Maris Racal's Instagram post on March 17, 2021, sparked rumors that she's dating musician Rico Blanco. On that day, Rico celebrated his 48th birthday, and Maris shared a video of them on IG performing their cover of Aqualung's "Brighter Than Sunshine." She captioned it, rather concisely, "hi rico. happy birthday. [cowboy emoji]"
So what got netizens speculating that Maris and Rico are together? Apart from their chemistry and smiles in the jam session, celebs getting kilig is another. In the comments section of Maris' post, Direk Antoinette Jadaone, Bianca Gonzalez, and Chie Filomeno, to name a few, were shipping Maris and Rico with heart emojis. "Akala ko may kiss sa dulo," teased the much-loved filmmaker.
But what has really sealed the deal for netizens is Ruffa Gutierrez’s slightly more blatant comment. The actress wrote, "Ayyyyyyy. [heart eyes emoji] the cat is out of the bag [shocked emoji]."
Several fans were surprised by what can easily be considered an implicit revelation, but many were happy. IG user @thelleyang was like the rest of us when she replied to Ruffa's comment, observing, "halata naman sa mga comments ng artista na may something lol." To which Ruffa called the attention of Maris to actually confirm her relationship status! Ruffa replied to @thelleyang with, "Oh I don't know, Lol. Baka the cat is a new cover. Let's ask @mariesteller."
Maris and Rico have worked together in the past. Most notably in April 2019, when Maris released "Abot Langit," a song she co-wrote with Rico, and in September 2020, when she dropped "Not For Me," another one of their collabs.