Lest The Old Feuds & Scandals Die Away
/
The All-time, Most Glamorous Catfight– between Alexis (Joan Collins) and Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans) of DYNASTY, TV legend –filmed at the famed Filoli Gardens in Woodside, California.
For most of the 20th century (and even today) there were the perennial collegiate and culture wars. You were either Ateneo or De La Salle, UP or UST. The daughters of the elite were spread out among Assumption, Maryknoll/Miriam, St. Scholastica’s or the late St. Theresa’s. More often than not, these led to feuds, but not necessarily violent ones.
Certainly, one of the biggest, nastiest feuds with far-reaching consequences was the Marcos-Lopez feud of the 1960s and 1970s, which like the oldest feuds, turned into life-and-death matters. That feud has been written about ad infinitum, but there are other high-powered feuds that have enthralled Manila’s social, chi-chi set over the years, which we’ll get to later.
But first, a delicious confrontation that never happened.
Fake Feud. Darn!!
This list will stray from the usual legal wife vs. querida (mistress) squabbles. So that cuts out the supposed slugging, slapping episode in which Imelda Marcos, in her early years as first lady, had it out with 1960s chanteuse Carmen Soriano (no relation to the mestizo Soriano oligarchs) at the Philippine consulate in San Francisco.
Chanteuse Carmen Soriano, mother of actor Lloyd Samartino.
The salacious scuttlebutt was that Ferdinand Marcos had cast his roving eye on Ms. Soriano, and of course, when Imelda found out, she all but summoned the unholy forces of hell to avenge her honor. Supposedly, it came to a head when Imelda arranged a meeting with Soriano in San Francisco under the watchful eye of the Philippine consul then. Soriano supposedly went into self-exile abroad. But darn it, the rumored affair and the showdown apparently never happened.
Now, for the real McCoys.
Over the decades, there have been other simmering, famous feuds in the various fiefdoms of the old country.
• In the second major metropolitan area of the Philippines, Cebu, in the 1960s-1970s, the Duranos challenged the Osmeñas, the kingpin family of the area;
• In Central Luzon, there were various rivalries between the Cojuangcos, the Aquinos, the Macapagal-Arroyos, depending on how the winds blow and shift;
• In Camarines Sur where the present Vice President, Leni Robredo, hails from, the Fuentebellas and the Villafuertes have been at each other’s throats for a long while.
• Some of the bloodiest confrontasi between the Singsons and their arch enemies, the Crisologos took place in Ilocos Sur. (We wrote about Luis Chavit Singson earlier - http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/how-to-stage-a-billion-peso-plus-beauty-pageant
Closer to the Marcos hearth were the couple’s internecine skirmishes with their in-laws. First, sometime in 1981, older daughter Imee fell for sportsman Tommy Manotoc, who was not only divorced from the second Filipina Miss International, Aurora Pijuan (a Dominican Republic divorce not recognized in the Philippines) but also happened to be a nephew of two wives of Marcos’ better known rivals: Mrs. Raul Manglapus and then Mrs. Geny Lopez were Manotoc’s aunts. To thwart the union, Marcos and Imelda first had Manotoc abducted, but when they could not cow Imee, they had a disheveled Manotoc secretly released with a face-saving, neutral backstory.
Not too long after that, the Marcos couple only had slightly better luck with their second daughter, Irene. Two short years after the Imee-Manotoc episode, Irene married Greggy Araneta, the only son of Manila celebrity architect Luis Ma. Araneta. Ferdinand and Imelda easily accepted Greggy because he was their entrée into the ranks of Manila’s old families, but they never really got along with their balae (in-law) Araneta, who was with the opposition and supported anti-Marcos protests. Ah, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and true love.
Power and Inheritance Feuds en Famille
More than anything, self-destructive family feuds are always about property and inheritance. Some you may already know, some you are vaguely familiar with, and some I am filling in the unknown cracks for the first time here. Some of these most celebrated examples of scandals of the past are:
The Ilusorios
Certainly one of the most public, vexatious, litigious, probably one of the most expensive (in terms of legal costs) Manila family feuds was that involving businessman Potenciano (“Nanoy”) Ilusorio. (We told the full story in March, 2015: http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-ilusorio-family-inheritance-wars.)
The Ilusorio family in happier times on a chartered French river barge, 1992, on the occasion of the couple’s golden wedding anniversary. Seated in the center are patriarch Nanoy Ilusorio (grey jacket) and his wife, Erlinda (Nena), surrounded by their various children, in-laws, and two family friends.
