Priscilla wed in civil rites

Priscilla Almeda (photo) is now legally Mrs. Shaft Ricablanca.

Last May 7, the couple got married in civil rites in Shaft’s native Banga, Aklan, with Banga Mayor Stevens officiating.

The wedding was done as quietly as the couple’s homecoming from the US three weeks ago. They have a daughter, Maria Tippifarel, born late last year in New York where Priscilla and Shaft met and fell in love. Described as "goodlooking enough" to be in showbiz, his long hair making people mistake him for a rocker, Shaft works at a New York hospital as a medical technician. He comes from the prominent Ricablanca clan of Aklan.

Priscilla went to New York two years ago to shoot Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side. She decided to stay for a while and met Shaft. She fell too deeply in love with Shaft for her to agree to bear a love child by him. The Ricablancas have taken Priscilla like their own daughter. In a conversation with a Filipino writer in New York, Priscilla said that she finally found the respect that she never felt in the Philippines, due perhaps to her image as a bold star.

Besides Batang West Side, Priscilla had another movie (Huwag Kang Kikibo, directed by Gil M. Portes) shown during her absence.

After her vacation with Shaft’s family in Aklan, Priscilla will return to Manila to promote her album (by Dyna Records) which she completed before she left for the US. Because she’s now a mother and wife, Priscilla won’t be doing any sexy scenes anymore – that is, if and when she returns to the movies.

The couple is planning to put up their own business probably in Aklan.