Estranged wife will help in campaign of both Koko, Golez

BACOLOD City, Philippines – Former beauty queen Jewel May Lobaton, estranged wife of Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, yesterday filed a petition for annulment of their marriage, but she vowed to still campaign for the re-election of the senator and her rumored lover Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez.

“I just filed with the Diocese of Bacolod,” she told reporters here during a press conference for Jam Step, a project of her Ang Batang Pinoy Movement.

Lobaton, the 1998 Bb. Pilipinas Universe, said both she and Koko agreed that she file for church annulment first.

Although they were married in Cagayan de Oro City, the hometown of the Pimentels, Lobaton said Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra allowed her to file her annulment papers here because she is also a resident of Bacolod.

Lobaton said that despite the pending annulment of their marriage she would also continue supporting the re-election bid of Pimentel.

Pimentel had filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) last Monday at the Comelec office in Manila and checked “married” in his civil status but the senator made a note “de facto separated.”

His mother Bing and his sister Gwen accompanied the senator to the Comelec office.

“We cannot anymore live together as husband and wife but we can live together as a family together with our children. The most important thing is our relationship is intact. At the end of the day, we want to see our children happy because their mother and father are also happy,” she explained.

Last May, the senator announced that he has separated from Lobaton after being married for 12 years. They have two sons.

She said the senator is now taking care of their sons, but she sees the boys when she visits Manila since they have shared custody of the children.

Lobaton has been rumored to have an affair with Rep. Golez whose marriage to former Tawi-Tawi Rep. Soraya Jaafar is also undergoing annulment proceedings.

Golez, a physician, is a former spokesman of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Lobaton stressed she and Golez are only good friends and she will campaign for him in the coming polls.

“I will campaign for him on my free time. I will tell good things about him based on his work,” she said.

“Really, we’re best of friends. My commitment to him is, as your friend, I will stay beside you no matter what people do,” she said of Golez.

On rumors that her personal things were recently found in Golez’s house, she said, “It’s all fabricated.”

She said things can be said against her but she refused to comment anymore. “They are allowed their own opinion and the truth will set us free.”

The former beauty queen also denied that she is the woman shown kissing a man in a photo sent to media recently. The man in the photograph is said to be Golez.

Golez had earlier denied that he is the man in the photo as he threatened to file charges against the person behind the release of the photo.

But when asked if there is a possibility that she might develop feelings for Golez, Lobaton said, “Why not? Because he’s a good man. Right now, (it’s) not in my priority list getting into another relationship.”

Golez earlier said his conscience is clear regarding his marital problems, which prompted his wife Jaafar to file an annulment case.

“It is unfortunate that a purely private matter involving my family has been made public. Much to my disadvantage, the law prohibits me from making any public disclosures, even to defend my integrity. Believe me, I would have wanted to answer but my lawyers told me to let it be handled in the court,” Golez added.

Jaafar, who was married to Golez for eight years, had also petitioned a Quezon City court to grant her a temporary protection order to prevent the congressman from harassing her and their daughter.

Reports said Jaafar sued Golez for infidelity due to rumors that he and Lobaton are allegedly having an affair.

Judge Angeline Quimpo-Sale of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 106 granted last Sept. 12 Jaafar’s request and ordered Golez to cease from harassing his wife and daughter and to stay away from the couple’s house in Capitolville Subdivision in Bacolod.

Meanwhile, re-electionist Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero is a bachelor again, having listed “single” in his civil status in the certificate of candidacy (COC) that he filed yesterday at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office in Manila.

Escudero later told The STAR that his marriage to Christine Elizabeth Flores had already been annulled.

Christine left the conjugal home in December 2010 and left their twins in the senator’s care.

Escudero has been rumored to be dating television host and presidential sister Kris Aquino but the most persistent rumor is that he is going steady with actress Heart Evangelista.

Escudero filed his COC with no fanfare and only members of his Senate staff accompanied him to the poll office.

Reporters, however, bombarded the senator with questions about Evangelista.

“Are you filing with all your heart?” was the first question thrown at him. – With Sheila Crisostomo