MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo will have a private dinner date to celebrate Valentine’s Day tomorrow.
Mrs. Arroyo told reporters that their dinner date would most likely be at the Prince Albert Rotisserie, a fine dining restaurant in the Hotel InterContinental Manila in Makati City.
“We usually go to Prince Albert. It’s a tradition on Valentine’s Day,” Mrs. Arroyo told Palace reporters after treating them to a pre-Valentine’s lunch along with members of the Pampanga media at Everybody’s Cafe in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Mr. Arroyo usually gives her two dozen roses, all of which are red except for one that is white.
Married since 1968, the First Couple met while they were in college.
They have three children – Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo, and Evangeline Lourdes Arroyo-Bernas – and four grandchildren, Mikaela Gloria, Marie Angelique, Eva Victoria and Diosdado Luis Miguel.
The President treated reporters to exotic Pampanga dishes like fried frogs and “camaro” or marinated field crickets, fern salad with salted eggs and fried catfish.
She table-hopped but declined to give interviews. Mrs. Arroyo later gave away heart-shaped cakes. – Paolo Romero