Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
"I did not get to take the Bar or practice law in the Philippines anymore because of the love story I have with my then girlfriend, who is now my wife," said Atty. Arvin Amatorio, current Mayor of Bergenfield County in New Jersey, in response to the question on how he came to be in the United States of America.
Ilya Evangelista, who was working at the Department of Interior and Local Government then, attended a seminar with the United Nations in New York in September 2001. She happens to be a registered nurse, so although she didn't intend to migrate there, when fellow Filipinos found out, they convinced her to stay. This was a time when US immigration was friendly to Filipino nurses, so right away a company hired her, and her stay was right away legalized as an immigrant worker.