MANILA, Philippines?A father in the next five years?

President Aquino may want privacy in his personal life, but seeing a neophyte congressman handle two cameras and tend to two children at the same time Friday prompted him to air what seemed a wistful desire to have his own family.

Opening his speech with humor during the awarding of The Outstanding Women in the Nation?s Service (TOWNS) in Malacañang, the President ribbed Marikina Representative Miro Quimbo, the husband of 2010 TOWNS awardee for health economics Ma. Stella Alabastro-Quimbo.

?I?m tempted to shorten my speech and bring your attention to the honorable representative of Marikina, Miro Quimbo, who appears to be a portent of things to come for us men in the Philippines,? Mr. Aquino said, generating laughter from the audience.

The President said Quimbo, a top executive of the Pag-Ibig fund during the Arroyo administration, had come from the housing sector and was now showing his skills as a neophyte member of the House of Representatives.

?Now, he is able to demonstrate two more abilities?one, as a videographer-photographer, and the other, being a nanny to their children,? the President said.

And then, addressing the women present, he said: ?Perhaps in five years we?ll all be like that, and perhaps you can get back at us.?

The remark drew not just laughs but also teasing from the audience.

Mr. Aquino, 50, has yet to acknowledge reports that he and his girlfriend, Valenzuela Councilor Shalani Soledad, are no longer a couple.

He had earlier said that he wanted what was left of his personal life private.

Asked after the program to explain his remark about fatherhood in five years, Mr. Aquino said with a smile: ?Sabi ko naman sa inyo (As I told you before), hope springs eternal.?