Belmonte hopes Aquino will marry soon

House Speaker Sonny Belmonte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Even Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has expressed hope that President Benigno Aquino III, 52, will marry soon.

“Well, what can I say? Everybody here is hoping that you (Aquino) will settle down,” Belmonte said Thursday.

The Speaker was responding to questions about the chances of the divorce bill being passed when the subject suddenly drifted to the President’s bachelorship.

Belmonte said that he was also glad that Aquino was getting high approval ratings recently, saying “you can see that he’s gathering momentum again and I am very happy about that…everyone is in fine spirits.”

“Some are saying that give him two years and he (Aquino) would self-destruct,” he said. “Well, on the contrary, in two years’ time I think among all presidents in this stage of their career, [Aquino enjoyed the highest] rating.”

Upon closing the second regular session Wednesday night, he said that there was a challenge for officials to “do even better in the final year.”

“I know that [in the] final year as we can see in the politics in the US, politics [is a hot topic]. I hope it will not be the same here because ours is not a presidential year,” he said.

Belmonte said that he is looking forward to Aquino being aggressive in solving the country’s pressing problems.

“Whatever we do from this point for the next four years, we’re going to have a President… who knows how to lead, to flex his muscles whenever necessary [and these qualities are what we need these days],” he said.