A 2.16-km ride to forever: couple gets engaged on the San Juanico bridge

Marriage proposals seem to be getting bigger and more attention-grabbing these days.

 

From choreographing flash mobs to riding hot air balloons , to hijacking graduation ceremonies, and making a scene at the international airport, love struck men seem to be resorting to all sorts of extremes to get their beloved women to say yes to that enduring question.

 

For Jayzon Palma, however, it was a return to the basics that got his fiancée Leira Cenizal to agree to spend the rest of her life with him.

 

To propose to Leira, or i, as she likes to be called, all he needed was a pair of bikes, a camera, and, yes, the 2.16-km long San Juanico Bridge — a “testimonial of love” from then-president Ferdinand Marcos to his flamboyant first lady. The bridge is also the longest one in the country.

 

Palma, who goes by the name jzn, a graphic designer, photographer and fixed gear rider, decided to propose simply because, as he told GMA News Online, “I knew she’s the one for me.”

Off to Tacloban

 

Last June 9, the couple woke up at the break of dawn and caught an early flight to Tacloban City. As soon as they reached the airport, they assembled their bikes and made their way to San Juanico bridge.

 

“I just wanted to surprise her, just to see the Marcos bridge… Our late president gave it to his first lady Imelda as a testimonial of love. I bought her a plane ticket to see the testimony,” jzn said.

 

The actual proposal favored tenderness over tumult—jzn asked the all-important question over the simple act of taking his beloved’s hand.

 

“We were both sitting on the top tube of our bikes. I grabbed her hand and proposed… She said yes, smiled, then we rode,” he shared.

 

On i’s part, she said that she appreciated the thoughtfulness that went in to the proposal.

 

“I was touched. People nowadays aren’t traditional, but he still found a way to propose with a ring and ask me to marry him,” she said in a text to GMA News Online.

 

“Considering the San Juanico bridge, the symbol behind it, pinag-isipan niya talaga ‘yung proposal. It really brings a big smile to my heart,” she added. Bike rides together

 

Riding, it seems, has always marked the most important moments in the couple’s relationship.

 

Jzn and i have known each other for 10 years, after being introduced to each other in college by i’s cousin, who at that time worked with jzn at a fast-food chain.  

 

Since then, the two have been best friends, and became a couple in 2010, which was the same time they started riding their fixed gear bikes.

 

According to i, they had their first kiss during their first ride together.

 

“Since then, we couldn’t help but meet each other and ride. No brakes for us,” she shared. –KG, GMA News