Aquino and Grace Lee are now just ‘friends’

President Benigno Aquino III and Grace Lee

Is there any chance that President Benigno Aquino III will find true love while in Malacañang? Or will he remain only in the “friend zone” with whoever he is going out on a date?

Amid reports that the President and radio-television personality Grace Lee, a Korean, had stopped seeing each other, Aquino Wednesday was evasive when asked about the status of his relationship with Lee.

The interviewer from the Bombo Radyo network had initially asked Aquino what he had to say about some people currently in the news, such as Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Told that Lee had said that those interested about the state of their dating life should ask Aquino himself, the 50-year-old bachelor-President said: “You said that I just say one word. I’ve two words for you. We’re friends.”

Earlier this month, speaking before Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts in Negros Occidental, Aquino said jestingly that he wasn’t ready to be wed.

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the LP president, had said that the party’s new members would be sworn in the way mass weddings were done, that is, in unison.

When his turn to speak came, Aquino adverted to Roxas’ remarks.

“Secretary Mar earlier mentioned mass wedding. I said, ‘Wait, I’m not yet ready,’” the President said, drawing laughter.

Third time around

In that speech, Aquino said there were two persons who had captured his heart that hailed from the region.

“Perhaps, I’d be lucky the third time around,” he said.

Lee was born in Korea.

Before the report of a supposed split between them landed in the media, the President and Lee were seen together watching the recent concert of Brazilian band leader Sergio Mendes at the Araneta Coliseum.

First time

Months after comparing his love life to a sugar-free cola, Aquino in February admitted going out with Lee. That was the first time he had categorically told the media who he was dating and seeing.

“Well, we are seeing each other, OK?” Aquino had said when asked at a news briefing what the real score was between him and Lee.

Since then, however, he has stopped giving any information about his relationship with Lee, a show biz news anchor with GMA Network and then a radio talk show host for FM station Magic 89.9.

When pressed in that February briefing about how long he had been dating Lee, Aquino said: “I think I’ll leave it at that.”

“In the Constitution, there’s a thing called privacy. Perhaps, I can also enjoy that right under Article 3,” he said.

A few hours after Aquino made those remarks, a smiling Lee said on television that “what the President said is true.”