SENATOR Noynoy Aquino was dining with friends in Alfredo?s Steak House on Morato when the topic of his ?type? of woman came up. The bachelor legislator, who turns 50 this year, was at a loss for words but as his eyes wandered around the restaurant, he spotted a woman a few tables away. Straightaway, he told his friends: ?See her? That?s my type of woman.?
A few minutes later, the senator stepped out for a smoke (a bad habit he should quit soonest) and was greeted by the woman he had spotted and her group. Told that they were councilors from Valenzuela, Bulacan, Noynoy warmed up to them, not least because, as he laughingly reasons, ?I was then chair of the Senate committee on local government.? Of course, he managed to get the woman?s name and they exchanged numbers. And while strengthening relations with local governments, he and Shalani Soledad soon became a couple.
The story sent thrills through the women journalists sharing dinner with the senator-turned-presidential-candidate. Part of the reason was because all throughout the roughly two hours we had been grilling him, pinning him down on the subject of Shalani proved difficult. Having extracted the account of their meeting, we asked him: So what attracted him to Lani, as she is called by friends and family?
?The minute we started talking, there were no communication barriers,? he shared. ?We clicked instantly, and I found that I could talk with her about almost anything.?
In person, Aquino is far more affable and confident than he appears in the media. Though he admits to being ?painfully shy? like his sister Viel, with a small group he opens up readily and shows touches of wit and humor. Teased that in his long dating history he seems to have developed a penchant for Assumption graduates, he replied that his first serious crush was a Maryknoller. Although, he added, ?considering how long I?ve been dating, I think I?ve dated women from most well-known schools.?
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IT?S easy to underestimate Noynoy Aquino.
Self-effacing by nature, he is not one to trumpet his achievements, saying he never believed in hiring press agents or bribing the media to project himself and his achievements.
But, he says, he loves it when, during debates, he catches colleagues off-guard, particularly those who think of him as a pushover.
As for his allegedly flimsy legislative track record, Aquino makes no apologies and says he believes ?we already have so many laws.? ?It?s not fair to burden our people with more laws which will not be implemented anyway,? he states, adding that in his three terms in the House and his first term in the Senate, he preferred to exercise a legislator?s oversight and ?fiscalizing? powers. ?Besides it?s not a contest for the one who manages to file the most bills.?
Still, queried on his agenda for governance, Aquino comes up with full and detailed answers, from education to peace in Mindanao, from using the ?carrot and stick? approach in curbing if not eliminating corruption, to generating jobs so that our ?best and brightest? aren?t impelled to seek work abroad.
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WHEN asked for one word that would describe his term, Aquino bargains: ?Puede bang two?? And those two words would be: ?It Works.? ?I?d like to end my term with people saying that I delivered on my promises. That the solutions we offered to our many problems worked.?
Indeed, it seems that Aquino and his advisers have come up with a slew of solutions for the country?s many problems, social ills that were allowed to fester while other, if not the wrong, priorities were pursued. ?Someone told me recently that his greatest resentment against the GMA regime was that it set us back by 10 years,? Aquino comments.
In his search for ?transformational change,? Aquino will need all the help he can get. In this, he says, he feels ?very lucky? to have a running mate like Mar Roxas, whom he has liked and respected ever since they were colleagues in the legislature, and gets along with famously. Theirs will be a full partnership, he declares, although they haven?t worked out yet what aspects of governance Roxas will have responsibility for. ?We complement each other,? he observes, noting how their different areas of expertise make for a workable partnership. ?I know that if something should happen to me, with Mar as vice president, our cause will not die.?
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I?M tempted to tease Noynoy that while singing Mar?s praises, he sounds like he was talking about a future spouse.
But I hold off when, teasingly pressuring him to ?settle down,? Noy pleads: ?Please, let me concentrate on this campaign first.? Although, in the course of an exchange about his stand on reproductive health and the contretemps raised by Catholic bishops about this, Noynoy laughingly reflects: ?Actually, given my age, I think I would want to be reproductive as soon as I get married.?
We point out the presence, though, of reelectionist Manila Mayor Fred Lim at our table, who ?stole a march? on the public with his hardly publicized marriage to a much-younger woman with whom he has a young child. That should be inspiration enough.
It just strikes me that in her nine years in office, the President has thrown three weddings for her three children, although her daughter Luli?s wedding was much more private and low-key than that of her brothers.? But politics is also spectacle, and people, especially Pinoys, do love a grand spectacle. But more than this, Filipinos love romance, the idea of love overcoming all barriers, even the inconveniences of a national political campaign and the demands on the principals? time.
Think about it, Noy. You owe us a wedding in Malacañang!
