Angela: GMA an ideal mom-in-law

Angela Montenegro thinks the tough-talking Iron Lady of Asia, the irascible leader who sought to cut down her opponents by calling them "Abu Sayyaf lovers," will make an ideal mother-in-law.

But for reasons of her own. Said Angela, the future daughter-in-law of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: "She strikes me as a very pleasant and cordial person. She’s very nice to me. Tita Gloria and Tito Mike (First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo) raised their kids very well."

And her future mother-in-law, Angela says, is not meddlesome like typical mother-in-laws. "She leaves us alone. She says Mikey and I are old enough to take care of things and decide for ourselves," she says.

Angela will marry First Son, Pampanga Vice Gov. and movie actor Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo on June 24 in the old church of Lubao in Pampanga, hometown of the Macapagals. The STAR had a talk with her yesterday morning at the Montenegros’ house in North Forbes, Makati.

Other than suggesting some names for the principal sponsors, Angela said, Mrs. Arroyo has taken a hands-off policy on the wedding preparations. The President has offered the names of former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Corazon Aquino. "Oh, but she did give also the four-carat diamond ring that Mikey gave me for an engagement ring," exclaimed Angela. "It was an heirloom that originally belonged to Tita Gloria’s grandmother."

But she hardly sees her Tita Glo, " although I am in the Palace practically every day." She has been going to the Palace to supervise the redoing of the rooms that Angela and Mikey will be living in after the wedding.

These are the twin rooms with a big anteroom that the Marcos daughters Imee and Irene used to occupy. Angela wants it redone in yellow and blue, with a couch in the common room and a kingsize bed. "I want a really kingsize bed!" Angela said.

Mrs. Arroyo has suggested to the couple: "You occupy one room and the other will be for my grandchildren."

A grandchild, however, is not on the priority agenda of Mikey who, if he will have his way, wants to have his first baby after two years. "In 2004 pa!" groaned Angela, who wants to have a baby as soon as possible: "I want it to be the first baby born in Malacañang!" she said.

Angela is looking forward to living at Malacañang: "I’m sure I will be more comfortable living in my parents’ home, but living in Malacañang will certainly be an experience."

Although Angela and Mikey are second cousins, the two met each other only in February last year when Mrs. Arroyo gave a grand reunion dinner at Malacañang for all the Arroyos.

Mikey has said it was love at first sight at that dinner. Angela confided he made no impression on her at all. She then had a boyfriend, a Fil-Am living in the States.

"Even as kids we hardly knew each other. After all, we were only second cousins," she said. Mike Arroyo’s father and Mrs. Charito Montenegro’s father are brothers. Second cousins marrying each other seems to be a tradition among the Montenegros. Mr. Herman Montenegro’s father and mother are also second cousins.

And there was an age gap between them –Mikey is 33 while Angela is 28. During clan affairs Mikey would be thrown in the company of Angela’s elder siblings Greg (who is newly married to the actress Ana Roces) and Emily (who is married to Jose Mari Yupangco).

After finishing high school in Assumption, Angela went to a boarding school run by nuns in Philadelphia before going to Schiller in Madrid and then London, where she finished a college course in International Business. "My dad had wanted all of us to take up a career that could help our company."

Mr. Herman Montenegro, who is from Batangas, is the pioneer in the country in the manufacture of activated carbon using coconut char. His product, used for, among others, water filtration, cigarette filters and absorption of fuel emissions, is exported to the US, Germany, Japan and other countries.

Angela, a spirited, stylish and very modern woman, was always traveling or taking up special courses as an excuse to stay abroad: computer graphics in Maryland, fashion design in New York ("But my parents did not allow me to stay long there"). She was set to go to Paris to enroll at the Parsons school of fashion when she met Mikey.

Marrying into the First Family is no big deal for her. "After all," she said, "our families have known each other for a long time."

But the prospect of marrying a movie actor and a politician at first gave her some apprehensions. For one, she said, she’s heard much about Mikey being "a pabling (playboy) and all that." And a politician is not exactly her dream for a bedfellow, literally. Her crowd has always been the fashionistas, the artists and bohemians who don’t need bodyguards.

"But it turned out that Mikey is very cariñoso, very thoughtful. He’s a very positive influence in my life. He makes me look at the bright side of things. He makes me laugh."

Angela will be wearing a piña and satin gown designed by Joe Salazar. It is Salazar’s new take on the Maria Clara: "The traditional silhouette is there but it will be very high-tech," is all Salazar will say as of now, as he wants to keep the design a secret.

Angela said the wedding reception will be held in Lubao but there will be cocktails for the wedding guests at the Palace.