Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hopped from one table to the next, chatted with people and posed for selfies on Sunday at a fast food chain store in Manila, charming residents of the Philippines capital for the second time in two years.
Trudeau, who is in Manila for a summit of regional leaders, dropped in at an outlet of fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. after a visit to a nearby women’s clinic that advocates family planning, a touchy subject in the Catholic-majority Philippines.
After ordering fried chicken and a strawberry float, he greeted nearly everyone in the store, shaking hands and exchanging hugs with fans.
“Can I get it to go? I’ll eat it in the car,” Trudeau said before going behind the counter for a photograph with Jollibee staff.
Earlier, when he landed at Clark airport, a smiling Trudeau waded into a crowd of children gathered to greet dignitaries arriving for the summit, exchanging high fives and waving to others.
During his last visit to Manila, Trudeau won a Twitter poll with the hashtag #APEChottie, which asked people to vote for the most attractive leader at the 2015 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
“He’s so handsome! And he’s very nice,” said 29-year-old Rina Aparicio, among the customers at the fast food outlet. “I asked for a selfie, and he said yes right away.”
Outside the store, hundreds of people screamed and shouted as Trudeau got into his car, waving what appeared to be hastily written placards saying, “Welcome to the Philippines!”
Trudeau visited the first Jollibee store in Winnipeg, Canada in January, a country with hundreds of thousands of Filipino immigrants.
Jollibee, a $5 billion company that has been dubbed the McDonald’s of the Philippines, is looking to go global. Its primary targets include China and the United States.
The company, which also serves burgers and sweet spaghetti, is opening another outlet in Winnipeg this month, and Jose Minana, a Jollibee executive, said the number of outlets will increase to 30 in five to ten years.
Minana said the company did not seek out Trudeau for the visit and that Canadian officials requested it.
“We’re very humbled by him taking time from his busy schedule to give us a slice of his time,” said Minana.
“I’d like also to think that he enjoys the food.” (Reuters)