UPDATE: On February 17, 2016, (Mrs.) Erlinda K. Ilusorio passed away quietly in New York City. One would think that with the matriarch’s passing, the deeply divided family would close ranks. It did not. Erlinda’s passing was kept secret from the others in Manila and elsewhere by two of the children on her team, Ramon and Shereen,. Even one granddaughter, who lived in the same NYC building as her grandmother, but who was presumably a child of the opposing faction, was kept in the dark about her grandmother’s death. The secrecy was perhaps to deny access to Erlinda’s body, valuable personal effects and to block last-minute maneuvers by the other side (those opposed to their mother in life). Presumably, after nearly two decades of subpoenas, summonses, court writs, etc., the Ilusorio siblings had buried the hatchet in what has been dubbed as the Mother of All Family Wars in Manila’s social and judicial journals. (BTW, freshest scuttlebutt from Manila is that beauteous socialite Tingting Cojuangco, having already split from longtime husband, Peping, President Cory’s older brother, has now partnered with Ray Ilusorio, the oldest Ilusorio son.)
Hellfire & Brimstone at the INC
No sooner was the Ilusorio family scandal winding down than another internecine, powerful family battle erupted. In July 2015, the ruling family of one of the Philippines’ most powerful religious/political blocs, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), an independent Christian sect, were publicly confronting each other. Even though its numbers pale in comparison with the Roman Catholic Church and Islam, statistics claim that about 2.7% of Filipinos swear fealty to INC, or nearly three million members in a country of 105 million. The INC is seen as a “kingmaker” in Philippine politics because it can deliver a solid 2.5 million votes to politicians who came a-courting. The tightness and discipline of church adherents make it a force to reckon with.
The power of INC has been in the hands of its founding family, the Manalos. Whatever the Manalos wanted and decreed became dicta for the congregation, no disagreements brooked. Perhaps unknown to most of their followers, the Manalos and the executive board of the church, have lived in the “one-percent” lifestyle of the ruling Philippine elite. Like the Kims of North Korea, the ruling Manalo family of the INC is now in its third generation. The sect was founded and expanded by Felix Manalo in the first half of the 20th century when, for many years, it was based in suburban San Juan City. When Felix died in 1963, his son Eraño (Ka Erdy) Manalo took over, moved the headquarters to Quezon City while he took up residence in Forbes Park, the exclusive enclave of the Philippine elite. His son and heir, Eduardo, the present executive minister, of course, followed in his father’s footsteps and kept the Forbes Park address.
The erstwhile rock-solid INC public face crumbled in July 2015 when no less than two highly placed Manalo family members, Felix Nathaniel “Angel” Manalo, the younger brother of Eduardo, and their mother, Cristina “Tenney” Manalo, publicly complained that they and ten other ministers who joined them in questioning the church’s finances, had been held beyond their will at the INC headquarters, and that some other ministers’ whereabouts were unaccounted for. Like the Ilusorios, the family broke up into two factions, each side bringing in their respective army of lawyers to handle the charges of abductions, threats, countercharges, etc., all heretofore never aired before the public. But unlike the Ilusorios, it was more than just money and material assets; it also involved considerable power over a sizeable but very malleable base.
The headquarters compound of INC and its typical Flash Gordon-style/minarets architecture of its houses of worship.
One of the rare photos of the Manalos, the ruling family of the INC—the picture of a prosperous, well-fed Filipino family circa 1990s. (1) Eraño (Ka Erdy) Manalo who headed the church (1963-2009); (2) his wife, Cristina (“Tenney” nee Villaneva); (3) Eduardo, present Executive Minister; and (4) other son, Felix Nathaniel (“Angel”). Tenney and Angel led the “revolt” of 2015.
Long story short, the “rebellion” within the highest ranks of the church was a groundbreaker. Never before in its 100+ year history had the church presented anything but a rock-solid front to the Catholic rest of the Philippines. The 21st century challenge to the Highest Council was dealt with like an “excommunication,” with public shaming for those who veered from the prescribed path and dared to speak out.
