Koko Pimentel’s estranged wife seeks Church annulment

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III. FILE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY—The estranged wife of Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has sought a Church annulment of their marriage before the Marriage Tribunal of the Diocese of Bacolod.

Jewel May Lobaton, a former Bb. Pilipinas-Universe and Miss MassKara Queen, announced the filing at a press conference Tuesday.

She said she and Pimentel had agreed to seek a Church annulment. It was also agreed that the senator would be filing for a civil annulment of their marriage before the courts, she said.

The cost of a Church annulment is P10,000, while a civil annulment would probably cost P300,000 to P500,000, she said.

Lobaton said she and the senator have remained friends and that they share custody of their two sons, aged 8 and 2.

Pimentel last May confirmed his separation from his wife of almost 12 years. He said they had been living apart since November 2011.

The couple were married in Cagayan de Oro City, but Lobaton said she was told that it was fine to file for annulment in Bacolod since she is a resident of the city.

Lobaton said she was filing for an annulment, “so I can fully move on with my life.”

“I’m fixing my life, he (the senator) is fixing his life,” she said.

Asked if she would campaign for the reelectionist Pimentel, she replied that if anybody were to ask her about her estranged husband, she will say that Pimentel would be a good senator.

“I wish him well and I will pray for him,” she said.

Lobaton said she would vote for both her husband and the latter’s rival, Juan Miguel Zubiri.

She explained that Zubiri, who is a relative, would also make a good senator as he can help the Ilonggo provinces as well as Mindanao.

She said she would campaign for Rep. Anthony Golez, the rumored “other man,” who is seeking reelection as congressman of Bacolod. “I will tell good things about him based on his work,” she said.

“We are [the] best of friends. My commitment to him as his friend is I will stay beside him no matter what other people do,” Lobaton said of her relationship with Golez.

But getting involved in another relationship was not a priority as of now, she said, as she would like to focus on  the Ang Batang Pinoy Movement, a children’s rights advocacy, and Jam Steps, an aerobic-dance exercise.

But Lobaton is not closing the door to falling in love again. “If there is one right man that God will give me, who am I to refuse, because I think I deserve to be happy,” she said.

She also denied allegations that she was the cause of the breakup of the marriage of Golez and his estranged wife Princess Soraya Jaafar Golez. She said Golez and his wife had separated two years before she “came into the life of Congressman Golez.”

Lobaton said she and the congressman are being seen together because they work on projects and shared advocacies so that malice should not be put into their special friendship. They both know their bounds and limits, she said.

“Whether or not it will prosper into a deeper relationship, boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, husband-wife relationship, that’s up to God,” she said.

She also said a photo of her kissing the congressman that circulating in Bacolod was fake, ascribing its appearance to the political season.

Lobaton said she would ask her lawyers to find out who was responsible for circulating the photo and take legal action.

“I have two minor children to protect and I have to preserve myself as a woman,” she said.