Porter proposes to girlfriend at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - A porter working at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport proposed marriage to his girlfriend, an overseas worker in Italy, when she arrived at the NAIA Terminal 1 (NAIA-1) from Milan yesterday afternoon.

Friends and neighbors pitched in to help Jun Raymundo, 30, welcome Mutya Araja, 28, who went home for a vacation from her job as a crewmember of an international food chain.

As Araja walked through the NAIA-1 arrival gate, Raymundo’s friend’s greeted her, clad in shirts bearing the words, “I Love You Mutya.” Others carried streamers that said, “Mutya Araja, will you marry me?”

Porters handed Araja two dozen red roses before Raymundo himself welcomed Araja, his girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, and gave her another bouquet. He knelt on one knee in front of her and asked her, “Will you marry me?”

As someone threw confetti, Araja replied, “Yes, yes.”

Raymundo said the whole affair would have cost him an arm and a leg, but the t-shirts, banners, flowers, and the video and photo coverage were all contributed by his friends and neighbors.

“This is all free, even the flowers, given by my friend from Dangwa,” he said, referring to a street in Manila where flowers from Baguio were unloaded daily.

He said he courted Araja, his neighbor in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, for seven years. She became his girlfriend three years ago but then had to leave for Milan. She is now a permanent resident of Italy and had come home for a short visit.

“I didn’t expect this. I was surprised,” Araja said.

Raymundo and Araja said they are now planning their wedding.