Noynoy squeezes in 20-minute date with girlfriend Shalani

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte , Philippines  – There’s always time for love, even for presidential candidates – and even if it’s just 20 minutes.

Liberal Party presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III managed to squeeze in a brief moment to celebrate the 30th birthday last April 27 of his girlfriend, Valenzuela City Second District Councilor Shalani Soledad, despite the hectic and punishing schedule of the political campaign.

Aquino admitted to reporters that he had a 20-minute dinner with Soledad after the journalists, especially the female reporters, kept badgering him about his birthday gift to his girlfriend of almost two years.

“I think you should ask her because she might not have liked my gift,” Aquino said in Filipino, with a big smile on his face. “Oo nag-date naman kami for about 20 minutes,” he added, revealing that the celebration started at midnight “kaya nakiusap tayo kung pwede kapiraso lang muna at pagbalik ko na lang (I asked her to make the date short, and we’ll continue when I get back).”

Aquino had always kept his love life private, providing few details about his relationship with Soledad, who is seeking re-election in Valenzuela under Aquino’s Liberal Party.

Aquino said he still has many commitments now that the campaign period is in the homestretch.

When asked how Soledad reacted to his proposal that Abante columnist-reporter Rey Marfil would be his “ring bearer” and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay the “coin bearer” at his wedding, Aquino said that she was speechless. He added that when they talk about it again, he would tell her “mabuting tao naman iyan (Marfil is a good guy).”

In a text message to Marfil, Soledad wrote: “Thank you ring bearer.”

Desperate move by NP

Aquino described as a desperate move the series of attacks against him by the camp of Nacionalista Party presidential bet Sen. Manny Villar.

He also compared Villar to Goebbels, the propaganda minister of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler who made popular the saying: “A lie repeated often enough might be believed as the truth.”

“The enemy is getting desperate. They learned from) Goebbels. Why do they keep bringing these (psychiatric) tests up? These are not even verified. Iyan parang pinapakita po ang kanilang breeding (that shows their breeding),” Aquino told reporters during his visit to the provincial capitol in Tacloban.            – With Aurea Calica