CHAPTER 10: FROM FPJ TO ERAP

 

Photo from Singson's FB Page

I

n 2006, while the plunder case against him was being tried at the Sandiganbayan, Erap disowned Chavit as one of his close friends. “I have only one close friend, the late actor Fernando Poe, Jr. Gov. Singson is just an ordinary friend and a political ally,” Erap declared from the witness stand.

Chavit earlier tried to convince the graft court that he and Erap were heretofore bosom buddies by testifying, among other things, that Jacob, Erap’s son by Laarni Enriquez, was his baptismal godson while Erap stood as sponsor in the wedding with his two children, namely Racquel and Randy.  

On another occasion and from interviews I had with him, Chavit would reveal that he and Erap became friends through FPJ.

Chavit recalled how the three of them connected:

In the early sixties while he was still young, Chavit had helped out in managing some of his family’s businesses. One of the businesses was his mother’s movie production outfit.

The movie business gave occasion for Chavit to meet the late Fernando Poe Jr., also known as FPJ (Ronnie to close friends and family members). FPJ was a movie icon in the Philippines—actor, producer and director—and often shot his films in Vigan. He also ran for President of the Philippines in 2004.

In time, the association between Chavit and FPJ evolved. They became partners in business, in work, and in leisure. As drinking buddies, they could while away the hours with alcohol as booster.

“The moment they got to start a drinking session, they hated to part until one was virtually dead,” a source recounted the times when both Chavit and FPJ had those intoxicating refills together.

Another common hobby for the two would be rifle shooting. While FFJ showed his skills in films, Chavit flaunted his prowess in actual competition. He in fact had won several shooting championships in the Philippines and abroad.

Chavit stood almost a foot shorter than FPJ, “but I could easily outbox him,” Chavit boasted. “Those rapid shots to the body are only done in the movies. He dreaded me when it comes to actual physical fight.”

He recalled an incident in Yabut Apartelle in Makati. “I used to stay there whenever I travel to Manila from Ilocos Sur. And Ronnie would often come over whenever he was free from business and domestic concerns.”

One day Chavit found Ronnie waiting for him at the place. “He was at the lobby, gulping beer,” Chavit narrated. “He wanted me to join him. I said ‘no, pare, I need to go somewhere else.’”

“When I returned to the Apartelle the next morning, he was still there, with hardly a sign that he ever rested from his guzzling bout.”

“He accosted me: ‘Why did you leave me, pare?’,” Chavit continued. “Then he nagged me again about joining him at his table. I got pissed off and I pummeled him down to the floor.”

For a time Chavit and FPJ did not see eye to eye. But they were barkada (clique) and neither of them could wait too long to get reconciled. FPJ sent Erap, who by then had been a common friend, to Chavit to try to patch things up.

Erap’s peace offensive worked and soon the ties that bound the barkada tightened, again.

Erap was close to FPJ as FPJ was close to Chavit. But as time progressed, due to common interests, one became as close to any of the other two. All three had thriving business interests—FPJ and Erap in films, Chavit in trading, utilities and, by this time, mining.

Years later Erap and Chavit would be drawn more closely to each other than FPJ would to any of the two, simply because both had interests in which FPJ had little, at least back in the day, which was politics and mahjong (not to mention casino, of course).

“Between us, I can’t say who the better mahjong player is,” Chavit said. “But Erap hated to lose, and those sessions were bound to drag on until he found a way to win.”

In a November 14, 2000 article (A Portrait of Lifestyle and Liability) published by International Herald Tribune, author Thomas Fuller said:

“Before their falling out, Mr. Singson said he and the president spent hours gambling and drinking together in the presidential mansion, at mistress’ houses, on the presidential yacht, at Mr. Estrada’s house in Los Angeles and in hotels around the world.”

Speaking of common interests, all three—Chavit, Erap and FPJ—had monstrous appetites for women. We may correct that: young women.

FPJ had publicly admitted to having sired at least one child each from actress Anna Marin and model Rowena Moran. He was legally married to Susan (Jesus Sonora in real life), a union which, however, did not produce any offspring. They went on to adopt Grace Llamanzares as their own child.

