They ‘just slept’ on their first night together

So what do you think Boots Anson-Roa and lawyer King Rodrigo did on their first night together as man and wife?

No, not what you’re thinking.

“We just slept,” Boots told Funfare Update the morning after she and King were married (with King “given away” by his 99-year-old mom Remedios Rodrigo) at the Archbishop’s Palace in Mandaluyong City last Saturday afternoon, June 14, with Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle officiating. The reception at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club, also in the same city, lasted until 1:30 yesterday morning and the newly-weds proceeded to their room at Richmonde Hotel to spend their first night together. During their courtship and engagement, they respected each other’s space when they traveled abroad by staying in separate rooms. They are checking out today, with King moving to Boots’ condo unit in Quezon City.

Actually, added Boots with a laugh, before they drifted into slumberland, there were “little intimacies” and they were, she laughed some more, “okey naman.”

Besides the, uhm, usual amenities and what the brand-new bride described as “little intimacies,” her and King’s first conjugal act yesterday morning was to offer the bouquet (the one thrown at the wedding was a replica) to Boots’ late husband Pete Roa at the St. Therese Columbarium where Pete’s ashes were placed. They were to do the same offering at the grave of King’s late wife Olga Syyap but unfortunately, the flowers wilted at the trunk of the car. They planned to do it anytime soon.

They woke up early at the same time. As is his wont, King watched Cardinal Tagle’s Sunday morning show The Word Exposed.

“Naku, ang ibig mo sabihin hindi na tayo mag-ti-text-text,” Boots said King kidded her. You see, until their wedding (which fell on King’s 75th birthday) the sweethearts regularly texted each other. “Kasi, King would text me at 6 a.m. every day,” Boots said. “I told him, ‘Hindi na rin tayo magti-telebabad’.” 

Before they “just slept,” Boots saw King fixing his things, saying he would bring them to his home in Alabang, forgetting that his new home was Boots’ condo unit.

Their honeymoon in Seoul has been put on hold because their respective children (who came home from abroad for the wedding) are extending their stay. The week-long honeymoon will be pushed through first week of July.

Incidentally, guests were wondering why Boots didn’t cry at her wedding. In fact, she and King were laughing when Cardinal Tagle teased them after the ceremony when he asked King to kiss his bride.

“I’m not really the crying type,” admitted Boots. “The ceremony kasi was nakakatawang-nakakatuwa. Naunahan kasi ng biruan at tawanan, and Cardinal Tagle was joking pa. It was a gleeful affair. Hindi talaga ako iyakin. Whether during a happy event or a sad one, like when Pete passed on, sandali lang ako umiyak. I am able to rein in, eh.”

It was Boots’ first en grande wedding. She and Pete eloped in June 1964.

“Nagtanan kami June 5 ng umaga,” recalled Boots, “and we got married in civil rites at the office of then Quezon City Mayor Norberto Amoranto. It was the mayor’s birthday kaya ang daming tao doon sa city hall. That same afternoon, we had our church wedding witnessed by three companions at the Assumption Parish, officiated by Fr. Oscar Veneracion.”

Unlike at last Saturday’s ceremony where she wore a beautiful gown designed as a gift to her by Eddie Baddeo (who also made King’s Barong Tagalog), on that civil wedding 50 years ago Boots and Pete were in casual clothes. “Ura-urada kasi, eh,” she said.

Their marriage lasted 43 years until Pete’s untimely death on Aug. 9, 2007. King and Olga were married on May 23, 1960, and their marriage lasted 48 years until Olga’s death on Aug. 6, 2008.

Although they already have instant children, his and hers, will the newly-weds have their own “joint venture?”

“Having a baby started as a joke,” Boots laughed again. “It was Cardinal Tagle who brought it up. But why not?” added Boots wistfully. “Saint Elizabeth was barren at about my age (68) when she gave birth to a son who would grow up to be St. John The Baptist.”

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