Contrary to the supposedly thrifty and frugal lifestyle of Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo was a Rappler report that INC had its own jet planes, a widebody Airbus 330-202 and a Boeing Business Jet 737. The Airbus accommodates 85-215 passengers while the Boeing carries 20-30. Per Rappler, these billion-peso playthings were used for pastoral visits and personal trips by Ka Eduardo abroad. With one’s own private jets, it is easier to fly to new and growing congregations abroad, from its INC USA headquarters in Burlingame, California to the newest and thriving congregations in the UK and Barcelona. Not even the Vatican keeps or owns its own jets. The Holy See just leases Alitalia jets whenever the Pope takes his foreign travels.
More abductions and assassinations followed, forcing some ministers to seek political asylum in Canada. However, as of this writing, INC has closed ranks again, with an iron curtain of solidarity. Nothing more has been heard from or about Tenny, Angel, or any of the “recalcitrant” ministers in their camp. At 106 years old, INC counts 7,000 congregations in 151 countries, with a supposed worldwide following of 27 million worshippers—17 million more than the adherents of Aga Khan and 23.5 million more followers than the Dalai Lama.
Teyet and His Rivals
Then there is the late, redoubtable art collector, dilettante Dr. Eleuterio “Teyet” Pascual, one-time confidante to Imelda Marcos, who was involved in more than one “juicy gossip”/physical fracas. First, a little about Eleuterio Pascual, or “Teyet” to his high society intimates.
Pascual was a scion of Pascual Labs. He got his doctor of chemistry degree from the École polytechnique fédérale de Zurich in Switzerland. He had homes in Zurich and London where he stocked his art purchases from Europe until he had more space for them in Manila. He was also a voracious, knowledgeable art collector and a formidable high society raconteur. Pascual was possessed of a mischievous spirit. He was known among his select circles to have openly espoused something heretical, that the Philippine national hero was gay(!) But above all, Teyet was an intriguero (schemer) supreme. He was involved in at least three alta socieded feuds, two nearly all-out with “knives-showing” confrontations.
The reclusive, sometimes jocular, late society gossip Dr. Eleuterio “Teyet” Pascual in his renowned penthouse lair where every corner of wall and ceiling space was hung with artwork. Note the frames which hang from the ceiling and over-filled bookshelves. No one decorated, and to those who knew him, “schemed” like Pascual.
A life-long bachelor, Pascual supposedly was the real cause of the flamboyant ‘70s feud between couturier Pitoy Moreno and Oscar de Zalameda, the enfante terrible painter. (Coincidentally, Moreno was Madame Imelda’s favorite couturier at the time; Zalameda was supposedly her favorite local painter, while Pascual was just worming his way into her favor. Getting the drift now?)
The rumor went that at a select gathering of Manila’s bachelor-arts crowd, Moreno hurled a dinner plate meant for Pascual, but it went Zalameda’s way instead. Supposedly, it was over a lover (a basketball player) of either Pitoy or Pascual. Of course, Zalameda took umbrage since he got drawn into a feud, which should have been just between Moreno and Pascual. But if Pascual had indeed been the flint of the fracas, then it could have been something else besides the basketball player-boyfriend.
Jose “Pitoy” Moreno, 1925-2018, dean of Filipino fashion designers in his time.
Painter Oscar de Zalameda, 1930-2010 (Photo thanks to Isidra Reyes.)
Another running grande dame-style Pascual rivalry was supposedly with art collector and “Coconut King” Conrado “Ado” Escudero of Villa Escudero, Laguna fame. According to someone familiar with the two personalities, the rivalry between the duo was so bitter and bitchy that on one side, Pascual’s snarky nickname for Escudero was mag-lalatik (dried coconut vendor). Escudero retaliated with an even more pejorative term, mang-ba-bagoong (fermented shrimp paste purveyor), even though Pascual was only distantly related to bagoong-bottlers and had that advanced chemistry degree from Switzerland. Escudero, on the other hand, has a master’s in hotel management from Cornell University. One must ask: Did they even belong to the same Greek societies?
Teyet Pascual’s religious art collection, which often brought him in competition with Escudero and others specializing in this niche.
Finally, perhaps the most delicious confrontasi story involving Pascual was one he had with businesswoman Liding Oledan, who was also a private jeweler of Imelda Marcos. One of the first high-rise office buildings in the emerging Ayala Avenue in Makati in the 1960s bore the Oledan name. At the time, both Pascual and Oledan were among Imelda’s cordon sanitaire of confidantes and sycophants.
