Speaker Alvarez’ wife breaks silence

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. LYN RILLON

The wife of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said she was “abandoned” after he became the leader of the House of the Representatives.

Emelita Alvarez told ABS-CBN News that while she was aware of “his other relationship… long, long time ago,” it was only last year that Alvarez left her.

Alvarez did not respond to requests for comment.

“Actually I was abandoned right after Sona when he became the Speaker. We’ve been together for almost 30 years and I’ve been there since the very start that was in ’88. We’ve been through ups and downs, I’m there and people of Davao del Norte will testify that I was even the one who campaigned for him but anyway life should go on,” she said.

Emelita admitted that it was painful, but said “it’s but normal that the husband and wife would have an affair.”

“There’s pain. I wouldn’t say there’s no pain because that’s being [a] hypocrite. But as I’ve told you, my faith is strong for a woman. Masakit, ‘yun na lang,” she added.

However, she maintained she would not give up on the marriage even after Alvarez left their home.

“For me, why will I give up? My relationship is not illicit. ‘Yung mga sinasabi mong to go on ito yung mga illicit affairs eh but mine is not. So I just leave it up to God. My relationship with him is legal,” she said.

Emelita also explained her absence during President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on Monday. She said she asked her daughter, Finance Undersecretary Paola Alvarez, to go in her stead “just to avoid any untoward incidents.”

Emelita said she would have kept her silence but had to answer because ABS-CBN came to her.

“It’s only now when you came I have no other choice but to answer,” she said.

Emelita also said she was unaware of Alvarez’s conversion to the religion of the Manobo tribe, adding he was Catholic when they married.

Alvarez said on Tuesday that as a Manobo, he could practice polygamy. He cites this as a reason why his push for the measure for the “dissolution of marriage” for unhappy spouses was not borne out of personal motives.

Asked by ABS-CBN on her thoughts about the bill Alvarez sought to prioritize, Emelita said the woman comes at a disadvantage because she traditionally carries the burden of rearing children.

“I’m talking now, I’m speaking in behalf of the Filipino people… I’m saying that the bill is gender biased palagi na lang talo ang babae,” she said.

Alvarez’s relationship with girlfriend Jennifer Vicencio drew public attention in March in the aftermath of the Speaker’s move to file a criminal complaint and call for a congressional inquiry against Davao del Norte 2nd Dist. Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.