Robin Padilla answered Muslim netizens who criticized him for celebrating Christmas.

In the Philippines, Christmas day is considered as the happiest season of the year. With all the colorful lights hanging on every house, family gatherings here and there, giving gifts, and mouth-watering food, everyone is looking forward on this day. We are the only country that celebrates Christmas starting September to the first week of January of next year.

And for the family of Mariel Rodriguez and Robin Padilla, this season is also special as they celebrated it together. On her Instagram on Dec. 25, Mariel shared a sweet family photo of her, Robin and daughter Isabella posing in front of their white-themed Christmas tree at home. An excerpt from her post read:

“Our first christmas together. we were in Delaware for @mariaisabelladepadilla ‘s 1st christmas then last year @robinhoodpadilla spent it in Marawi so this is the first time we are together as a family and this is the best family photo we have."

However, Muslim netizens criticized the veteran actor as they saw him celebrating the Yuletide season. It can be seen in the photos that Robin is joining the Christmas activities with his wife.

Some netizens apparently called out Padilla for celebrating Christmas when he is a Muslim, accusing him of disrespecting the teaching of Islam. It could be recalled that Robin was converted to Islam in the 90s. His wife then changed the privacy settings and removed the comments section of her post. But screenshots of the conversation were already shared online via the Fashion Pulis website.

With patience and respect, he responded:

“Islam is peace, love and respect to all mankind. Christmas is love and sharing," he replied.

“Christmas in the Philippines is more of culture and traditions not of religious extremism. “We all believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ (PBUH) let us focus our energy and conversation on things that we are the same, God willing,” he added.