President Aquino delights Kalibo throng, pines anew for life partner

KALIBO, Aklan—Saying he hoped to retire after his term of office ends in 2016, President Benigno S. Aquino III once again floated his desire to find a lifetime partner, and finally settle down.

During the distribution of government cash grants and subsidies at the ABL Complex here on Tuesday, the bachelor President again opened his speech with a remark about the “many beautiful women” in Aklan.

“Sana maglagi na ako dito para makasal na ( I should stay here so I can get married),” he said in jest before around 4,000 Aklan officials, government employees and residents.

While repeatedly admonishing the media for focusing on his love life, the 51-year-old President continues to include his love life—or lack of it—in his speeches.

In a speech in Iloilo earlier this year, he also said he wanted to go back to the province in the hope of finding his “palangga” (love).

During a recent visit in Cebu, friends of the President had suggested that he find a Cebuana wife.

But during his Iloilo sortie, the President, who has been repeatedly linked to several women, had declared that after 33 years of looking for a partner, finding one was not his priority.

“Things will balance out. My time will come…,” the President had said during his visit in Iloilo City.

Citing the achievements of his one-year-old administration, the President said that after 2016, when he hoped to retire, he hoped the people would look back and say that “our country has gone a long way.”

In a preview of his State of the Nation Address, Mr. Aquino said the country was “no longer enveloped by darkness.”

He cited gains in employment, rice production and poverty-alleviation.

He said the unemployment rate had improved from 8 percent in April last year to 7.2 percent in April this year with 1.4 million new jobs created in a year.

But the President noted that the 50,000 to 60,000 jobs available monthly could not be filled up because many applicants lack qualification.

Rice production also improved which cut down the country’s rice imports from 1.3 million tons yearly to 650,000 tons due to the heightened support for upland rice farming, improvement in irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads, the President said. With a report from Felipe Celino