Peter “Perok” Rodriguez and Cristina “Rina” Pongos grew up a stone’s throw from each other in Bonifacio St, Ormoc City but this convenience would only have a small role in the he said, she said story of their romance.
Rina’s earliest memory of Perok goes back to 6th grade when she first formally met him. It was a big deal then that he was 8 years older, but as she would admit today, she had a crush on him ever since and even had a code for him, “Chori Burger”.
Years passed and the time when Rina was allowed to go out came. She would see Perok painting the town w/ his colors, mostly at the Swing disco doing half-naked cartwheels and
getting on his ride with a couple of girls. She was easily disenchanted and would relay these youthful exploits to her dad, the late Atty. Benjamin Pongos, who kept on telling his two daughters that one of them ought to marry him. “Kung makakita lang ka niya mag tumbling, tumbling, ma turn-off jud ka dad!”
Rina moved to Manila to study Accountancy at UP Diliman. At that time, her acquaintance with Perok had reached easy-banters level. She remembers getting a call from Perok asking her to tell Maric, her older sister who was already based in the US, to come home with a wedding gown as he would marry her here. Perok, who was also a kabarkada of Rina’s older brother Bennet, became a kuya figure to her.
Following her graduation from college and a few years’ work in Manila, Rina came home in 2007. She joined the BCBP Singles, an endeavor that Perok now claims was her strategy to get closer to him as he was already a member of the community. Rina refutes this confident assumption, reminding him that she was still dating somebody from Manila then.
In those years, Perok was actively looking for somebody to settle down with. His fellow members started teasing him to Rina, downplaying the long-distance relationship she was in. None of them knew they were all playing prophetic.
This mild encouragement turned into a full-blown pep-talk after a Bo Sanchez concert at the Abellana Complex in Cebu that the Singles attended. Rina came late in her car and got stuck in a parking ordeal. She called up her male friends for help, but by Somebody’s playful blessing, she only got through Perok’s line. Rina (resignedly) shares that at the very instant she spotted him amongst the busy crowd, walking towards her car, he “took her breath away” for the first time. The Singles saw them enter the event together and the “walang kamatayang sungog” peaked.
That night made her see Perok in a different light. It did help that they would pass each other’s homes almost every day, but it was the community that buoyed up whatever was brewing inside. Perok would occasionally ask Rina to help him compose prayers and talks, a gesture that Rina admired as she was so used to guys competing with her. She found Perok very confident, but also humble enough to ask for her help.
Fast forward to 1999, Perok finally asked the already unattached Rina out. She only said yes on his second dinner invitation, and the third, which was to join him and his family at the beach for the Holy Week. Rina did not have an idea that before taking her, Perok had announced to the whole clan that the woman he would bring to that gathering is the one he would marry.
At the April wedding of their fellow BCBP members Mike and Charity Tan, Perok and Rina lay bare all their feelings for each other. By the end of the night, they were already engaged. Rina remembers being congratulated by their friends. When she asked why, they answered that Perok had told them they were getting married in August. Her jaw dropped in shock, but by instinct, she replied, “Pwede sa December lang?!?”
A bit worried that all of the evening’s surprises were only fruits of a drunken night, Rina stayed up until 3 am with her friends. Perok kept her on such state until he called up at 7 pm the next evening. She was no longer Rina, but “Darl.”
As in all stories, Perok and Rina’s love affair has two versions, his and hers. But however the two goes, the end is the same. They got married on December 11, 1999 and moved to one address.
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