“We are no KathNiel but if we would be of help, sure.”
That was Michelle Arville-Lopez’s warm response to my request for an interview weeks ago. She answered with a tilted emoji. The G Diaries host and her husband and co-host Creative Programs, Inc. Head and ABS-CBN Foundation Executive Director Ernie Lopez were the people I instantly had in mind when I was coming up with a love story to share this Valentine season. Theirs is one with the simplest yet most beautiful elements coming together.
One day in April 2020, while the country was under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), I shed happy tears after watching Ernie and Michelle’s proposal video online. Clad in home clothes, the couple got engaged with Michelle’s girl friends as witnesses on a video call. The virtual guests erupted in shrieks of joy the moment she said yes to Ernie’s “Will you please be my second chance? I am asking you to be on lockdown with me for the rest of your life.” He was down on one knee while holding a hologram engagement ring.
A few moments before getting engaged, Ernie revealed having the blessing of his family. He told Michelle, “I got the approval of all of my kids. In fact, this hologram was made by my daughter. My son has been part of the planning of this [proposal].” Ernie pointed to his son Nathan who was behind the camera, taking the video. “My whole family loves you. If and when you say yes, I will approach the rest of your family,” he added persuasively.
A year later, Ernie and Michelle tied the knot three times. The first was done online due to the lockdown, the second was a no-frills sneakers-and-jeans backyard wedding in the US, and the third was a civil wedding in the Philippines. Through an Instagram caption, Ernie quipped, “We are both on our second and last round! Thank God for second chances!”
Ernie and Michelle had relationships in the past and are hopeful of taking a second shot at marriage. Ernie joked in the same caption that while other couples love to eat, play golf, or shop, he and Michelle love to get married.
That humorous remark sounded real. When Ernie and Michelle talk about each other and retell their meet-cute, kilig just emanates. In their 50s, they are reminiscent of a teenage couple filled with fondness for each other, the kind that leaves butterflies in the stomach. This husband-and-wife team-up, without a doubt, is worthy of being tagged as “couple goals.”
If Ernie’s late sister Gina Lopez were alive today, she would probably be thrilled with all that is happening. After all, the union was her idea. In 2019, before the well-loved philanthropist, Bantay Bata founder, and former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) secretary passed away, Gina played cupid to her brother and Michelle.
“What’s your name? How old are you? Are you married? I want you for my brother!,” Ernie laughingly shared with us in an old interview during Gina’s wake. These were the go-getting lines his sister dropped on Michelle when they first met at the hospital. Michelle was working then as a section manager at St. Luke’s Medical Center BGC’s Patient Experience Group. Interestingly, by coincidence, Ernie and Michelle already met through common friends a couple of days before the hospital encounter.
Recalling one of the last conversations he had with his sister, Ernie said he presented Michelle as his girlfriend to then-ailing Gina and said, “Look, she is your gift to me.” All Gina could do was squeeze his and Michelle’s hands.
Aside from being a matchmaker, Gina was also instrumental in the couple’s relationship as she passed on the hosting duties of multi-awarded advocacy show G Diaries to Ernie. Michelle was later invited to join as a co-host. “Gina’s like that! To her dying breath, she still pours love out and puts people together,” Ernie recounted adoringly.
Watch out for the second part next week with lessons on love from Ernie and Michelle. For your random thoughts, send the author an email at [email protected].