Scenes from Charice's "star-studded" baptism

CEBU, Philippines - Filipino singing sensation Charice  Pempengco was baptized and confirmed in Catholic rites last Saturday, with media heavyweights and celebrities standing as her godparents.

US media mogul Oprah Winfrey and songwriter-starmaker David Foster led the elite list of godparents, but weren’t able to make it. Instead, they both sent in their respective representatives, plus a TV crew from Oprah, presumably to have the affair featured in her widely-popular program, wherein Charice had appeared several times already. The latest appearance was on May 11 to debut her international self-titled album.

Nevertheless, the affair gathered a powerhouse Pinoy attendance, with high-profile godparents such as ABS-CBN bosses Gabby Lopez, Charo Santos Concio, talking heads Kris Aquino, Boy Abunda, and entertainment editor, Ricky Lo, to name a few.

In a news report, Charice’s mother, Raquel, revealed that she had long wanted her two children, Charice and Carl, baptized Catholic after separating with their father, Ricky Pempengco, an Iglesia ni Cristo member.

Raquel converted to INC when she married Pempengco. But marital trouble forced Raquel and her children to leave home. Charice was only four years old at that time. Since then, Raquel and her two kids have not been practicing INC members.

The single mother, however, said that since she was baptized Catholic, she had long dreamt of having her children baptized Catholic as well. It took her a long time to make that happen because she thought one cannot be baptized in the Catholic Church if he/she doesn’t belong to “a complete family.”

After the baptism and confirmation at the Pasig Cathedral last Saturday, Charice eschewed an extravagant celebration to mark the occasion. Instead, she brought food and entertained some 500 children from different barangays surrounding the cathedral.