At a supposed private showing in Malacañang in which Oledan was going to present her newest jewelry pieces for client Imelda’s shopping delight, Pascual was the third wheel present. As Oledan showed Imelda the various pieces, Pascual started to chide the jeweler by making insidious comments like . . . parang Vulgari (“like Bulgari,” the Italian jewelry brand), a derisive pun. Oledan, who never got along with Pascual in the first place, took umbrage at Pascual’s impertinent remarks and started to foam at the mouth.
When Oledan brought out another piece and an allusion to the province of Bulacan came up (where Imelda claims some family connections), Pascual again chimed in with “. . .taga-Vulacan!” (a play on the Filipino term for “volcano,” bulkan).Olendan, a battle-axe herself, supposedly could no longer contain herself and lunged at Pascual, notwithstanding the first lady’s presence. Pascual apparently was having a whale of a time at Mrs. Oledan’s expense.
Jeweler to Imelda and erstwhile foil of Teyet Pascual, the late Manila businesswoman Liding Oledan, on her 87th birthday in 2014.
Imelda broke them up shortly, but was supposedly so bemused by those two fawning courtiers who slugged it out for her delectation. The inimitable and redoubtable Pascual passed away in 2012.
Pawn Stars (2006)
An all-out legal confrontasi, threatened to rend the Tambuntings, the erstwhile premier pawnshop business family of the Philippines in late 2006. It was only the latest in a long line of internecine wars regarding the inheritance of the Tambunting pawnshops. The business was nearly a century old (founded in 1907) and was the biggest pawnshop chain in the world at the time with over 1,000 branches around the country. The lawsuit was between then-patriarch, Joseling Tambunting, and his youngest sister, Tereret T. Liboro.
Ownership of the chain had splintered into various branches and factions over the years, but things came to a head when control of six lucrative branches and a mansion in Forbes Park became the subject of the lawsuit. Tereret, a society matron, philanthropist, and flamenco dancer, moved into the Forbes Park manse with her husband, Andy Liboro, upgrading from a residence in Greenhills, which apparently wasn’t good enough for them.
Charges and counter-charges of embezzlement and the like were tossed between the two parties. Of course, it was all about conspicuous consumption and the lifestyle of the champagne and caviar set. But before things got of hand, an out-of-court settlement was reached wherein the Liboros were allowed to spend the rest of their days in Forbes Park with Tereret flamenco-ing away to her heart’s content.
Space will limit us in recalling all the countless, even petty, and epic feuds of Manila’s old families, but this is a choice selection of some of them:
Invectives and Missiles Were Involved
Perhaps the most exciting, and as visceral as watching a train wreck, like the earlier Moreno-Zalameda face-off, was a feud with missiles involved. There is nothing like seeing a flying dinner plate or an airborne wine glass.
Minnie Osmeña vs. Dewi Sukarno (1991-92)
The flashiest imbroglio and one with international overtones, took place in Aspen, Colorado, in an actual physical brawl between jet-setting Cebu political heiress, thrice-married Minnie Osmeña Jacinto Cabarrus Stuart (sometimes nicknamed just “Minnie O,” like “Jackie O”) and Dewi Sukarno, the last of Indonesian dictator Sukarno’s wives.
Months before the New Year’s Eve party incident of 1991/2, the two principals had an odd meeting earlier that summer on the Marquis de Campoflorido’s yacht off Ibiza. A few months later, the setting was a private New Year’s Eve party at the equally jet-set resort of Aspen, Colorado, hosted by Austrian Prince Heinrich Han-au-Schaumburg. Some of the reputed celebrity guests that evening were Barbra Streisand, Ivana Trump, and Imelda boy-toy George Hamilton. So Osmeña and Sukarno crossed paths again and things quickly turned nasty. Osmeña reportedly called Sukarno a “whore” to her face. Naturally, Sukarno retaliated with a handy champagne glass hurled straight at Minnie’s face. Dewi drew blood on the Filipina socialite’s alabaster complexion.
Dewi was summarily charged with aggravated physical assault and was sentenced to 60-days in prison. While Sukarno served her time in an Aspen County jail, it is not known if Osmeña sought further damages from her assailant or not.
Caught at the Plastic Surgeon’s Office
But very strangely, about a year after the Aspen showdown, I had a cousin working part-time at a prominent Beverly Hills plastic surgeon’s clinic. Well, one day, who should walk in but none other than Minnie O? Of course, my cousin (let’s just call her Nita) who is no slouch in terms of Manila society credentials, recognized Minnie. So Nita very discreetly asked, “Aren’t you Minnie Osmeña?” Minnie very haughtily shot back: “How did you know that? You’re not supposed to know that.” Apparently, Osmeña was there for some follow-up treatment.
