It looks like “climate change” isn’t the only subject creating buzz for the visit of former US Vice-President and environmental crusader Al Gore to the country (he’s reportedly arriving today)—but also, “status” change.
Last week’s shocking news of Al Gore’s separation from Tippy, his wife of four decades, (according to Associated Press, the power couple’s romance inspired the novel “Love Story”) and the news that he was coming to town somehow put the Pinoy fixation on love teams to work. Fantasy hookups between the 62-year-old Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and some of the “most eligible” ladies in this part of the world are now being cooked up particularly on Twitterverse (that’s the microblogging site’s thriving community, for the info of the uninitiated).
What reportedly precipitated the idea was a poll launched by broadcast journalist Julius Babao on his Twitter account as to who should Al Gore date, sending Pinoy Twitterers on matchmaking mode.
Let’s have a look at some of the “prospects” that cropped up.
Sen. Pia Cayetano. The lady senator, who is also a lawyer, triathlete, and single mother of two, is said to be still looking for Mr. Right. In an interview published in a national daily at the height of the recent elections, she unfurled a wish list, and among the qualities she’s looking for in a guy are: loves the outdoors, a health buff, a strong runner, and loves to travel.
Chin-Chin Gutierrez. One of the most beautiful faces in Philippine movies, this actress has received numerous awards for using her celebrity stature for furthering eco-awareness, including being named as one of Time Magazine’s “Asian Heroes” in 2003. Chin-Chin, who made an album out of the country’s long-forgotten lullabies, is also still single up to now. As for her kind of guy? “I look through the souls,” she once told the entertainment website Pep.ph. “Hindi mukha ang tinitingnan ko, ang kalooban niya.”
Sen. Loren Legarda. It seems, however, that the name that titillated Twitterers the most is that of Sen. Loren Legarda, who is annulled. One Twitter user said the former VP and wannabe VP would surely make a sustainable, er, compatible match, not to mention “environment-friendly,” what with their similar climate change advocacies. Both are also into docu-films on global warming. He has “An Inconvenient Truth,” while she has “Buhos,” an ongoing production directed by Brillante Mendoza.
By the way, a uni-name has already been coined for the two (a uni-name is usually reserved for the most high-profile of romantic pairings)—and it’s LeGoreda. Twitter user @globalwarming posted: “LeGoreda will be hotter than Noy-Shalani. That’s just what we need, more global warming.”
So, shall we now say bye-bye to Kimerald and Brangelina, and say hello to LeGoreda? Well, not so fast, as the lady senator has already addressed this whole matchmaking talk in an ABS-CBNnews.com report. “It’s funny and embarrassing. Pinoys are really creative on the Internet. The whole thing is amusing. Gore will not even see me because I will only be in the audience.”
With the buzz generated by this story, thanks in part to the surprisingly frontpage treatment given to it by some news media orgs, I wonder though if anyone would really dare ask Mr. Al Gore—perhaps during his event today in Manila, wherein he’s said to present an Asian version of “An Incovenient Truth”—not on carbon footprints, emissions, or global warming, but on what he thinks of this "love team" thing.
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