MANILA, Philippines - Why not?
Bachelor President Aquino is more than entitled to go out on a date not just once a month, but more often if necessary, according to Secretary Ricky Carandang, a member of his Cabinet.
“Of course, he can date not just once a month, after all he is single,” he told reporters at the Malacañang Press Office, in reaction to the call of Mr. Aquino’s eldest sister Ballsy for the public to allow her 50-year-old brother to take time off to unwind.
The same sentiment was expressed by deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, who wanted to keep off the subject of her boss’ private life but could not, because Palace reporters had been seeking updates on the President’s love life.
“The President has appealed to everybody to allow him to retain that tiniest bit of privacy. Let us give it to him, anyway that’s all that he is asking, to allow him to keep his private life,” she said between laughs and smiles.
“I am not in a position to comment on his private life. I don’t know anything about his private life,” Valte insisted in reply to a query from a female newspaper reporter who has covered Malacañang for a long time.
Press assistant secretary for media relations Rey Marfil, who Mr. Aquino had once jokingly called his “ring bearer,” sang the same tune, with a little twist.
“There is nothing wrong if a bachelor President goes out on a date. What’s bad is a married man who removes his wedding ring upon leaving their house,” Marfil said. In an event at the Ayala Museum in Makati City Tuesday, Ballsy Aquino-Cruz expressed hope that the public would give her only brother the time and space to go out on a date, even “just once a month.”
“As a bachelor, he cannot help but be in the company of some female friends, although I know that that rarely happens nowadays. I hope they allow him to date even if only once a month,” she said.
Mr. Aquino and Valenzuela Councilor Shalani Soledad, his girlfriend of around two years, have reportedly called it quits, but both parties have neither confirmed nor denied the rumors.
Among the women the President is currently being linked to is his fashion stylist Liz Uy, who was interviewed on television, but like Mr. Aquino, she refused to make any statement on the state of their relationship, or even if there was a relationship.