Young turks: Vico and Leandro

I have personal issues against Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Leviste. What do I have against them? Sigh. They both make me feel old.

I didn’t just know them as kids. I knew them immediately after they had been conceived!

Vico’s mother, Coney Reyes, and I were frequently on the phone even before he was born. Coney and my family, in fact, almost became neighbors.

In a recent column, I wrote about how Coney wanted to buy a house in Quezon City in the late 1980s. The property she was targeting was right across our family home. Sadly, her funds were short and couldn’t afford it that time.

Maybe she should have aligned herself with a government project — like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), for example. Of course, I am just being silly. Coney would never have done anything illegal for money.

She saved up for a few years — acting and even producing her own drama anthology on TV. By the time she had enough budget to buy the house she wanted, it had been sold to a family from Davao.

Coney ended up in one of the phases of Valle Verde instead. Looking back, had she bought the Quezon City house, Pasig wouldn’t have Vico Sotto as its mayor. But destiny dictated in favor of the Pasigueños.

Coney and I didn’t see each other frequently then. But we would always be on the phone — sometimes till past midnight.

She was already dating Vic Sotto then. The public knew, but we never discussed Vic. Never was his name mentioned in any of our conversations.

But I was among the first to find out about how she was already in that interesting stage. She trusted me with that information because she knew that I was the type to be able to keep secrets. Prior to that, we had discussed confidential matters that never reached the press.

Pregnancy, however, is a phase in a woman’s life that cannot remain forever hidden, especially in show business. In time, the public found out that she was on the family way. Out of decency, she quit Eat Bulaga.

After she gave birth, we met for lunch at Bistro Lorenzo in Greenhills. We talked about her newborn and what she had named him: Victor Ma. Regis N. Sotto.

His pet name? She said she wanted to call him Vico. “Like Bikoy?” I playfully teased her. Bikoy was the mascot of Eat Bulaga that time. Everyone in the restaurant looked toward our table when she let out a loud “Tse!!!” We had a good laugh over that one.

When our conversation turned serious, Coney said that in spite of the controversial circumstances of Vico’s birth, she never regretted having him and, in fact, considered him a huge additional blessing in her life — after already having been blessed with two children, LA and Carla. I totally agreed with her.

As it turned out, Vico wasn’t only a blessing to her. He also proved to be a blessing to the people of Pasig. And now, to the country — after his expose on the Discayas and their links with the DPWH.

Four years later, Coney and I bumped into each other at a Japanese restaurant in Greenhills. Vico was with her and he looked so cute, but shy. We didn’t get to talk about Vico’s progress as a child because Coney began lecturing me on how to be gentler when handling celebrity guests in my then talk show that was called Showbiz Lingo. I tried to follow her advice, but such was the format of the program. When the show became even more gossipy, I decided to resign.

I lost touch with Coney after I temporarily quit showbiz to study abroad. But the one person I never lost contact with was Leandro Leviste’s mother, now Senator Loren Legarda.

Loren’s babies

Like in the case of Coney, I was also among the first to find out that Loren was going to be a mother — for the first time. She was married to former Batangas governor Tony Leviste then.

Loren was worried about her pregnancy because she feared that after giving birth, she won’t be able to make a TV comeback anymore. I assured her that getting pregnant wasn’t going to be a problem for her. She had two shows then: Pep Talk and the nightly newscast, The World Tonight.

I advised her to advance Pep Talk episodes before she started to balloon. The World Tonight wasn’t going to be a problem either. After all, she delivered the news behind a desk that could hide her tummy.

She could do the news until the last day of her pregnancy, have Korina Sanchez pinch-hit for her while she recovered, and return to the same audience. That was exactly what happened. In 1990, Loren gave birth to Lorenzo Antonio — or Lanz — and she was very happy. Her popularity didn’t dip a bit.

In 1992, Loren got pregnant again. She no longer had anxieties this time. In fact, she even enrolled at the National Defense College and was busier than ever. Although she was always sleepy in class, she finished the course that gave her the rank of lieutenant colonel.

One time, Loren and I were having lunch together and she began craving for green mangoes. She had a fruit peeled and I watched with amazement how she dipped the sliced mangoes in bagoong Balayan (fish sauce). After she was done, she held the bowl of bagoong Balayan with two hands and slurped what remained of it! Sodium overload!

On 18 March 1993, Loren gave birth to another boy. I visited her at the Makati Medical Center and her baby happened to be in her room to breastfeed. Tony Leviste asked Loren what they were going to name their new child.

Loren, of course, already had it in her head, but didn’t tell Tony yet. She said that the boy was going to be named Leandro Antonio. Nickname — Le-an. As in Lian, Batangas, quipped Tony, who was being a smart aleck that time. Loren was not amused.

Baby Leandro Antonio wasn’t as fair as older brother Lanz (the fair skin came from Loren’s mother, the late Bessie Legarda), but was very cute — and tiny. I wanted to hold him in my arms, but I wasn’t used to handling babies yet that time.

After visiting hours, I decided to say goodbye. Loren’s brother, Gary Legarda, decided to walk with me to the parking area. At the elevator, we saw Sharon Cuneta. She was in the same hospital to visit a sick friend. When I told her why I was in Makati Med, she, too, wanted to go see Loren, but visiting hours were up. She sent her congratulatory message to Loren through Gary.

Weeks after that hospital visit, I checked on Loren and the baby. She said that they were doing fine. Loren then asked if I wanted to be a baptismal sponsor to Le-an. I said it would be an honor.

She had one condition though: No proxies allowed. I had to be there at the Christening rites. But the baptism was going to be on a Sunday late morning and I had an afternoon show.

Usually, I did voice-over chores until Sunday early afternoon and I could not commit to being present at the baptismal ceremony. And so, there went my chance to be the godfather to this young man who is now admired by many for stopping what could be another case of corruption.

Vico and Leandro. I am so proud of these two young turks. They’re both still too young to be president. But I hope to still be around when they get the chance to lead the country. I bet they’ll both be good leaders.

I don’t even dream of seeing this nation great again. All I wish is to see a corrupt-free Philippines.