Matchmaker finds his match in Philippines

SETTING up a dating agency was virgin territory for 64-year-old Chris Sexton. The single Clare farmer put his hand to the plough to find brides for lonely country men.

However, the Milltown Malbay man struck gold himself when he toured the Philippines to find prospective clients.

“Yes, I got lucky,” he said yesterday, as he begins to prepare for a June wedding to his 22-year-old bride-to-be.

And the good news for lonely bachelors, he said, was that his new-found agency had upwards of 75 young women anxious to meet Irish men.

He set up the East-West Matchmaking agency with a Filipino woman, Bhebie Carpendale. During his first trip to Manila in January last, he met his bribe-to-be Mavric Tigbao.

“It just happened by accident,” he said. “Bhebie and myself were in the Philippines to interview young women, with a view to marriage, for our agency’s books.

“On the way to a local festival, I met Mavric who was introduced by Bhebie’s brother.

“I sat beside her for most of the night, we didn’t say an awful lot the first time we met but I heard later she had an interest in me.

“It wasn’t love at first sight - I didn’t fall in love with her right away.”

However, after their love blossomed during a four-day period in Manila, the pair have kept in touch months through text messages.

“We text each other maybe two, three or four times a day,” he said.

Mr Sexton said he never expected to become his agency’s first client but disclosed he always “kept his options open”. The agency, he said, was set up to help lonely farmers, in particular.

Mr Sexton said: “City lads are able to look after themselves, but there are still hundreds of farmers who never got around to getting a woman.”

His business partner, Bhebie, said prospective clients can contact the agency, which also has a base in Waterford, through fax or e-mail.

However, she said men wanting to meet new partners will have to travel to the Philippines.

Bhebie and Chris said they will accompany their Irish clients.