A second chance at love for Jomari and Abby

June 14 ------ ABBY Viduya and Jomari Yllana were in their fresh teens when they fell in love. In fact, they were each other's first love. But fate had them apart.

While Abby had chosen to live in Canada with the man she married, Jomari opted to pursue his showbiz career. Little is known about Abby's personal life except that she bore three kids by her husband. Theirs was not a successful marriage. Jomari, on the other hand, got himself involved with one celebrity after another but would consider Aiko Melendez then his next great love. He has a son with Aiko, now an aspiring actor Andrei who's as handsome as his dad (but whose looks are more of Aiko's). By calculation, Abby and Jomari had lost contact with each other for nearly three decades.

Based on Jomari's account, he was able to touch-base with Abby on social media. To Jomari's delight, Abby responded. After which, an exchange of communication ensued which initially began from the perfunctory catching up. It was at that point where in Abby and Jomari's words "We realized that love is still there." It wasn't a difficult phase for both to take it from where they left off. Jomari, 46 and Abby, 45 share the same thought that they're actually trying to make up for the 30-year lull.

Not at all surprisingly, Abby when asked two years ago about the status of her relationship with Jomari since they got back together in 2019 asserted, "We're solid as a rock." What they withheld then were their plans of settling down. As Jomari would safely say, "Of course, it's our plan but nothing definite yet." It turned out, however, that the couple was already gearing up towards planning their altar date. First on Jomari's mind was "pamamanhikan" or the Filipino tradition where the parents of the groom-to-be exchange dialogues with their future in-laws to discuss the wedding details.

Jomari saw fit to comply with the ages-old Filipino custom upon the arrival of Abby's mom Isabelita Razon Viduya from Canada midnight of February 25. Accompanied by his son Andrei, Jomari formally asked Abby's hand from her mom in the afternoon of February 26. Prior to that, Jomari made his mom talk to her balae-to-be on the phone. Take note, the couple's respective mothers conversed in flawless Español. As for Jomari, he's not denying the fact that he and Abby are living in together: "But I'm Catholic who grew up with grandfathers who were priests and my lolas were nuns, so I'm old-fashioned. I want to make our relationship legit."

The couple is eyeing two weddings. Abby and Jomari plan to get civilly wed in Las Vegas, Nevada this June or November. Their second wedding will definitely take place at a church in Jomari's hometown in Bicol where family and friends are invited. "My idea is to have a civil wedding where it's just me and Abby. But the church wedding is where we'll go all out." Not one on Jomari's side seems not to be in favor of the actor-politician's plan of marrying his first ever love of his life, "Even my son Andrei is supportive of me. And I'm just too happy that I'm surrounded by people who are excited for me as I enter another phase in my life." Maybe now is the most opportune time that he and elder brother Anjo bury the hatchet, at the very least way ahead of their Bicol nuptials. It will be recalled that Anjo had accused Jomari of allegedly pocketing his campaign funds. Anjo went as far as implicating Abby. The couple, however, denied this. The latest is that Anjo has expressed his willingness to patch up his differences with Jomari: "I'm the elder brother and so I'm just waiting for Jamari to make the first move. But as far as I'm concerned, I've moved on."

Source:manilatimes.net