Refuge in romance

 President Noynoy Aquino's plea to keep his private life private would have been understandable had he been a private person. But more than anyone else, he himself knows his private life is the stuff of which human interest stories are made.

 And I am not talking about intrigue and scandal. That is tabloid stuff. I refer to genuine human interest stories that people, human as they are, cannot help but expect to spice up the life of their bachelor president.

 The intrigue and scandal are best left to whispered comments in smoke-filled bars or private jokes over dinner tables at home. But good old human interest stories need to surface openly, as in fact the public has been clamoring for openly since the campaign.

 In case we have forgotten, no Noynoy sortie ever ended completely on a serious note. He was always wrestled into a left turn by giggled questions about his love life, especially since he was at the time dating somebody who most people expected would become his wife.

Besides, this is the Philippines, where romance thrives. If you do not believe me, go see why Tagalog movies and telenovelas continue to make a killing. These forms of entertainment never seem to deviate from the same old hackneyed romantic themes. Yet that's all there is to live on.

When Noynoy was dating Shalani Soledad, whose demure sweet face attracted widespread public approval, a fact that helped to rake in not a few votes, most Filipinos came to expect a Malacañang wedding before the six-year-term of their new president would end.

Then all of a sudden rumors began spreading that the two had split. The rumors became so persistent that the media was forced to confront Noynoy for his comment, to which Noynoy came up with his now classic plea: "Please leave my private life alone."

Again, that would have been understandable up to a point. But the fact that he is the president does not allow that plea to wash. Even his private life is now a matter of public interest.

Or has Noynoy forgotten that, sadly, even the matter of boob implants on former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became an issue in media (which I personally found offensive but which, by the way, Noynoy never found cause to object to).

Anyway, even before the rumored split with Shalani could die down, helped to live on by Noynoy's own cruelly teasing non-answer, along comes another rumor that helped to prove true the former: Noynoy was seeing another woman (a hottie, the new rumor said).

Now, there's nothing wrong with that, except perhaps that he should have at least made a clean breast with Filipinos regarding Shalani. What I do not find comfortable is the sincerity of Noynoy in making his plea about keeping his private life private.

Was Noynoy sincere in making that plea? I ask because if he had truly wanted to keep his private life private, why would he have a date with his rumored new girl in such a public place as a restaurant where their twosome was open to public view?

He could have had a more private dinner in Malacañang, or even in his living quarters, although admittedly that would leave him open to potentially unsavory rumors. Nevertheless, if he truly wanted privacy, a restaurant is no place to enjoy it.

My point is this: Are we not being fed a controlled scenario that is part of a grand scheme to protect Noynoy by diverting attention away from him when the going gets rough on his fledgling presidency? Are we not being fed morsels from a romantic presidential telenovela?