MANILA, Philippines - The soundtrack of his five years in office is “The More I See You” by Brazilian singer Eliane Elias – a song about how love grows every time a couple meet. For President Aquino, the song “captures what I really believe” in when it comes to his relationship with his bosses.
And he has long been looking for the love of his life, Aquino said, when asked about personal matters. As usual, he stressed that “hope springs eternal.”
Aquino also laughed out loud when he matched a hashtag for his love life in a word game. “Blessed. If you are blessed, you will have it.” And for himself, the hashtag will be “LOL,” not for laugh out loud but “lots of love.”
But the bachelor President said his inspiration nowadays would be no one else but the people.
“I always say that as long you’re behind me, there is nothing impossible… and, to this day, I still subscribe to that. If I had the courage to fight whoever I needed to fight, (it was because) I believed that a majority if not all of the people were my allies,” he said.
Aquino said it was great to be dreaming with the people and being hopeful that somehow these dreams could be achieved.
“I don’t know, perhaps that’s why I bumped into that song... The line is ‘the more I see, the more I want you’…the more I get to interact with my bosses, the better I think I govern, from the feedback mechanism to even the idea of getting recharged to face whatever the next challenge will be,” the President said.
The other music playlist for him? “Estudyante Blues” and “Impossible Dream.”
His reading list? Techno-thriller in the mold of authors Tom Clancy and Matthew Riley as well as educational materials and books on war, military history, ancient and medieval warfare. Magazines include The Economist and TIME.
“I get so much knowledge of areas that are not normally covered by our own media. I don’t surf the net but I really like the hard copy type of things,” Aquino said.
The President revealed he has medication for dry eyes given by his physician because of too much reading.