Robin Padilla, the country’s foremost icon of machismo, may be softening his stance on BB Gandanghari. Although he insists on calling his older sibling “Rustom”, Robin issued a cryptic statement on Friday that suggested his acceptance of BB’s transgender status.
“Mayroon tayong kalayaan sa pag-iisip at opinyon. Hanggang hindi tayo nagkakasakitan nang pisikal, eh ayos lang lahat iyan. Lahat iyan ay katanggap-tanggap,” Robin said in an interview with the ABS-CBN news program “TV Patrol.”
Then again, the actor might have only meant that BB is free to do as she pleases while Robin is free to ignore BB’s existence. The report did not elaborate.
The siblings have not spoken for three years, and since Rustom reemerged as a transvestite going by the name, “BB Gandanghari”.
It was only last March that Robin finally addressed the matter and admitted in an ambush interview his disagreement with his sibling’s sexual orientation.
Last Sunday at the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation Awards, BB told reporters that, although she was happy that her mother and his other siblings have accepted his lifestyle choice, she was still hurt by Robin’s continued refusal to talk to her.
BB has declined to confirm rumors that she underwent a sex-change operation in New York, where she worked for two years as a transgender model.
