CEBU CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former president Joseph Estrada were briefly reunited during the wedding Saturday afternoon of lawyer Christina Garcia Codilla and Liloan Mayor Vincent Frasco at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

Hours before the ceremony, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Malacañang remained hopeful for another shot at reconciliation between President Arroyo and Estrada.

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“We Filipinos consider weddings, baptisms and burials as social exercises. Hopefully, we’ll help bring back political civility in our country,” Remonde said on government-run dzRB radio.

In his homily, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal told the couple to rise above partisan politics.

“Coming from political families on both sides, you have the added responsibility of living and loving well for the sake of your people. Let no politics get in the way of your love for each other and for your children. Remember, you may be in office for some time, but you will be married till death do you part,” he said.

Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001 when a civilian uprising supported by the military removed Estrada from Malacañang. In 2004, she defeated Estrada’s ally, opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr.

Two other principal sponsors, Vice President Noli de Castro and Senator Loren Legarda, also fought each other as political rivals in 2004.

Cardinal Vidal reminded the couple that “power may be a heady brew for one who is intoxicated with it, but in the twilight of one’s years, it is the family who stays with you, who will take care of you, long after your constituents have forgotten you.”

Arroyo did not join Estrada for the reception at the Cebu International Convention Center.

Remonde told reporters that President Arroyo was “not attending the wedding feast” in observance of her declaration of 10 days of national mourning for the death of former president Corazon Aquino.

Instead, the President went on her way to Canduman, Mandaue City to check a bridge, Remonde said.

The bride’s mother, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, said both President Arroyo and former president Estrada were “very gracious” for accepting the invitation.

Estrada arrived first in church, but it was President Arroyo who first offered a handshake before she sat down while waiting for her turn to march.

Then, when Cardinal Vidal asked participants to offer each other the sign of peace, Estrada crossed from the right side of the church to the left, and greeted President Arroyo.

(At the start of the ceremony, President Arroyo was escorted by Vice President Noli de Castro, while Estrada escorted Legarda.)

Hours before the Frasco-Codilla wedding, President Arroyo met with church and government officials in the Abaca resort in Lapu-Lapu City.

According to a radio dyLA report, Arroyo met with Cardinal Vidal and other local officials during lunch in Barangay Punta Engaño, after the blessing of a newly asphalted road there.

Lapu-Lapu City Vice Mayor Mario Amores said it was more of a “get-together” than a formal meeting, and lasted from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The President steered clear of political discussion, said Amores, and instead briefed the local officials on her recent appointment of Court of Appeals Justice Mariano de Castillo and University of Santo Tomas Dean Roberto Abad as justices of the Supreme Court.

President Arroyo and former president Estrada’s first joint public appearance, eight years since he stepped down from power, “is something that gives us hope,” said Rez Cortez, one of Estrada’s political allies.

“Only in Cebu,” he said. “Imagine, even in Manila, hindi ito nangyayari (it never happens) that GMA and Erap are together in one occasion.”

Cortez said the former president was elated by the occasion.

“It’s because of Governor Gwen. This is something that gives us hope. Erap naman is open. It’s a spontaneous thing. It’s as if they just followed the natural of flow,” Cortez said.

The governor, for her part, also focused on the family affair.

“I’m really happy for Christina. Duke is such a good person… You can only make that life-long commitment if the two of you are compatible, share the same values and believe in the same principles,” she said.

“They found each other and I have gained another son.” (RSA/With EOB and JKV/Sun.Star Cebu)