Baligod weds girlfriend, Binay among principal sponsors

Lawyer Levito Baligod, the former counsel to several pork barrel scam whistleblowers, married his girlfriend of nine months Wednesday.

Baligod, a widower who lost his first wife to cancer in February 2013, wed Marilou Galenzoga, a former Leyte mayoralty candidate, a report on GMA News TV’s "Unang Balita" said Thursday.



Present in their wedding was Vice President Jejomar Binay, who served as one of the principal sponsors. Another prominent personality, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, was also a sponsor.

Baligod, at a media forum on Monday, said they picked Binay as a principal sponsor because “he is like a mentor to her,” referring to Galenzoga.

Galenzoga was a regional officer of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), the coalition formed by Binay and former President and now Manila mayor Joseph Estrada for the 2013 elections.

Despite Binay’s affiliation with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, both UNA members tagged in the alleged pork barrel scam, Baligod said there was no politics in choosing Binay as a sponsor.

“My fiancé is the regional chair of UNA in Region VIII. Her relationship with Vice President Binay transcends politics. Kaya 'di accurate na sabihin political move na ninong namin siya,” Baligod said, adding that he thought long and hard before including Binay’s name in their roster of sponsors.

He finally gave the decision to Galenzoga.

“Sabi ko if you really want him [to be ninong], let’s get him,” Baligod said.

Binay has already expressed his intention to run for president in the 2016 local and national elections. —Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News