The burning question: Where will President
Noynoy’s girlfriend stay during his inauguration?
June 24, 2010 | Posted by raissa robles A light feature
By Raissa Robles
Next to President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his youngest sister Kris, his girlfriend Shalani Soledad will probably be the third most watched person at the inauguration.
Ms. Shalani
The reasons are obvious. The reelected councilwoman of Valenzuela City looks lovely especially in a severe black dress. Not a few felt awkward at seeing her seated seemingly all alone in the back row of the VIP section during her boyfriend’s proclamation in Congress. While her boyfriend’s four sisters all sat on the front row.
The Aquino family may not be aware that the fact that President Noy has a girlfriend, and a fetching one at that, blunted criticisms against him during the campaign that he was not macho enough to lead the country. (The electorate must really have a twisted sense of right and wrong when it comes to passion. Look at Vice-President Jojo Binay. His ratings shot up after those photos came out showing him with a woman looking younger than his daughter.)
Ms. Shalani played the same role that Imelda Marcos once played for Ferdinand Marcos in the 1965 presidential polls. I believe that while the Aquino sisters, especially Kris, were President Noynoy’s heavy artillery against negative propaganda, Ms. Shalani was the sniper rifle that shot clean and through many a male voter’s heart.
To prove what I’m saying, let me show you below a photo I took inside the office of a male senior government official. The official proudly displayed this photo in his office even before the start of the campaign, and damn the consequences on his career. Doesn’t the woman on the left look mighty familiar?
Ms. Shalani with senior government official - PHOTO of photo by Raissa Robles
The Noynoy-Shalani romance has publicly played out like a Korean telenovela, where sad, aging bachelor meets girl who is a generation younger. Then things complicate their relationship, such as the presidency of a country.
Let me put it this way, if Ms. Shalani had dumped him at the height of the campaign that would have been the end of him.
So where will Ms. Shalani stay during her boyfriend’s inauguration?
The public will be keenly watching, I told the inauguration spokesman, Manolo
Quezon, as I asked him that question.
He said he had been asked that same question. He replied:
Honestly, I don’t know (the answer). It’s never been discussed in any of the discussions I’ve been in. All I can say is that the protocol for her would be no different from any official of her rank.
Officially speaking, as the girlfriend, she has no official standing in (state) protocol.
[Somehow when Quezon said that, I could hear his brain whirring as he shifted roles from political columnist to event spokesman.]
Trying to be helpful in ascertaining her standing vis-a-vis the would-be president, I asked: “Are they engaged?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” Quezon said.
“Is she sporting a diamond ring or an engagement ring?”
“I do not know,” he said. I appreciated his frankness.
He added:
In the proclamation in Congress you noticed she was not sitting with the family. Again, in a sense, that’s following protocol. She has no official standing as a partner. I think her presence was enough. That’s my personal opinion. Both she and the President-elect are very careful to observe proprieties.
My personal opinion, the reason the partner of a head of state can’t be given more prominence, there is no legally binding relationship. You would have to imagine – going as far back as the era of monarchies – no one gave precedence to the girlfriend.
I bought his explanation until fellow writer Gemma Luz Corotan pointedly wrote on Facebook why she was personally turned off by Ms. Shalani’s physical separation from her boyfriend’s kin during the congressional proclamation. She wrote (and I’m quoting
this with her permission):
Would be interesting to see P-Noy turn into a MAN, the sort of man into whose hands I can put my life on and say,”Take it. It’s yours. I trust you.”
Guy can’t even stand by his girlfriend and puts her in the Goddamn fourth row while Boy Abunda simpers in front. God, this actually makes me angry.:
To Gemma, who is in the throes of love herself, state protocol should take a back seat to LOVE.
And Gemma is right. Boy Abunda is NOT FAMILY and therefore, state protocol was
broken in Congress for FRIENDSHIP. So why the heck not for LOVE?
This afternoon, during the briefing for media on the inauguration, I had wanted to ask Noy volunteer Jing Magsaysay where TV talk show host Boy Abunda would be seated at the inauguration but decided not to. I did not want to give my blog entry away to the rapacious press. Ooops, am I one of them? Not all the time.