Catfight @ the Top of the Hilton (early 1960s)
Another Manila high-society feud was a tiff between scions of two high-powered clans in the mid-1960s. It was between Chito M. Vasquez of the Madrigals and Pilar Tuason-Manzano of the landed Tuasons. Much like the Osmeña-Sukarno fracas, Tuason and Madrigal ran into each other at a rather public place, the Top of the (Manila) Hilton restaurant, the in-spot at the time. Either looks and/or words were exchanged, but the wine in a glass in Manzano’s hand supposedly landed on Madrigal’s face. Before anyone could intervene, the two socialites reportedly were at each other’s coiffed bouffants.
The late Madrigal heiress, Chito Madrigal Vasquez
Pilar Tuason-Manzano; from a portrait by Antonio Garcia y Llamas.
The late Chito M-V was a lawyer and it is not known how the feud was resolved, but the Top of the Hilton waiters, working class blokes, were heard to remark (in the vernacular): “The rich aren’t that much different from us if that’s the way they act.”
In future years, the Madrigal name was dragged through the mud in at least two other high-profile scandals.
One involved the dissolution of the marriage of Susie Madrigal Bayot and Francisco “Pacqui” Ortigas, scions of two of Manila’s leading families. In their heyday, the match of Susie and Pacqui was about as “golden” as one could get in the small circles of Triple A-List families of old Manila. Susie was the only daughter of Josefina Madrigal and Francisco Bayot, Jr., while Pacqui was the oldest son and heir to the Ortigas fortune. Married for 43 years, with two daughters and an only son who died in a jet-skiing accident, things came to a head for the couple when Ortigas completed his assignment as Philippine ambassador to Mexico in 2010. On their return to Manila, Susie finally learned that Paqui was having an affair with his executive assistant, Marian Legarda, who also had been Susie’s best friend in school and for whom Susie helped get the EA job to her ambassador-husband.
The revelation was all the more shocking because the break-up had then become like any National Enquirer-Vegas tabloid divorce, with all the dirty laundry brought out for all to see. All the lurid details were in the open. But apparently Susie had had enough and it was already into the second decade of the 21st century, so Manila delicadeza be damned—she filed for dissolution of her marriage based on “concubinage” charges, supposedly a first in the annals of Philippine jurisprudence. Sadly, last word was that Susie Madrigal lost the case.
Two other cases involved the same two families.
Paqui Ortigas had a younger brother, Jose, who was married to Edwina Litton with whom Jose had two daughters. They were married until Jose’s death in a 1977 car crash. For reasons that have never been entirely clear to them even to this day, Edwina and her daughters “fell from favor” with their in-laws. Edwina has claimed that her husband’s family tried to denigrate her and her daughters’ legal status as the widow and rightful heirs of Jose. Legal and extrajudicial moves have been taken against Edwina and her two daughters. For example, Jose’s remains were taken from the old Ortigas mausoleum in La Loma Cemetery sometime in 2002, cremated and then interred in a new location without notifying Edwina and her daughters. For six months, the widow and her daughters were kept in the dark about the disappearance of Jose’s remains. It wasn’t until November 2007 when Edwina confronted brother-in-law, Paqui, at a social event that Jose’s remains were quickly reunited with Edwina and her daughters.
In addition, although Don Paco Ortigas, the late patriarch of the clan, safeguarded his two granddaughters’ (who were still minors in 1977) financial interests by asking a court to appoint an established bank to act as administrator and guardian ad litem, the other Ortigas heirs still pulled some financial trickery on their Litton-Ortigas cousins.
The other Ortigas siblings were alleged to have committed fraud against the Litton-Ortigas women by altering the signatures on the deed of ownership of a lucrative property on Ortigas Avenue that was solely Jose’s. One of the Litton-Ortigas’ lawsuits claimed that Jose’s name on the deed was crossed out and one of his brother’s names was substituted over it. The property in question should have gone to Jose’s heirs.
It’s very parallel to the recent suit just filed by author Mary Trump, against her uncle, US President Donald Trump, his sister, retired judge Maryanne Berry and the estate of their recently deceased third brother Robert, for millions Mary felt she was cheated of by her uncles when she was a minor and her father had passed away. Both Edwina and her daughters also filed their own suits against their father’s family for very similar reasons.
