MANILA— "Providence" is the word that veteran actress Boots Anson-Roa used to describe how she found love again at 68 years old.
Widowed for six years, Anson-Roa just got engaged with 74-year-old lawyer Francisco Rodrigo Jr., and will be married again on June 14, 2014.
The newly engaged couple plans to do the traditional "pamamanhikan" to their children on Anson-Roa's 69th birthday on January 20, 2014.
Since both of their spouses passed away a few years back, the couple visited the graves of their former partners first to ask for blessings before they got engaged.
At her age, Anson-Roa said the experience of being engaged is still new to her, since she and her late husband, Pete Roa, eloped before they got married.
"[Nag]Tanan kami ni Pete e, so wala akong engagement ring. Hindi rin ako nakaranas ng formal wedding," Anson-Roa said.
The veteran actress said she never expected to fall in love again, especially with Francisco, who was a high school classmate of her late husband.
A former consul general of the Philippines in the US, Francisco courted Anson-Roa for one year.
"People call it serendipity or fate, but I think it is providence," she said during the formal announcement of their engagement.
Now both at the late stages of their lives, Anson-Roa and Rodrigo found themselves in love more than ever, proving the old saying “age doesn’t matter.”
"As I've been telling you in all this courtship, I love you," Rodrigo told his fiancé who replied: "Madalas akong nag-a-'I love you'. Ngayon, and I sincerely mean it, thank you for your love." -- report from Mario Dumaual, TV Patrol, ABS-CBN
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
