Who is Mel Senen Sarmiento?

Kris Aquino recently posted a birthday greeting on her Instagram account

Instagram - @krisaquino

It did not take long for Krissy's followers to identify the mystery man on social media, somehow confirming speculations about a new romance.

There were a number of names mentioned in Kris' Instagram post, among them is Atty. Gideon Pena, but he answered, "Gemini po ako" on his IG @attygideon. 

So the hunt went on,  but not one was celebrating their birthday on Wednesday, August 11, until some netizens mentioned former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento. 

Who is Mel Senen Sarmiento?

Mel Senen S. Sarmiento served as the last Secretary of the Interior and Local Government under President Benigno Aquino III after Jesse Robredo and Mar Roxas.

Born August 11, 1962 in Manila, Philippines, he was a member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing the 1st Legislative District of Samar from 2010 to 2015. 

He also served as Secretary-General of the Liberal Party. He served as the Vice Mayor of Calbayog City from 1992 to 1995 and Mayor from 2004 to 2011 before the death of Congressman Uy. He was also the Secretary General of the League of Cities of the Philippines from 2004 to 2010.

Twitter @SecMelSarmiento

Sarmiento was born in Manila and began his public service when he was vice mayor of Calbayog City City from 1992 to 1995. Unsuccessful in his bid for the mayoralty the following term, he took a break from politics.

In 2004–2010, he ran and won as Mayor of Calbayog City.

Secretary Mel has always been a low-key politician.. But now that is he is romantically linked with Kris Aquino, people are becoming curious about him.

Mel Senen Sarmiento practically confirmed speculations that he was the man greeted by Kris when he borrowed her phone to reply to an Instagram user who told the Queen of All Media to keep her love life private.

Addressing Instagram user @mynameisaxell, Sec Mel said: “Hiniram ko yung phone ni kris- ewan ko kung nakatrabaho kita sa DILG sa laki ng department mahirap maalala ang lahat. Wag naman masamain kung nag greet nga sa ‘kin, ba’t naman napunta na sa malas? Eh napasaya nga nya ko- kung tutuusin napakaswerte ko. Kung nagsama tayo sa department na minahal ko, konting respeto naman sa min ni Kris.”

Kris then followed with “Maybe now you’ll understand, that at least now there’s someone with the guts to stand up for me… wala akong pinatatamaan, I’m just stating facts… because for the longest time that was what my friends & followers kept telling me—that I deserved someone na hands akong ipaglaban,” 

Guessing game over. As Kris would say, "love, love, love"