Jie Yorro & Jhette Macalo: A Canadian love story
You don’t always hear of two friends ending up as lovers, and then finally tying the knot, do you? Well, that’s exactly the love story of Jie Yorro and Jhette Macalos.
MANILA, Philippines - Jhette was a bid analyst at American President Lines in Alabang while Jie was contract analyst. They were nothing more than colleagues until Jhette celebrated her first year at APL on Sept. 26, 2008, which was also Jie’s last day in the company. He left and transferred to another logistics company.
On Dec. 28, 2008, the MTC Department of APL had a swimming party and invited old colleagues, including Jie. Almost everyone was there and a good friend of theirs invited Jhette to tag along, saying that it was a “special request.†The couple started chatting, little realizing this would lead to a deeper relationship. They went out on a date on Jan. 26, 2009 at Starbucks in Tagaytay. Little did Jhette know that she would someday be working at Starbucks — in Canada!
More dates followed — group dates in Tagaytay, sipping Starbucks coffee, enjoying the cool breeze, and gorging on great meals in fancy restaurants.
And then on March 6, 2009, Jhette handed Jie a delicate gift — a stuffed toy with a recorded message especially for him. It was her long-awaited answer to his question if she would be his girlfriend. Baby Gee delivered that message successfully!
Jie had an ongoing Canadian visa application, and when it was granted, he left the country in 2011. This wasn’t bad at all as Jhette also has an uncle in Canada who finally got her to have her own Manitoba Provincial Nominee application. Many Facetime and Skype calls later, Jhette also left for Winnipeg, Canada to join Jie and her relatives.
Middle of last year, they decided to go back to the Philippines to get married! After their wedding last Dec. 19, the couple returned to One Place Tagaytay to spend their first date as Mr. and Mrs. Yorro, just beside the very same place — 711 — where they had their first date three years ago.