Roman, Shalani to wed Jan. 22

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, 44, and Valenzuela Councilor Shalani Soledad, 31, will walk down the aisle to forever after on Jan. 22, 2012, a source close to the couple said yesterday.

The source said the couple will likely wed in a church in Cavite, “neutral” territory for the political couple as Roman’s constituents may feel left out if the wedding is held in Valenzuela, and Shalani’s constituents may also feel sidelined if the wedding is held in Pasig.

Few details of the wedding have been revealed by the very private couple, but the source said Inno Sotto is designing the gown of the beautiful bride-to-be.

Florabel Co-Yatco will cater for the wedding reception, which will most likely be held in Tagaytay.

The list of sponsors is a closely guarded secret, but those close to former Las Piñas City Rep. Cynthia Villar say she has been requested by the couple to be one of their ninangs.

“I am very happy!” Shalani told me yesterday when I asked her how she felt like two months before the wedding.

When did she know Roman was “it”?

“I think I knew it the first time he accompanied me to Quiapo Church. That was last August,” the shy Shalani recalled.

Pinoy nurse to inherit millions from US heiress

Loyalty pays. And sometimes, you get more than just a medal for it.

According to an article in the New York Post, a Philippine-born nurse named Hadassah Peri stands to inherit about $33.6 million from the late reclusive mining heiress Huguette Clark, whom she took care of for the last 20 years of the latter’s life.

Huguette Clark Gower, daughter of Sen. William A. Clark of Montana, is seen in this file photo. AP

(I am happy for Clark that she found a genuine person to leave her fortune to instead of having no one to bequeath it to but a cat.)

According to The Post article, Clark “barricaded herself inside a hospital room for decades and was emotionally shackled to her collections  art, music and thousands of soulless French dolls.

“She let few into her rarefied life  and, in the end, she wasn’t surrounded by ambassadors and billionaires, but by a handful of house staff.

“And one person to whom she had always said good night.”

Peri was that person.

“She became the daughter Clark never had, the one Huguette made sure to call each and every night to bid sweet dreams. When the 104-year-old’s eyes became too weak for her to dial the phone, Peri made sure she made the nightly call and the comforting ritual continued.

“The 61-year-old mother of three treated Clark like family and was showered with affection  and unspeakable riches  in return.”

According to The Post article, Peri migrated to the US in 1972 and worked in several hospitals in New York and Philadelphia as a private-duty nurse. She was chosen at random by a health-care agency to work for Clark.

I do believe she showered on Clark the cariño and lambing that Filipinos are known for, and the respect for elders that are ingrained in them. Clark must have felt so pampered with the bedside manners of the Filipino nurse, which is not unusual among Pinoys.

I know of a Filipino caregiver who was left $30,000 by the heir of a world-famous clothing brand when the latter passed away.

Peri’s loyalty is being rewarded richly.

According to The Post, “She now has a $204,000 2001 Bentley Arnage sedan and a $42,000 Lincoln Navigator SUV in the driveway of her three-story, waterfront home in Manhattan Beach, one of five homes she owns.

“Her American dream is only getting better. When Clark’s will is finally cleared by the courts, Peri stands to inherit $33.6 million and a priceless doll collection.”

The moral of the story? Kindness pays. And a grateful heart is the most generous of all.

JFK, gone 48 years now

Today is the 48th death anniversary of US President John F. Kennedy, history’s greatest “What could have been.” Because an assassin’s bullet silenced him forever after barely 1,000 days in office, JFK is the promise that was never fulfilled, the potential that was barely realized.

President John F. Kennedy was seen riding in a motorcade approximately one minute before he was shot in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963. AP

“And so now he is a legend, when he would have preferred to be a man…” Jacqueline Kennedy wrote of JFK on the latter’s first death anniversary. Men accomplish more than legends do, and that is what we mourn  the loss of what a better world this might have been if a man with his vision, idealism and decisiveness (shown ever so clearly in the History Channel miniseries The Kennedys) lived to serve another term. Who knows?

Just recently, a dear family friend, Grace Zalvidea, my parents Frank and Sonia Mayor’s first neighbor when they were newlyweds, gave me a hardbound copy of a book on JFK’s assassination. It was in her house that my parents watched the heart-wrenching funeral of JFK and the searing farewell salute of JFK Jr.

Because the mastermind of JFK’s assassination has not been clearly pinpointed and prosecuted, theories about his death will always abound, and they will surface as the world marks his death anniversary.

There are ludicrous theories that the driver of the presidential limo did it, which I think is crazy because four passengers  Jackie, Gov. and Mrs. John Connally, and one Secret Service agent  were in the car and lived to tell their story and they could have easily testified that it was the driver. There are theories that there was a gunman other than Lee Harvey Oswald, and that he was hiding at the grassy knoll near the Texas Book Depository.

There is a new documentary, JFK: The Lost Bullet, which claims to have delved into more home video footage of the assassination including but not just the legendary Zapruder film. The documentary features a restored, “high-definition” version of the Zapruder film, which is the one most often shown in historical documentaries.

Other footage were also studied, and they answer the question, “What happened to the first bullet that missed JFK?”

The documentary has its own conclusion about who really shot JFK. And I can tell you here and now what its conclusion is because it really is nothing new.

They believe Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])