Mikey takes a leading lady

When Mikey Arroyo told his dad that he wanted to marry Angela Montenegro, the First Gentleman gently told him, "You better make sure, son. You know very well, she’s not one of your starlets." Angela Montenegro is certainly not a starlet, although she’s as pretty as the rest of them. She’s a London-schooled marketing professional, the daughter of an industrialist, a young woman who’s comfortable on the beach in Ibiza in Spain or at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, and who fits the image of the Sonia Rykiel woman of whom the designer said, "She is always in departure."

Except that Sonia Rykiel is not on the list of Angela’s favorite designers (someone tells us, has this ’80s Parisienne designer reinvented herself?). She mentions Prada, Mango, BCBG and Bebe as the labels she’s inclined to pick out. But it’s not like she’s a walking advertisement for brand names. "I have some good things," she says, "but I don’t really go for brands." Quite frankly, she rather enjoys shopping in outlet stores where the fashionable clothes are sold at great discounts, like at Woodbury in New York or Franklin Mills in Philadelphia. In other words: "Cheap!" but smart buys. This morning, in the airy, sunny and flower-filled drawing room of their house in North Forbes, Makati, Angela is wearing an Ann Taylor blouse, Kenneth Cole pants and Gucci shoes, looking every bit like she’s always in departure.

But we are digressing from the First Gentleman. Mr. Arroyo apparently was not convinced that love could grow in so short a time for his eldest son. Mikey had just met Angela at a dinner in Malacañang in February and not much later, his son was telling him he wanted to marry her. And they’re second cousins! That thing probably weighed on the mind of the First Gentleman, although of course it’s not an ecclesiastical prohibition, or a legal impediment, or a social taboo. We have no problem with that, as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has said. Especially not to the Montenegros. Angela’s grandfather and grandmother were second cousins. Making Angela and Mikey second cousins is that Mikey’s grandfather on his father’s side and Angela’s grandfather on her mother’s side were brothers. (Go figure.)

Even Angela at first was not convinced that Mikey was serious about wanting to marry her. In that first meeting of theirs at dinner in Malacañang, she tells us as she settles into the comfy sofa with fat, floral-patterned pillows, she saw him like another distant cousin. The dinner was given by Mrs. Arroyo as a grand reunion for the Arroyo clan. Recalls Angela: "He came over and said, ‘Can I have the seat beside you?’ No problem at all. I thought he just wanted to get nearer to his other cousins who were with me at the table and exchange pleasantries with them." The earth did not move under her feet, beneath the tablecloth, but Mikey would confide later on that it was love at first sight for him.

And he had cheek. He asked Angela if she would help him in his campaign for vice governor in Pampanga. I shall introduce you to the people as my girlfriend, he told her. Angela thought it would be fun, giving out candies and leaflets and waving to people and acting like Mikey’s girlfriend. And she would be helping him in his first bid for an elective position; after all, what are cousins for? "I accepted although I was then set to go back to Baltimore," she says.

But she had no urgent reason to go back to Baltimore. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and she was then thinking of laying off romantic entanglements and luxuriating in being just by her lonesome, for a year maybe. But then Mikey Arroyo happened. She slowly realized that his shows of affection and gentleness were not for a young cousin but for the most lovable and desirable woman on earth for him. And his dad need not fear: Mikey was not treating her like another of his starlets.

Angela would hear through the family grapevine that Mikey had been telling his dad that he wanted to marry her, and that his dad had told him, "Think about it carefully and come back to me after a year." Angela, back in Baltimore, and then feeling quite taken by Mikey’s good looks and affectionate ways, challenged the fates: "Let’s see nga." Two days after the May 14 elections, Mikey was flying with winged feet to Baltimore. When she opened her door and saw the pleasant, smiling and boyish face of Mikey Arroyo, the skies opened for Angela and she knew this was the man she was praying for. "The times I went with my family to Lourdes, I never failed to pray to meet the right man to marry," she says. Now he was there on her doorstep.

Quite clearly, Mikey was even more passionate about his pursuit for Angela than he was excited about the result of the election. He won both bids.

Unlike what most people would think, second cousins Angela and Mikey never met each other, or they have no recollections of having met each other, when they were youngsters. Probably due to their age gap–Mikey, 33, is five years older than Angela–they were not playmates and Mikey had no chance to tease her or pull her hair and make her cry. Mikey might have been closer to Angela’s elder siblings, Greg (the eldest son who recently married actress Ana Roces) and Emily (who’s married to Jose Mari Yupangco). "When there was a wedding in the clan, Emily would be the flower girl and Mikey, the ring bearer," recalls Mrs. Charito Montenegro.

We talked earlier with Mrs. Montenegro, an elegant lady who hails from Bacolod, while Angela was having her hair and face done by Patrick Rosas in one of the rooms in the house. She shows us around the house which they bought, she says, for a song after the late former President Marcos was deposed. An inner courtyard is filled with orchids and bromeliads and plants with exotic foliage. Chinese jars are strewn everywhere and a 1977 Amorsolo hangs on a wall. She shows us the framed photos of her family neatly arranged on the side table: Greg and Ana, Emily and Jose Mari and their children, and the lookalikes Angela and Rosemarie who is 24, the youngest.

"They all work for their father," Mrs. Montenegro says. Mr. Herman Montenegro, who is from Batangas, is the biggest and the pioneer manufacturer of activated carbon from coconut char with factories in Carmona and Cagayan de Oro. The product which they export to the US, Germany, Japan and other countries, is used for, among others, water filtration, cigarette filters and gas emission absorption. In the Carmona plant they also make the "megabags," plastic bags that can carry a ton, and CD roms for Sony and Toshiba.

