Not a few raised an eyebrow after learning that French presidential favorite Emmanuel Macron, 39, is married to Brigitte Trogneux, a woman who is 24 years his senior.
The two met when Macron was 15 years old and became a student in her class in La Providence High School, while Trogneux was 39. Two years later, they became an official couple and Macron vowed he would marry Trogneux.
Macron’s parents were naturally concerned with the relationship and attempted to separate the couple by sending him away to Paris to finish the final year of his schooling. The Macrons felt his youth made the relationship inappropriate.
However, the love between the two apparently prevailed against all odds. The couple stayed together even after Macron’s graduation and were finally married in 2007.
And it seems that Trogneux does not only bring love but luck as well to Macron’s life. In fact, she could become France’s first lady since her husband won first place in the first round of the presidential elections.
Macron could be the youngest leader of France in modern history. And Trogneux would surely be by his side all the way through.
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But not all star-struck lovers are meant to live happily ever after.
Here in the Philippines, we have the unusual relationship between police Superintendent Maria Cristina Nobleza and Reener Lou Dongon, tagged as a bomber of the Abu Sayyaf whose brothers-in-law include slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan and Abu Sayyaf founding commander Khadaffy Janjalani.
Nobleza at 49 is 24 years older than Dongon who is 25. Then a member of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, she was tasked to interrogate Dongon who was arrested for bombing a hotel in Cagayan de Oro in 2013.
It appeared that the relationship between the two “blossomed” after the said interrogation. Director-General Ronald dela Rosa, PNP Chief, said Nobleza was blinded by love and allowed herself to be used by the Abu Sayyaf.
Nobleza, Dongon, his mother and a 13-year-old nephew were aboard a vehicle when arrested after trying to drive past a checkpoint for the second time in Clarin, Bohol.
Dela Rosa said Nobleza and Dongon appeared to have been on a mission to rescue Abu Sayyaf members then being pursued by police and military teams.
Even at the time of their arrest, lovers Nobleza and Dongon were bound to be together. Love is blind indeed.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email [email protected] or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.tempo.com.ph/category/opinion/firing-line/ (Robert B. Roque, Jr.)
