She tugs at his shirt, he tweaks her nose. They run after each other as she squeals in delight. She stops to examine a silver elephant figurine on a low table in the living room, and he pleads with her to let him borrow it. She calls him "Papa," he calls her "Baba" (a term of endearment in Bicolano).
"I think," smiles Presidential son Dato Arroyo, 31, "that fatherhood is a lot of fun. When Evie was born, I gained a playmate!"
Evie was born to Dato, youngest son of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and Kakai, a banker, in February 2004. With Evie, Dato and Kakai, who are best friends as well as husband and wife, felt like they were welcoming the third member of their barkada.
"For Evie, I’m the fun parent, the playmate. My wife Kakai (Manotok) and I did not plan it that way, but that’s just the way it worked out. I planned to be the disciplinarian, but," he kisses Evie’s head, "wala, eh."
"Lalaban, ano?" he adds, addressing Evie.
"We’re both very makulit. According to my wife, with Evie and me, parang she has two kids. When we’re together, para na rin akong two years old. Kakai has a hard time when she disciplines Evie, and Evie runs to me. When she has to sleep, everyone tries to make her sleep and when I come in and I say, ‘Five minutes more with Papa!’ Evie jumps and says, ‘Five minutes more with Papa! Five minutes more with Papa!’ I take her on my shoulders, we take a walk, and wala na."
Evie often tugs along with the couple to their favorite hangout, SM Manila. But though he seems to melt in his daughter’s presence, Dato makes a conscious effort to be a solid influence in her life.
"I want to bring her up the way my dad brought us up, lahat magkapantay. Evie plays with her cousins and her classmates at Montessori, and also with the kids of our driver. My dad was like that. In our barangay, La Vista was the only one na medyo binuenas sa buhay. But we (siblings Mikey and Luli) grew up with all the other kids, para walang yabang. We grew up na hindi sarado ang mundo namin. That’s how I want it to be with Evie."
Dato, who is busy with the family business and with a foundation he and some friends set up to help the less fortunate, went to college at the Ateneo de Naga, under the watchful eye of his dad’s mentor, Fr. Raul Bonoan, S.J. He not only fended for himself, he also saw himself through college, by choice (Though he admits his Lola Eva would sometimes send him extra money!). He wants Evie to be independent, but steeped in traditional values.
"I’m teaching her to make mano to her elders," Dato reveals. As if on cue, Evie takes my hand and brings it to her forehead. "We’re also teaching her to say ‘po’ and ‘opo’."
"She’s a tough girl," he says with amusement. "Sometimes I think I have a little boy!"
Dato and Kakai are expecting their second child next February. They welcome the new addition as a gift from God, "whatever its gender." (Though Mike Arroyo once said there was a hula that his first grandson would come from Dato.)
Dato doesn’t think that a new baby brother (Evie’s preference) or sister would be a problem for Evie. "She loves her baby cousin Monique. To her, a baby is a baby."
Though content to work in the private sector for now, Dato isn’t closing the door on a political career. "If it happens it will happen. I won’t say I have no intention. Mom didn’t want to run before, but things happen."
Thus, he isn’t going to object, either, if his daughter plans to run for public office someday – just like Mamam Gloria.
"If Evie one day wants to enter politics, okay, but she’ll have to realize it’s only a temporary thing. Even if my mom entered politics, she has a career aside from it. Before and after. We’re all conditioned to realize that we should have a life besides and beyond politics. It’s not the be-all and end-all of our existence."
But for now, Dato is thankful for the privilege of being the President’s son and for being given the chance to live in the Palace. It’s not a fairy tale life, but with a little princess by his side, it seems to be a happily-ever-after kind of life.