In 1990, Edwina filed suit against Philippine Banking Corp., two of its officers, and others for fraudulently concealing time deposit accounts representing proceeds of insurance policies in favor of the three Litton-Ortigas women. There was some sort of settlement. But more recently, daughters Michelle and Francesca, as their own adults, filed their own lawsuit for rightful shares in Ortigas Corporation stock, which appreciated considerably with an infusion of nearly a billion pesos when ShoeMart Corporation invested in the venture. As the wheels of Philippine justice grind so slowly, the latter case filed by the Litton-Ortigas sisters is still unresolved at this time.
Still another more recent vignette on the Madrigal side: After Chito Madrigal’s passing in 2008, most of her assets were bequeathed to her widower, Manuel Collantes, his relations, and her other Madrigal nephews and nieces. But a favored niece, one-time Senator Jamby Madrigal, was left out. Jamby claimed that her late aunt’s last will and testament be declared null and void, citing alleged “serious irregularities” (like the Litton-Ortigas situation) left out Chito’s favored Consuelo Chito Madrigal Foundation all together, and involved alleged forged signatures of two of the beneficiaries: those of Jamby’s own sister, Susana Madrigal-Eduque, and their cousin, Gizela Gonzales Montinola. The former was named heir to 40 percent of Chito’s residuary estate and the latter got 20 percent. Jamby asserted that her aunt would not have excluded the foundation in her will since she cared very much for it and those it helps. Neutral parties opined that Jamby was left out of the will (made out in 2006) because her successful run for a 2004 senatorial seat was bankrolled by her Aunt Chito to the tune of over Php100 million and that alone would have constituted an early inheritance gift.
Jamby maintained that something more substantial should have been left to the Foundation, which would benefit poor and needy families by providing scholarship grants and housing benefits instead of just more lucre going to the other already well-off relations. Certainly, the other beneficiaries did not see it that way and it didn’t look like a good PR move by Jamby. Last reports were that the last lady Madrigal senator did not have much legal ground to stand on.
Cojuangco–Barretto Wars
And then there are the Barretto sisters’ unending feuds which are a class unto itself. There are/were so many moving parts in the Barretto-Cojuangco wars: Gretchen’s (the oldest sister) quarrels with her siblings; her running feud with partner’s (Tonyboy Cojuangco) family and his mother, Imelda Ongsiako, the late matriarch of the Cojuangco clan; then new sparring matches with Gretchen’s sibling again. It could take three bags of popcorn, a scorecard, and a whole rainy afternoon to unravel the whole megillah.
Because of Gretchen Barretto’s rather public and volatile lifestyle (being in showbiz), the old guard Cojuangco matriarch of course, disapproved of her youngest son’s new partner. Gretchen and Tonyboy’s common-law situation stayed the way it was and there was nothing anyone could do about it. They have a daughter, Dominique, as an accepted part of the family and it seems that Gretchen and the rest of the Cojuangcos finally smoked the peace pipe before matriarch Meldy O. passed away in 2016.
Gretchen Barretto and tycoon Tony Boy Cojuangco.
Space prevents us from doing a full accounting of Gretchen and her siblings’ internecine feuds, but this Rappler link, gives a blow-by-blow account of the long-running, real-life Barretto teleserye soap opera: https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/news/242916-timeline-barretto-family-feud?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1YvgJSpzN4Y8h-qEpzG9zy-pvb62ihwgyW1-n3KKBMDgT3HOoeSICpaWU#Echobox=1571551925
Still More Bodies – More Presidentiable Tales
An imbroglio between heirs of Vicky Quirino Gonzales-Delgado played out in a rather bloody way. Vicky Quirino was President Elpidio Quirino’s second daughter who survived the near-total massacre of their family by Japanese troops in 1945. When Elpidio became president in 1948, Vicky (only 16) became her father’s hostess in his official days in Malacañang Palace. When she turned 18, Vicky married Luis “Chito” Gonzales (not the actor), a latter-day Philippine ambassador to Spain, with whom she had three children. On Luis’ premature death, Vicky then married businessman Francisco “Paco” Delgado who already had four adult children of his own.