Chavit would not say how many children he has. But a source said he had between 30 to 40 children, most of them having different mothers. He married childhood friend Evelyn Verzosa when he was 21. After 20 years of marriage, they separated. They had 7 children, namely Richard, Randolf, Regina, Ronald, Rommel, Raquel, and Ryan; two of them—Ronald and Ryan—are also deep into politics and business.

Erap of course had his EZs—Guia Gomez, Laarni Enriquez, Joy Melendrez and Rowena Lopez among them—with whom he had children. (Erap denied the Lopez affair and the rumor that he had a child with her.) He also had 3 children with Loi, the legal wife.

When Erap became President and money poured in like it had no limit, the drive for sex was likewise limitless.

Part of the Fuller article said:

“If the impeachment process against Mr. Estrada loses its momentum, Mr. Singson said he would disclose the names of Mr. Estrada’s ‘many’ girlfriends and show copies of the checks that he wrote for them on the president's instructions. ‘He’s always looking for new young women,’ Mr. Singson said. He said that during all-night drinking and gambling sessions, a mistress or girlfriend was often present and that he would be instructed by the president to ‘give her 1 million’ pesos.”[1]

Chavit himself had at one time made known what his preference was when it came to the opposite sex. In an autobiography which he co-wrote with Linda Limpe, he was quoted to have quipped: “If I had any interest in women, the youngest that would be my type would be 32 years old divided by two.”

In the grand design of nature, the male species represented by the likes of Erap, Chavit and FPJ are the most fit to send their genes to the next generation. The female kind looks for them to ensure that their offsprings inherit the best there is that the reproduction process can offer. The male kind, in turn, guards with their lives their harem of young females. This, too, is by design, as young mothers make the probability of delivering quality offsprings higher.  

Among the beasts, the strongest and most aggressive among the males win the sperm wars. Among humans, the strongest, most aggressive, wealthiest and handsomest among males are most deserving of copulation. However, in so-called civilized societies, the laws of heaven and earth often make it look like it is level for everybody. Thus, even the weaklings and the ugly can have their day (or night) in bed, as it were, and go on to sire children who almost likely could be as weak and ugly as they are, and yet they do get to have a shot at their own immortality. A word of caution here: wealth can make the laws of men more equal for one than for others.

For a man who spent billions[2] to satisfy his drive for sex, Erap rationalized himself when he allowed convicted rapist Leo Echagaray to die by lethal injection by saying: “I cannot give him pardon because his crime was not caused by poverty.” But perhaps being rich like Erap could have freed Echagaray from the need to comit such a crime, as one gets to keep harems for himself, and satisfy whatever size of sexual craving he may have.

Of the three barkadas, it was Chavit who figured in a nasty and publicized quarrel over a woman. In 2007, he hugged media headlines, and was slapped with a generally negative public opinion, for beating common-law wife Che Tiongson (with whom he has 5 children) and Richard Catral, at that time her rumored boyfriend. Chavit said he caught them in flagrante de lecto, and felt he needed to teach them both a lesson.

Tiongson brought Chavit to court for physical abuse, but they eventually settled amicably. She said the case was filed to compel Chavit, who had custody of their children, to grant her visiting rights, among other things. Chavit gave in.

In one of its blog posts, Pronatal.org explained away its notion of “primal human reproductive interests” by which one may venture to analyze Chavit—or any other man in a similar situation. It reported that “he wanted “custody of his 5 children with Che, [because] patriarchs are interested more in children than just sex. Sex is merely a tool to make children.”

That, of course, would be insofar as patriarchs go. There could be men, or women—great as they are—who might just want to make love and have fun, regardless of whether offsprings would emerge from it or not.

EPILOGUE

After presiding over the affairs of the Province of Ilocos Sur for decades, Chavit sort of retired from politics in 2016 to focus, he said, on his business interests.[3]

One may also recall that aside from being a politician and businessman, Chavit is a sportsman. He remains active in shooting competitions; he travels around the globe to join hunting safaris in places where these are legal.