Angela works in international marketing for these enterprises. "Our children were groomed for the business," Mrs. Montenegro says. "They were all focused on getting an education, a career that would help us in the company. Their father would always drum into them that education is something that could not be stolen away from them."

Angela, the mother says, was a spirited young girl who loved going to parties and clubbing with friends. After her high school in Assumption, they sent her to a boarding school run by nuns in Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill College (Greg and Emily went to Wharton). Angela didn’t like it much there. "It’s not good for children who are away and not happy," thinks Mrs. Montenegro. They found for her the Schiller school whose subjects are credited in whatever country Schiller is found, an ideal situation for children of diplomats and expats. Angela went to Schiller in London and there dutifully finished her studies in international business. "I was so glad when she finished," says her mother.

But she wasn’t finished with wanting to stay abroad. And pursuing her other interests – fashion and the arts. "I took up computer design in Maryland and I had wanted to study fashion designing in New York," says Angela who has joined us in the drawing room. "But my parents did not allow me to stay in New York. Delicado." She’s passionate about fashion. "I think I’m a creative person. I like being unique and innovative. I’m always into trends, what’s new, what’s the in thing." She often shops in Mango for casual gear when in Manila and for more high-street garbs she goes to Zara in Madrid. After the wedding, she intends to open a small boutique that she will fill with her choices of clothes, shoes and accessories, little luxuries that are necessities for her and other stylish women.

In fact, she was all set to go to Paris and enroll at the Parsons School of Design. "But then I met Mikey." And then they got engaged. And what has her mother to say about all this? "I’m so happy she has decided to settle down," sighs Mrs. Montenegro. "Why, at her age I already had three kids!"

"When he came to visit me in Baltimore, I knew in my heart that he was serious," says Angela.

Since they didn’t get to really know each other during the hectic days of the election campaign when she was Mikey’s pretend girlfriend, they went to New York where, Angela says, "we spent a lot of time together and got to know each other better." They stayed with friends, they went dining and shopping – "We both love to shop!"

During the campaign she saw "his goodness, his heart for the people," while up close in New York, in 10 glorious days, she saw the more private person: "Cariñoso and thoughtful. He makes me look at the brighter side of things. He makes me laugh."

The pamamanhikan last Feb. 14 was "a very special moment" for her. "I was very happy and I could also see that Tita Glo was also very happy." She had met Mrs. Arroyo before on very few and brief occasions, once in Baltimore when Angela’s parents invited her out to a dinner of the famous Baltimore crabs that Mrs. Arroyo would always head for if she was in that city. In the pamamanhikan, the President announced that she would like to have as many grandchildren as Mikey and Angela could afford–"in line with my administration policies and the Constitution," she added laughing.

"Now I’m beginning to see where Mikey has inherited all that energy, that dedication and passion for work," says Angela. "These are traits I admire a lot. I have great respect for people who are hardworking because my dad is also very industrious." On the few occasions that she has spoken with her Tita Glo since the engagement, she has formed an impression of her that does not jibe with her reputation in the media as mataray. Tita Glo strikes me as very pleasant and cordial. Even when she’s very busy, she’ll smile and wave her hand when she sees me across the room."

It was the President who gave her engagement ring, an heirloom that once belonged to Mrs. Arroyo’s grandmother. Angela had it reset in Hong Kong when she was there with Mikey and the jeweler said it was a 3.99-k diamond: "Nine very lucky to Chinese," he told her. It must be very lucky indeed for Angela. She’s wearing that ring now along with the watch that Mikey gave her on her birthday. (He also gave her two cute golden Pomeranians called Bea and Taffy, although Mikey had jokingly said to call them Gucci and Prada.) What has she given him for a gift? "Well, I gave him a bracelet which I bought in New York and he lost it in two days."

Deep in the preparations for the wedding on June 24, Angela says they have not yet finalized the list of ninongs and ninangs, certainly a most difficult undertaking especially for the First Son. They have decided on just six sets of ninongs. The President has offered up two names: former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Cory Aquino.

Angela and Mikey have also decided to live in Malacañang, while she will continue to work for her father and Mikey will be shuttling back and forth between the Palace and Pampanga. "I know living in Malacañang is temporary but it will be a great experience for me!" she says. They will be occupying the two rooms that once belonged to the Marcos daughters, Imee and Irene. Angela wants it redone in blue and yellow and furnished with a king-sized bed–"I want a king-sized bed!"

The President has pointed out to them that one of the rooms will be for her grandchildren, again probably in line with her policies, but the apos may not be immediately forthcoming. "Mikey said we can have babies in 2004 because he will be too busy before then. Me? I’d love to have a baby kaagad. Three or four babies, but I will accept what the Lord will give us."

The woman who has spent much of her life traipsing ’round Europe and living in the great cities abroad thinks she can see herself as a politician’s wife moving around among his constituents in Pampanga. "I think I can adjust to that. I think I will love to be by his side if he needs me at whatever gatherings with the people." But she will not be drawn into joining politics herself (in this country, when the husband is finished with his term of office, the wife often takes over). "I will be supportive of whatever he decides to do, but one politician is enough," she says.

She has no problem either with Mikey’s pursuing his other passion: acting. She has seen some of his movies, but don’t go asking her what she thinks of him as an actor because you’ll get the exptected answer. But ask her if she would also like to be in the movies and she puckers up her face and says, "I don‘t know how to act!" Besides: "One artista in the family is enough." Although of course Angela has done some work before the cameras–as a commercial model, her more recent work being for Lactum and the millennium ad of San Miguel.

So, how does she think marrying into the First Family will change her life? She thinks for a moment and then says: "I may have to be more careful about how I act in public, you know, like maintaining an image of always being gracious and cheerful and proper. I’ve been so used to being on my own, and away from the public eye. I think living in Malacañang and being married to the First Son will give me an entirely new perspectve of a social life."