L-Ray of light and the night of nymphs

Call it coincidence but Rufa Mae Quinto, aka Peachy to close friends and showbiz insiders, was saved as Governor L-Ray Villafuerte on my mobile phone. Technology, high as it may seem, still gets confused when it comes to numbers and nymphs.

Don’t get me wrong. There is no correlation between the two except for being friends. Just so happened that something about their digits made my wireless cellular intelligence think they are one and the same. I would get a call and the phone ID would say it was the good governor calling. Then, I would hear the sultry husk from the comedienne on the other line. A good plot for a play or a movie, if you ask me.

So imagine the confusion I got when, as fate would have it, they also celebrated their respective birthdays on the same day. Gov. L-Ray had his at Robot, while Peachy had hers at Republiq. Lest rumor mongers’ tongues start wagging, Gov L-Ray is happily married to his wife Lara and are raising happy kids of this Republic. Peachy, on the other hand, is publicly single and happily dating, waiting for that right time to find the right man for her to pursue a quiet family life.

First ladies: Lara Villafuerte, Marilen Nunez and Charlene Gonzales. Photos by TIM YAP

Gov. L-Ray Villafuerte, on the other hand, has gone beyond that, being a public servant for quite some time now, raising the bar when it comes to pushing Camarines Sur to be part of the map, drawing as much tourism dollars to Bicol in his relentless pursuit of the pili nut, the water sports park, and of the bountiful potential our country has to be better. In short, I like the man.

Splash to splash

Apparently, it’s not just I who feel this sentiment. A lot of people do, from all sectors of society at that. His clout cuts across borders and classes. Looked up to by his constituents as a celebrity servant, he is down-to-earth in every situation as much as he is the life of the party. That night of his birthday at Robot, I saw him table-hop to entertain friends — from colleagues in Congress to celebrities who wakeboard, they were all there, to greet the governor on his special day. This was the man who pushed me to the water for me to learn wakeboarding. And yes, I can proudly say, I can. Splash!

Speaking of making a splash, the next scene was at Republiq, where another birthday celebration was happening. Rufa Mae Quinto, aka Peachy, aka Nympha, was all (un)dressed as a French maiden with a whole battalion of French maids in full regalia, as tribute to the birthday girl’s pivotal role of a maid in this season’s talk of the town, the remake of Joey Gosiengfiao’s camp classic Temptation Island.

Peachy led the parade of luscious fruits on the ledge, all ripe for the picking. All that teasing and tempting only led to the karaoke room, where the true talent of the Pinoy lies. No Hangover 2-like memories here, just great photos from nights past celebrating friendships now that will hopefully last well into the future.

Happy birthday to you and you and YOU!

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I’ll greet you, too, if you ask me to! www.twitter.com/iamtimyap.

Style visionaires: Tim Yap and Esquire Philippines style editor Raymond Gutierrez