Jimmy and Joji sit by one of their three Christmas trees with their daughter Jamie, son-in-law Kiel and baby Sef.

MANILA, Philippines — According to business magazine writers, unauthorized biographers and various Oscar-winning Hollywood filmmakers, heads of top companies are neurotic tyrants who have no time for friends and family while their wives are usually depicted as perpetually miserable and humorless. Clearly, the writers who have painted those horrid pictures on our collective consciousness have never met Jaime “Jimmy” Bautista, president of Philippine Airlines, and his wife, Joji.

It is an overcast Saturday morning, but one wouldn’t know it from Jimmy Bautista’s sunny disposition as he ushers us into his Magallanes Village abode. Upon entering, we are greeted by a life-sized dancing Santa Claus and Jimmy’s seven-month-old grandson, Sef. It is obvious from the sudden twinkle in Jimmy’s eyes that he adores the little boy. While he plays with his pride and joy, his lovely wife, Joji, descends from the stairs and greets us like old friends. “Do I look okay? I couldn’t decide what to wear!” she tells us by way of greeting. She is grinning from ear to ear and is as bubbly and giddy as a teenage girl, in contrast to her cheerful but solemn husband.

While her husband is busy talking to our photographer, we take her aside for some girl talk to learn the love story between her and Jimmy. She begins by casually telling us about how they met while they were both working as accountants at SGV.

“We used to work for the same company,” she starts. “We saw each other all the time, we lined up to get office supplies together.” Her voice then drops to an almost conspiratorial whisper. “He was my very first boyfriend,” she says with a shy grin. “I think he had about 15 to 20 girlfriends before me.” She suddenly surprises us when she shouts at Jimmy across the room, “Jimmy! You had many girlfriends before me, right?” Her husband looks confused for a few seconds and then shrugs with a knowing smile. Joji then turns to us and says, “I just don’t know whether those women were actually aware that they were supposedly Jimmy’s girlfriends!” she laughs.

As our photographer whisks them away to take some pictures at their memory-filled living room, we ask Jimmy about the numerous golf trophies sprinkled on various surfaces. In between poses, he confides that he has been a golf fanatic for almost 20 years and Joji, 10. He talks about the tournaments he has joined, but he saves his proudest smile for when he shows us the trophy that Joji has brought home for hitting a hole-in-one. “I’ve been playing longer than she has, but look! She has hit a hole-in-one and I haven’t!” The couple spends many weekends playing golf together, both in Metro Manila and in Tagaytay. It is a passion that the couple shares, but it took a while before Joji warmed to the idea of hitting a dimpled ball across a green field.

“I wasn’t interested in golf before,” admits Joji. “In fact, a few years ago, I would get annoyed whenever Jimmy would leave on weekends to play golf. We would argue about it until finally, I thought, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them.’” She adds, “After I stopped working and our daughter graduated from college, I got really bored. I’m glad I took up golf. Apart from letting me spend more time with Jimmy, golf became a hobby that allowed me to meet new friends and have something for myself. It was like getting my second wind.” In fact, it was Jimmy who helped her make that decision by giving her a set of golf clubs one Christmas. “It took about a year before she actually used it, though,” he recalls warmly. “But now, she’s more competitive!”

After the first set of photos have been shot, the couple starts to rise to change their outfits. They are, however, interrupted by the arrival of the young prince of the castle, their grandson. While the doting granddad plays with Sef, we take the opportunity to ask Joji to continue the tale of their courtship. “We dated for about two years. Jimmyyyyy!” she calls out. “We dated for two years before we got married, right?” Her husband looks up and confidently says, “I proposed in August 1980 and then, we got married in 1982.” Wait, a man who actually remembers anniversaries?! Another Hollywood cliché has been destroyed! It gets even more interesting when Joji admits that they don’t really celebrate anniversaries. That’s quite a feat, considering that they will celebrate (err... uncelebrate?) their 30thanniversary in January.

So how did Jimmy first ask Joji out? “It was only when he started working for Lucio Tan that he was able to ask me out. May pera na kasi siya noon!” she confides, laughing. “We had our first date at Kowloon House!” After that, though, things got serious enough for Jimmy to propose. “We did wait, though,” says Joji. “We waited until we were able to save enough money to get married. We did not ask for our parents’ support,” she shares before finally getting changed for the next series of photos.

