Love blooms in the newsroom

Katherine "Kat" de Castro on Eric Cruz:

When I first met Eric, he was such a snob. But he surprised me by being my best friend during my "moments of crisis." Then, we fell in love. I realized I’ll never meet anyone like him. Thank you, Eric, for making me feel beautiful again.

Eric Cruz on Kartherine "Kat" de Castro:

Unreachable star. That’s how Katkat was to me. The first time I saw her, she was really pretty. Chubby but very attractive with her girl-power attitude. But when I saw her vulnerable side, I wanted to take care of her. To shelter her from all kinds of pain because she has so much love to give. I love her. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. And I will never ever betray her love.

That’s how Kat and Eric sum up each other on the eight-page invitation to their wedding on Sunday, Feb. 8, 6 p.m. at the St. Francis of Assisi-Fernwood Gardens in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will lead an array of well-heeled guests and principal sponsors some of whom come from opposite sides of the political fence, such as Sen./Vice-Presidentiable Loren Legarda who’s pitted against Kat’s father, Sen./Vice-Presidentiable Noli "Kabayan" de Castro in this May’s elections.

Other sponsors include ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III and other ABS-CBN bigwigs like Federico "FMG" Garcia, Charo Santos-Concio and Dong Puno; MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando; Senators Joker Arroyo, Manuel Villar, Jr., Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto; Representatives Teddy Locsin, Jr. and Cynthia Villar; Korina Sanchez; Henry Omaga-Diaz; Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos; Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan; and Dr. Vicki Belo.

The wedding caps a year-long romance that bloomed in the ABS-CBN newsroom and, as Kat jokingly puts it, "reads like Notting Hill," the romance-comedy where ordinary mortal Hugh Grant meets and falls in love with screen superstar Julia Roberts.

Kat, 25 (Libra, born on Oct. 18), said it wasn’t love at first sight when she first saw Eric, 25 (an Arian, born on April 1), in 1999 at the Magandang Gabi Bayan (MGB) office of Kabayan where Eric was working as a researcher. "Neither was it a whirlwind romance," adds Kat. "Na-develop kami through the years."

At that time, Kat was an "unknown" (meaning she wasn’t reporting "on cam" yet) while Eric, a Masscom graduate from CEU, was a painfully shy probinsyano (he still is, insists Kat).

"I was curious when I saw him," recalls Kat over merienda at the Manila Hotel’s Cafe Ilang-Ilang. "Sabi ko, ‘Uy, cute ang guy na ‘to!’ So I approached him and said, ‘Patingin nga ng I.D. mo?’ That’s how our first meeting went."

After that, they’d bump into each other at Kabayan’s newsroom or along the corridors of ABS-CBN, swapping quick "Hi’s!"

"I found Kat-Kat pretty even then even if she was medyo mataba," says Eric, tall (5’10") and goodlooking, glancing at Kat teasingly. "But then, she’s my boss’ daughter so I kept my feelings to myself."

A few years later (Kat was already doing "on cam" reporting and therefore a name in her own right), Kat broke up with her boyfriend (no, not JV Villar who had a brief romance with Kat earlier). Broken-hearted, Kat picked a number at random on her cellphone and it turned out to be that of Eric’s.

"For three hours I poured my heart to him," laughs Kat.

"I was then on a gimik with a friend," remembers Eric. "Lasing na ‘yung kasama ko nasa phone pa rin kami ni Kat-Kat."

One month later, he found himself courting her.

Their first date was at The Podium where he told her that he had long been nurturing a crush on her. It was during one of their dates at a videoke bar where they realized that they liked the same kind of music, picking Bakit Ba Ganyan? (sung by Dina Bonnevie) as the song they sang together that night.

"It eventually became our theme song," reveals Kat.

They have many other things in common: Same taste in movies, love for water sports (although he doesn’t know but is learning how to swim; Kat is now teaching him how to surf) and love for food ("Obvious ba?" jokes Kat.)

They call each other Baby.

"Eric is the only guy who can finish sentences for me. Bihira ‘yon sa mga naging boyfriend ko – not that there were many of them. He also knows how to surprise me; he can handle my moods."

A musician (member of the band Typical Acoustic), Eric describes himself as "sobrang simple." His parents, Serafin Cruz and Emma Rada, are from Bulacan and Quezon (where the Cruzes once owned a fleet of buses that plied the Quezon-Manila route).

"My Mom (Arlene de Castro, vice president for the ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs) was teasing me, ‘We brought you up as a city girl, sa probinsyano ka rin pala ma-i-in love.’ In fact, I love Eric for his being a probinsyano. He’s like my Dad, still a probinsyano at heart."

When Eric made his pamanhikan early last month, he and his parents, two brothers and an uncle brought along a bilao full of maja blanca and rice cakes, covered by banana leaves. Very, ehem, "local color," and the probinsyano Kabayan was all the more impressed, recalling that when his brother-in-law did his own pamanhikan to ask Kabayan’s younger sister’s hand in marriage, the swain sold a lot to prove his sincere intentions.

"I was nervous when I faced Kabayan," recalls Eric. "I was speechless!"

Kabayan asked Eric, "Mahal mo ba ang anak namin?"

With a shaking voice, Eric answered, "Opo!"

Kabayan asked Eric, "Inalagaan namin ‘yan ng maraming taon. Can you take care of her the way we did?"

With a shaking voice voice, Eric answered, "Opo! Sisikapin ko po!"

But on Sunday night when they exchange "I do’s!" at the altar, Eric will do so with a firm voice. And Kat, radiant in a gown specially designed by Nyork, will accept him with a wide smile.

They plan to spend a two-week honeymoon in Las Vegas and come right home in time to campaign for Kabayan who’s quitting as host of Magandang Gabi Bayan during the campaign period, with Kat herself taking over with Julius Babao and Erwin Tulfo as co-hosts.

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