Robi Domingo and Samantha Bernardo. Image: INQUIRER.net/Armin P. Adina
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—Kapamilya host Robi Domingo said life has “definitely” changed for him after proposing to his girlfriend Maiqui Pineda, while beauty queen Samantha Bernardo found a “different kind of focus” after getting engaged to her boyfriend Scott Moore. Both proposals took place in separate occasions in Japan.
“One of the biggest changes I feel right now is out of a lot of uncertainties there is one certain in my life, and that is my fiancée,” Domingo told the Inquirer in an interview at the Agora Event Center of Thunderbird Resorts Poro Point in this city, early morning of March 3. He was there with Bernardo after their hosting stint at the 2023 Mutia ti La Union pageant.
As for the 2020 Miss Grand International first runner-up, she said, “I feel like it’s the same, but with a different kind of focus and priorities. I still do everything that I do, but I make sure that I have time for myself. So it’s still the same.”
Domingo bent his knee at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing, the busiest crosswalk in the world. On the other hand, Bernardo received “the ring” in a secluded cabin amid snowy plains with nobody else around but Moore.
The “The Voice Kids” host said he already had the engagement ring in February last year. “The [COVID-19] pandemic helped me fortify my decision,” Domingo shared, adding that he had a conversation with his parents about making the huge leap.
Bernardo, meanwhile, revealed that she never got an inkling that Moore would go down on his knee during their winter trip to Japan. “I thought it’s (engagement) gonna be in two years. But then again, I realized that we survived the pandemic, I managed to represent the Philippines, he also allows me to be my own person by joining ‘Pinoy Big Brother.’ We were apart for three months. So, for me, it speaks volumes of his character as a person. And then our goals together, I think that’s where you’d feel that that’s it, he’s the one,” she said.
Domingo and Pineda are already preparing for their date at the altar, but the host declined to share details of the wedding, or how far they are in the preparations. “Just like ‘Kuya,’ Big Brother, would say, ‘you will know at the right time,’” he said.
Bernardo and Moore, meanwhile, have yet to start making plans. “We’re just enjoying the moment of being engaged. I guess it’s gonna be a long engagement,” she surmised. /ra