MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Manny Pacquiao took his focus off the campaign for a while and played marriage counselor to eight couples in vote-rich Pangasinan, where he delivered an impromptu lecture on married life.
The multibillionaire presidential candidate and accomplished global boxing icon started by reminding the spouses that no one really knows the real character of each other until they live together, or officially tie the knot, and live under one roof.
“After the wedding, the true character of your partner will eventually come out, and you must learn to adjust to each other. And don’t forget to pray and discuss among yourselves the problem. Don’t let it build up. You also have to respect each other,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao is a registered marriage counselor and devout Christian.
The Promdi standard-bearer then cited as example his personal journey with Jinkee, his wife of 24 years. They have been married since their teenage years, when they were still too young to be a married couple.
Pacquiao said that in their 24 years as a couple, their marriage had gone through a lot of trials. There were a lot of times when Jinkee had almost given up on him because of his vices that included affairs with other women.
When their marriage was already falling apart, Pacquiao said they agreed to marriage counseling and eventually turned to God for guidance.
“In our 24 years of marriage, we went through so much, there have been numerous times when we had trials. The first five to 10 years was really so crucial in the sense that struggles have always been there, mostly because we had to adjust to each other,” he said.
These days, Jinkee’s complaint is that they no longer get to fight each other, he joked.
Pacquiao delivered his impromptu marriage counseling at the San Carlos City hall in Pangasinan. He chanced upon the couples when he paid a courtesy call on the local officials of San Carlos before going on a motorcade around the city.
He told them to do whatever it takes to keep their marriage because no one can separate something that was joined by God. There will always come a time when their faith in marriage will be tested and can even reach breaking point.
