Mariel Padilla clarifies resurfaced 2022 remarks on Robin’s lawmaking experience

Mariel Padilla clarified her remarks in a 2022 vlog about her husband, Senator Robin Padilla, after the video resurfaced online and drew criticism over her claim that he had already been involved in the passage of a law while he was in prison.

In a post on Sunday, Aug. 9, Mariel said the vlog was made in response to critics who questioned Robin’s qualifications to become a senator, particularly his educational background and ability to make laws.

“Common sense is most uncommon,” Mariel began her post. “Siyempre, you have to be a legislator to actually make and pass a law.”

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Mariel referred to Republic Act No. 8294, which amended provisions of the law on illegal possession, manufacture, acquisition and disposition of firearms and ammunition.

According to reports, the RA 8294 only became associated with Robin because he personally benefited from the law in connection with his firearms conviction. The actor-senator was convicted of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition in 1995, and the law affected the legal consequences of his case, but the legislation was not authored or sponsored by him. It was enacted in 1997, before Padilla became a senator.

The actress-host said Robin’s case had become closely associated with the issue addressed by the law because he was incarcerated at the time in connection with a case involving illegal possession of firearms.

Despite her previous remarks saying that Robin was responsible for the ratification the said law while in prison, Mariel tried to reframe what she meant.

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“Robin was NOT a senator then, and I never meant that he literally sat in Congress, authored the bill, and voted for its passage,” she said.

“His experience was being cited to show that even before becoming a senator, he had firsthand experience of how laws—and changes in laws—can directly affect a person’s life,” she added.

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Mariel underscored that Robin became the “case study” of the said law as he was one of the people who was interviewed for its enactment.

“Siya po kasi ‘yung dahilan kung bakit nabuo ‘yung pag-amend noong batas na ‘yon known as the Robin Padilla law,” she said. “Context matters. Comprehension matters too.”

Following Mariel’s clarification, netizens reasoned that being personally affected by a law isn’t the same as having legislative expertise because giving perspective to a law is different from having the ability to draft, evaluate or pass legislation.

Robin was released from prison in 1998 after receiving a conditional pardon from President Fidel V. Ramos. The actor-politician was granted an absolute pardon by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, which restored his full civil and political rights. He then became the first Muslim senator of the Philippines in 2022. /edv