Vilma: It was an accident

So what’s in a kiss?

A lot, especially if it’s between Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos and her brother-in-law Ricky Recto.

The two met the other day at the COMELEC where they both filed their certificates of candidacy, Vilma for governor of Batangas and Ricky for congressman of the same province.

The in-laws were locked in a headline-making ‘family feud’ over who between them should run for governor. Ricky gave way to Vilma, wife of his brother, Sen. Ralph Recto (who’s running for reelection).

‘It was an accident,’ Vilma told The STAR in a phone interview, reacting to the photo of her and Ricky in a lips-to-lips kiss which was made fun of by radio announcers. ‘It was our first meeting since the controversy. Sabay kaming yumakap at humalik. Hayun, that’s what happened.’

Vilma was alarmed when friends and fans swamped her with text messages after seeing the controversial ‘kiss’ on the front page of The STAR yesterday. They asked, ‘Why like that?’

‘As I’ve said,’ Vilma repeated, ‘it was an accident. Ricky and I are not crazy to do it intentionally, with all the cameras around. There was no malice at all in that kiss.’ — RICKY LO