One media man did ask during the briefing whether Ms. Shalani would be holding
the bible while President Noy took his oath of office. Jing Magsaysay and Sonny Coloma both expressed ignorance on the matter. Ignorance is the better part of valor.
Quezon told me:
Doña Aurora held the bible for (daughter) Cory (Aquino). I would think the logical person would be (his sister) Ballsy. But that would be up to the family to decide. There’s been no official word on the matter.
Just a thought, even if Ms Shalani has no standing in state protocol, her well-being and safety has now become a state matter since she impacts on the presidency.
How deliciously complicated
Still, Ms. Shalani must be aware that her boyfriend has suddenly become the most sought-after bachelor in the country.
And did you notice, he has nearly lost that nerdy look and now has a more commanding presence?
Just imagine – Dayana Mendoza, the 2008 Miss Universe and Miss Venezuela, recently cooed to him on national TV - let’s have coffee:
Please just take a little bit of your time. I know you’re super busy to say ‘hi’ to me. Now that I’m in the Philippines. I’d love to meet you.
Transparent Dayana in an Ad
Smartmatic’s Cesar Flores tried to nudge the President-elect into a date by saying she was their Ambassador for Transparency. You could detect a lecherous leer when he said the word “transparency”.
This prompted one mobile phone texter to ask radio station DZMM whether Smartmatic was “pimping” (binubugaw) Miss Venezuela.
President Noy politely rejected Miss Venezuela, and in so doing, publicly reaffirmed his love for Miss Valenzuela.
Oh, how deliciously complicated this presidency is going to be with all that loving.
Categories: President Noynoy Aquino | 
Tags: Manolo Quezon, Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, Miss Venezuela, Noynoy, President Noynoy, Shalani Soledad, Smartmatic | 
21 Comments »
i hope that PNoy will include his love life in his agenda. i hope that he will have his own family while he is still the head of the state. If hes going to tie thw not with Ms Shahalani before this year end, by next year, meron nang Benigno Simeon IV, then two years later, another baby, but a girl. Matapos man ang term nya, meron na cyang a family which he could claim as his very own. pra naman pag naging private citizen na cya, yong family nya naman ang i coconcentrate nya. Good luck.
“Officially speaking, as the girlfriend, she has no official standing in (state) protocol.”
If so, can Nonnoy appoint Salani as a Secretary in his cabinet instead? What would people say then?
What if his GF is kidnapped by rebels who then make demands on the President?
They cannot have it both ways.
@Paula,
Your e-mail name does not jive with the insightful things you said. You’re right. In a sense, during that loooong proclamation in Congress, the nation fell in love with Shalani and sympathized with her. As for her being middle class and the Aquinos being upper class, perhaps it’s high time we threw away that distinction as a society. It does not also jive with democracy. They are not after all royalty and we are not their subjects.
But their parents did do a lot for the country and that I’m grateful for. And they could not have done that without the help of their family.
Raissa
@Jo,
Let’s see what happens.
Raissa
@Annie,
Sorry I can’t join. Impartiality of the press and all that. But I did put a link to your Facebook page in “Love and the Presidency”.
Raissa
@Mel,
Thanks.
Raissa
@Pia,
Ya, I remember. Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. Do you think that only happens in the movies? Not in Manila?
I will be looking out for your report on where Boy Abunda and Shalani sits.
Thanks for reading, Pia.
Raissa
I have to admit that it was awkward to see her back in the fourth row, and it didn’t seem like a single Aquino sister acknowledged her presence. But I think her decision to sit quietly and unobtrusively in the back won the hearts of the media & public even more. I was especially impressed with her answer to GMA-7 (when asked why she was out back & why she didn’t join the family in the rostrum): she said that it didn’t matter where she was seated, what was important was that she was there and that P-NOY knew that she was there. I personally believe they have been having relationship problems (mainly because she wasn’t even present during the post-proclamation family & friends dinner), but I am glad she chose to show up during the proclamation and opted to be gracious & humble throughout the whole event including interviews (when she could’ve easily played the “gain public sympathy” card).
