship Church, where she would eventually meet her husband Pastor Joseph Bonifacio.
“Piolo was the one who first invited me to church, together with Dante Nico Garcia! And I think that was largely the purpose of Piolo in my life. To bring me closer to God, and when I met Jesus, I realized this was the Man I needed to get to know in my life at the time. And for that, I will be forever grateful to Piolo, for bringing me one step closer to the truest love of my life!” she said in the video’s description.
Rica and Pastor Joseph married in 2010 after two years of dating and share two children together: Philip, 6, and Manu, 2.
Meanwhile, Piolo was last linked to Shaina Magdayao in 2019, but Shaina has since denied having romantic ties with him.
(ALSO READ: Rica Peralejo Explains to Curious Moms Why She Chose to Undergo Unmedicated Home Birth)
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