In 2007, Federico “Rico” Delgado was stabbed to death in his Malate apartment by supposedly unknown intruders, but his companion, Annaliza Pesico, survived the ordeal. While the victim supposedly recognized one of his assailants as his brother “Franco” and was able to write that name on the wall before expiring, survivor Pesico had a different story in that she recognized one of the intruders as the victim’s stepbrother, Luisito “Louie” Gonzales.
The Delgado side speculated that Rico was killed because of documents which proved their father's assets were being siphoned off and sold one at a time by stepbrother “Louie.” The Gonzalezes, on the other hand, countered that Louie could not have been involved because he was actually confined in a hospital at the time of the murder. Gonzalez maintained that he was being "framed” and further, the credibility of Pesico as a witness was questioned since her statements were inconsistent. By 2009, Gonzalez was set free. Murder charges against Gonzalez and his driver were dismissed.
See London and Die
And then there are the Tuason-Arroyo-Jacintos. The Arroyos and the Jacintos are a perfect example of the interlocking marital unions between old Manila’s leading families. Current Rep./ex-President Gloria Macapagal’s sister-in-law, Marilou Arroyo, was once married to musician Ramon (RJ) Jacinto whose sister, Marilen, was the late Iggy Arroyo’s (Mike Arroyo’s youngest brother) first wife. Somewhere in that interlocking scheme, this messy episode of death in London played out.
The spat was over terminating the life-support on Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, the younger brother of ex-first gentleman, Mike Arroyo, and bringing his remains home. In February 2012, Iggy died of cardiac arrest in London. His demise set off a transcontinental battle royale over the removal of Iggy’s life support (he was already in a coma) between Mike Arroyo and Grace Ibuna, Iggy’s partner and his only Filipino companion in London at the time.
Then there was the three-way fight among Ibuna again, Iggy’s estranged wife, Aleli, and Iggy’s daughter Bianca, by his first wife, Marilen over how to bring Iggy’s remains back to the Philippines. Would Iggy return to La Vista, Quezon City, frozen, in ashes, or even at all? Even officials of the Philippine Embassy in London became embroiled in the controversy. The outcome involved ex-first gentleman Mike Arroyo’s intervention. His brother’s body came home whole.
Among the Philippines’ new super-rich class, the taipans and the tsinoys, none of their scandals seem to have the same allure and cachet of the aforementioned vintage ones of Manila’s old families.
I leave you with a random tidbit: how many of you know that the French author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas, fils, has descendants in Manila? Think about that for a moment.
SOURCES:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1990/11/marla-maples-donald-trump-relationship
Carmen Soriano: https://www.pep.ph/lifestyle/22098/carmen-soriano-still-sways-to-the-rhythm
The Manalos:
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/100445-iglesia-leaders-billions-pesos-aircraft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=64&v=DgpX5SILSNU&feature=emb_logo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Iglesia_ni_Cristo_leadership_controversy
Teyet Pascual:
https://remembranceofthingsawry.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/sarrat-ilocos-norte-1983/#comments
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/77763/behind-the-scenes-with-teyet/
Tambunting feud: https://cocktalesblog.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/tambunting-tussle-spills-over-to-the-courts/
Osmeña-Sukarno feud:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-23-mn-1617-story.html
Susie Madrigal-Paqui Ortigas:
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/31019/the-true-story-behind-susie%E2%80%99s-story/
Litton vs. Ortigas
Jamby Madrigal:
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/94108/jamby-questions-validity-of-late-billionaire-aunt-s-will/story/
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2008/05/17/62532/jamby-insists-rich-aunt-will-falsified
https://www.philstar.com/business/2011/07/26/709598/if-theres-will-theres-way
Iggy Arroyo:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/139665/two-women-fight-over-ignacio-arroyos-body
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/140217/ignacio-arroyos-daughter-to-bring-her-dad-home-says-former-fg
Myles A. Garcia
Myles A. Garcia is a Correspondent and regular contributor to www.positivelyfilipino.com. He has written three books: Secrets of the Olympic Ceremonies (latest edition, 2016); Thirty Years Later . . . Catching Up with the Marcos-Era Crimes (© 2016); and his latest, Of Adobe, Apple Pie, and Schnitzel With Noodles—all available in paperback from amazon.com (Australia, USA, Canada, UK and Europe).
Myles is also a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH), contributing to their Journal, and pursuing dramatic writing lately. For any enquiries: razor323@gmail.com
More articles from Myles A. Garcia