As she descends down the stairs wearing her golf duds, she proudly shows us her shirt. “PAL! Of course!” Obviously, Jimmy is wearing a PAL shirt, too. We move to the garden where she and Jimmy pose for photographs. Our photographer tells Joji to pose as if she were teaching Jimmy how to play. She slips into her role easily, almost too easily, in fact. She even jokes, “Pretend I’m your caddy!” before saying, “You won’t hit a thing with that grip.” It’s impossible not to be charmed by their exchanges and by how uninhibited they are, in spite of the presence of people they’ve just met.

Before long, it is time to pose with the whole family. Jimmy and Joji sit by one of their three Christmas trees with their daughter Jamie, son-in-law Kiel and baby Sef. The affection in the room is palpable and later, Joji tells us why. “After we got married, I stopped working because Jimmy wanted to have a big family. However, we only had one daughter, so when Sef was born, it was like we had a new baby.”

She says that the arrival of Sef changed the entire household, Jimmy, especially. She talks about how Jimmy now comes home for lunch when he’s not drowning in work, to spend more time with the family. But what is the biggest impact of Sef’s arrival? “Before, when Jimmy would post pictures of himself on Facebook, no one would ‘Like’ it. Now, when he posts pictures of him AND Sef, he would get 800 ‘Likes’ in a day!” she jokes.

Throughout the exchange, Jimmy remains silent, but he never stops smiling at his wife’s jests lovingly. As we set up the next location for the shoot, we ask Jimmy about his and Joji’s travels. Of course, the president of Philippine Airlines must have traveled all over the world, right? “We have traveled all over Asia, but Joji hasn’t been to Taipei yet, so I would like to take her there someday.

We’ve also been to Europe and Africa and various places in the United States,” he says. Most of their trips were taken with their daughter, though. So when was the last time that he and Joji traveled as a couple? Joji answers the question and says, “We went to Hawaii together last July. It was around the time when there were so many issues with work, so he really needed it.

I was so happy for him because when we were there, he was so relaxed. He didn’t think about work, about problems. There was just... us.” Joji does say that her favorite destination is still Paris, so when we ask them to pose near one of the many globes around the house, she points at Paris, dreamily looks at Jimmy and says, “Dadalhin mo ako dito?” and he replies, “Dadalhin kita diyan” with an equally dreamy look in his eyes. You couldn’t fake that kind of chemistry!

We finally had to pry the starry-eyed lovers apart long enough to take the final set of photographs, but to paraphrase the biblical quote, “What God has put together, let no writer and photographer put asunder.” After a few shots, our photographer suggests that Jimmy move closer to Joji. In response, Joji jokingly scolds her husband, “Come closer! Hawakan mo kasi ako!” And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as he puts his hands around his wife’s waist, he tells her, “Ngayon ko lang nalaman na ang ganda ganda mo pa rin pala.” Sigh.

So how does a couple maintain this kind of relationship for 30 years? “You really need to work on it,” says Jimmy. “It’s a give and take relationship.” Joji nods in agreement before adding, “He always gives and I always take!” Afterward, she seriously says, “I am very lucky. Jimmy is a very kind man. He doesn’t know how to get angry” while holding his hand. Jimmy replies, “She’s very understanding. My job is very demanding. It takes up a lot of my time and she understands that.”

And what are some of their favorite memories as a couple? They both say, “It gets better every year.” Joji adds, “We’ve been so blessed. The first few years of our marriage were very difficult. We didn’t have a lot of money and we used to live in a place that didn’t even have water. Imagine, Jimmy had to get water from a pump every single day.”

She looks as if she couldn’t believe it. “And that was around the time when our daughter was born,” she says. “When we didn’t have a maid, Jimmy would wash our daughter’s diapers. Sugat-sugat yung kamay niya noon!” Through hard work and teamwork, they were able to reach the position they are in now, but they remain humble and true to themselves. Jimmy explains, “I think it’s because we have the same values. We’re both from the province. We’ve never reached for nor wanted things that were beyond our means.”

From a first date at Kowloon House to a jet set lifestyle, the Bautistas have shown that true love and a sense of humor can certainly help a couple weather many storms and that no matter how high one rises in this world, one’s values will ensure that he always stays down-to-earth. Now, that’s something to write about and something other powerful men can learn from!