He is also a boxing fan. His association, as business and political adviser, with former 8-division world boxing champion and currently Senator Manny Pacquiao is widely known in the Philippines and other parts of the world, especially in some major cities of the USA

Early this year (2017), the Philippines hosted the 65^th Miss Universe pageant. Chavit came forward to sponsor it and spent at least $13 million (around Php 650 million) of his personal money to cover all costs related to it.

He assured those who asked that he could afford it.

There had been no shortage of information linking Chavit to riches, but what seemed to be unmitigated gallantry on his part could not but stoke curiosity. How deep, really, is his pocket?

His investments, according to reports, earn him—let’s correct that: net him—at least Php 120 million every month. The figure may not astound if ranged against those that other big dogs of Philippine business rake in; but surely it is not something that one may sneeze at either.

In a January 2017 report, Entrepreneur PH interviewed Chavit on why and how rich he was. Quoted below are part of that interview:

“My net revenues amount to about Php120 million a month. There are a lot (of companies). I have many businesses that earn millions.

“The construction (business) I make billions; the transportation (business), I’m netting around Php100 million a month; I’ve earned Php1 billion from that in previous years, just for transportation.”

In that same interview, Chavit mentioned that his relatively new ventures included a commercial airline that will fly domestic and international routes, a bank in Puerto Rico (Vigan Banco International) which recently opened branches in Los Angeles (California) and Mexico, and local branches of GO Sport, one of Europe’s largest sporting goods chains.

When asked how many companies he owns, he said: “There are a lot. Maybe around a hundred. Some of them aren’t in my name.”

Given such a veritable proof of how good he is at what he does, it may surprise no one to think that hosting the pageant at such a huge expense was, after all, a sound business decision.

While there were ways by which he could recoup at least part of expenses, losing any amount could more than compensate for the goodwill he generated with the government. A way of giving back, he said.

And he wants people to believe him. In an interview I had with him on his spat with Erap, he said:

“I am sincere. And lahat ng sasabihin ko… at kung magsalita ako kailangan totoo dahil yon ang kabilinbilinan ng aking Tatay (Everything that I will say…I need to speak the truth because that is what my Father told me)… na oras na masira ang credibility mo wala ng maniniwala sa yo (that in the event that I lose my credibility, nobody will ever believe me), kaya wag ka magsalita ng di mo magagawa (so do not say anything you cannot support with action). So yon ang palagi kong ginagawa (that’s what I always do), that’s the reason why in politics I always win by a landslide. Because I’m sincere to serve the people. At saka may isang salita lang ako. (And people have my word.)

People, especially those outside of Ilocos Sur, may either believe in what he says or not, but there is one thing about which there can be little dispute: Chavit will remain in public view, retired or not.

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[1] Chavit charged expenses like this to the jueteng protection money he collected for Erap. A portion of the Sandiganbayan decision reads: “Gov. Singson considered the biggest among the expenses charged to the ‘Tax’ the One Million Two Hundred Thousand Pesos (P1,200,000.00) given to Laarni Enriquez whom Gov. Singson described as the most beloved or favorite of FPres. Estrada. According to Gov. Singson, he was assessed, like other persons who attended the birthday party of Laarni, the aforesaid P1,200,000.00 as his share in the price of the necklace birthday gift amounting to Thirteen Million Pesos (P13,000,000.00) for Laarni. Jaime Dichaves collected the said amount from Gov. Singson after the party. Gov. Singson paid by check which was deposited in the account of Laarni at PSBank. It was Congressman Mark Jimenez who pinpointed the guests who would share (P1,200,000.00) each for the gift for Laarni after they had just finished playing mahjong with FPres. Estrada during the party. Gov. Singson charged the P1,200,000.00 as ‘tax’ in the jueteng collection because it was “a big amount of money.’” 

[2] His plunder case—for which he was convicted—charged that he amassed more than 4 billion pesos of ill-gotten wealth, most of which were used to support the lavish lifestyles of his women, such as buying properties for them or beefing up their bank accounts.

[3] Chavit did run and win a seat in the SB of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur.