Arroyo is reunited with ‘foster father’

DAGUPAN CITY — Traditions are hard to break and so are reunions, especially at Christmas.

Thus, no less than President Arroyo, with First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and children Luli, Mikey and Datu, saw to it that she kept her tradition of spending time with the Balingits, her "extended" family, when they came over for lunch here yesterday.

Don Pedro Balingit, who considers the President his "foster daughter," said he was happy to see Mrs. Arroyo again this Christmas, as they used to, even when she was still a senator.

The 92-year-old Balingit, a bosom buddy and a classmate of Mrs. Arroyo’s late father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, at the Pampanga High School, said Mrs. Arroyo gave him a leg of ham in the past two Christmases.

"I wish she will succeed in uplifting the poor which was also the objective of her late father," said Balingit, who used to be one of Macapagal’s staunchest political leaders.

Balingit’s son, Albert, a director at the Land Bank of the Philippines representing the private sector, said he and his father used to get a leg of jamon de serrano each from the President.

In return, the Balingits gave her seafood, especially her favorite — Bonuan bangus.

The President’s visit and lunch at Matutina’s Restaurant in Bonuan Tondaligan here, her third since she assumed the presidency, was unannounced and only close friends were invited.

Albert said Mrs. Arroyo feasted on grilled sugpo (prawns) and steamed alimango (crabs), while the First Gentleman loved the restaurant’s pork barbecue. — Eva de Leon