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UNCUT: Kathryna Yu, bride of Koko Pimentel, on relationship and Duterte’s marital advice

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Mario Dumaual, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/10/12/20181012-coc-filing-elections-md-md2_2891.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>Kathryna Yu accompanies her fiancé, Sen. Koko Pimentel, to the latter’s filing of his certificate of candidacy as a reelectionist in the 2019 polls. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Amid the frenzied start of another election season, re-electionist senator Koko Pimentel&#x27;s bride, Kathryna Yu, cut a refreshing figure at the Thursday filing of certificates of candidacy at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila.</p><p>For good luck, Pimentel brought along his fiancée as he registered his candidacy, exactly seven days before their wedding at the Coconut Palace at the CCP Complex in Pasay City.</p><p>A native of Marikina with a Filipino-Chinese bloodline, Yu led a low-key and quiet life as a caterer when she met Pimentel in 2013. It happened at his election victory party, where she was the food supplier.</p><p>“He asked me to make him coffee, sabi ko, ‘Bakit ako pa?’” she recalled in a recent interview with ABS-CBN News.</p><p>She later found out that it was Pimentel&#x27;s way to get to know her, and that he did not drink coffee at all.</p><p>Pimentel later said that Yu is his soulmate and that it was fate that their paths crossed at a challenging point in his personal life.</p><p>The senator&#x27;s marriage to his first wife, former Binibining Pilipinas Jewel Lobaton, was eventually annulled in January.</p><p>He popped the question to Yu in February, after her workout in a setting devoid of any suspense or romance. “It wasn’t exactly a proposal or a question. He just said it’s about time we become a family,” she recounted, laughing.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1421711" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Yu said yes nonetheless to the man who would change the direction of her life.</p><p>Her family was also won over by Pimentel&#x27;s self-effacing and amiable personality. “Ako pa nga nagsasabi sa kanya, ‘Magbihis ka naman!’” she shared.</p><p>She opted not to confirm the value of her three-carat diamond engagement ring. “Nakakahiya, e,” she said.</p><p>Modesty appears natural to Yu, who dresses simply and prefers a no-frills wedding that will highlight Filipino cuisine and local giveaways like peanut butter.</p><p>Yu also prefers to be in the political background, as head of PDP Cares, the charity arm of Pimentel&#x27;s political party.<br/> <br/>President Duterte will lead the nine pairs of sponsors at the wedding that will have two receptions — the first for their families and friends at the Coconut Palace on October 15; and the second for Pimentel&#x27;s constituents at the Sofitel Sunset Pavilion on October 21.</p><p>Pimentel’s two sons, Martin and Akio, who call Yu “Mama Kath,” will be the ring and bible bearers.</p><p>Asked whether she and Pimentel have received any advice from President Duterte, she said: “Dapat daw mas maging mapag-pasensiya ang babae, para mas mag-last ang marriage.”</p><p>Yu has embraced what she calls her destiny. Referring to Pimentel, she said: “I love him 101 per cent.”</p>

<p>“It wasn’t exactly a proposal or a question. He just said it’s about time we become a family.”</p>

“It wasn’t exactly a proposal or a question. He just said it’s about time we become a family.”

UNCUT: Kathryna Yu, bride of Koko Pimentel, on relationship and Duterte’s marital advice

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UNCUT: Kathryna Yu, bride of Koko Pimentel, on relationship and Duterte’s marital advice

Mario Dumaual,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 12, 2018 09:05 PM PHT

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Updated October 12, 2018 09:49 PM PHT

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Kathryna Yu

Koko Pimentel

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