Personally, I think P-NOY didn’t anticipate that the public would be so enamored of Shalani and now feels like the clamor for a Malacanang wedding is just adding to his stress. So he (and the rest of the family) are now trying to downplay her relevance. Unfortunately, I think it is too late. The Philippines has already fallen in love with Shalani. Setting her aside now just makes them look really bad, and may make people think that they just “used” her during the campaign or worse, that they look down on her middle class status (her being a Senator’s girlfriend is one thing – to be part of the First Family is another). I personally do not believe that the Aquinos are snobs, I do agree that this is an issue that they must address very carefully.
Hello, I am so glad I “stumbled” with your blog while looking for Mr. Robredo. You put it quite plainly, P-NOY would have lost the election if Shalani dumped him during election. While I admire Ms. Soledad for her propriety during the proclamation, I wish I have the power to shake some sense into P-NOY not to let this lovely woman hanging in the air for the next six years. Boy Abunda, Cory Vidanes and Charo Santos are not family, but they were sitting in the same row as the Aquinos during the proclamation!!! What a snob to Shalani. And shame on the Aquino sisters for their improriety.
BTW, great articles. I will be following your blog
shalani has served her political usefulness and will be sidelined. she was there to counter the view that gaynoy prefers to have bum abunda closer than her
Please join us at “We Want Shalani as First Lady.”
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-want-Shalani-Soledad-as-First-Lady/130965546929998
Excellent!
Bravo, Raissa!! Love the way you write!!!
And while you’re at it…remember the movie, “The American President”?
On Inaugural Day, I’ll watch for and report on where Boy Abunda sits, and where Shalani sits… (“,)
LOL…. Good one… Ms. Valenzuela won vs. Ms. Venezuela….
oh raissa what a wonderfully light read. but my heart aches and swoons at the same time. will president elect have the..what?..balls?..to take this beautiful woman by her hand and say, ‘to hell with all that protocol, you stay by my side today.’ or would we have to tell this refreshingly beautiful (i have no other word to describe her. she is simply wonderfully beautiful) girlfriend, who, i agree with you, is noy’s ace up his sleeve, ‘he’s just not that into you’?
@Larry Jose: Really? Protocol will determine a country’s fate? I would have thought things like good governance, punishment of corruption, equality before the law would have been better hallmarks, but what would I know. You should your thesis into the history books, but then you probably have a busy schedule practicing the Imperial Mince n’ Bow and counting the royal spoons. Don’t forget to bow low, you have to get rid of those bothersome kinks in the spine that might betray the fact you’re, horrors, growing a backbone
State protocol should take a back seat to a girlfriend? Kaya tayo hindi umaasenso is our readiness to abandon the rules that help create the framework for advancement. She is his girlfriend, and we are talking about the country here. This inauguration is not only about President-elect Aquino, this inauguration is about our country, it is an affirmation of our democracy. Noynoy will be gone in 6 years, but this country will still stand, and will stand all the stronger for as long as we choose to respect the rules, respect the laws, respect the protocols before it submits to the personalities involved.
Until Mr Aquino and Ms Shahalani actually get married, Ms Shahalani has no legal standing and hence is, at best, a guest of Mr Aquino’s. And, quite frankly, I would think far less of Mr Aquino as president if he were to be bothered by the musings of a commentator who is likely so far removed from the relationship in question as to render her opinions thoroughly unqualified.
raissa robles the incorrigible. if boy abunda was in the 1st row, why not The Girlfriend? telling point there.
Dear Raissa,
I have not had any entry on my community page for quite some time already.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/NOYNOY-YOU-HAVE-6-YEARS-TO-MARRY-SHALANI-YOUR-UNANG-LAKAMBINI/123032197723677?ref=ts
I would have written ANIM ANG MGA UNANG BABAE NI NOYNOY.
When I read your article, Wow!, told myself how about requesting your permission to have your entire article on Valenzuela: Venezuela reposted onto the community page that I had created for the Noynoy-Shalani love affair.
Full acknowledgment po…
Salamat at pagpalain,
Marc
wow! a light yet informative read. i finished reading minutes ago but am still containig a very wide smile. thank you ma’am!