PNoy snubs steak, eats seafood in observance of Ash Wednesday

President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday refused to eat steak, one of his favorite foods, and instead ordered a seafood dish in observance of the start of the Catholics' Lenten season. At a press briefing in Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said President Aquino and his delegation were on their last activity at the Resorts World Singapore Wednesday night when the “sumptuous dinner" was served. As narrated by Presidential Communications Operations head Herminio Coloma to Lacierda, the President, upon seeing the meal, told the people with him on the table, “I could just hear my mom telling me that there are only two days in a year that you should do fasting and abstinence and today is one of those days." Aside from Ash Wednesday, the other day is Good Friday. Aquino's mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, was a devout Catholic. “So he [Aquino] didn’t eat the steak, he just ordered a seafood. So a very good Catholic, he observed the Ash Wednesday tradition," Lacierda said.

Before the dinner at Resort’s World, the President was stuck in an elevator after visiting the Changi Water Reclamation Plant. With him were Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Coloma and Trade Secretary Greg Domingo. “Na-trap sila for 20 minutes and they had to walk 25 flight upstairs. So they decided after 20 minutes to just walk up," Lacierda said. — LBG/KBK, GMA News