And the winner is...

NO HOLDS BARRED

Armida Siguion-Reyna

10/31/2008

Tangerine is a Mediterranean Restaurant with menu creations by Billy King, at the corner of Club Filipino and Ortigas Avenue, in Greenhills, San Juan. The food was not only good but great, and yet it was not only on account of the renowned chef that people came last Monday evening. It was Joseph Ejercito Estrada’s treat.

Looking at him literally work the room, alternating between inquiring about everybody’s comfort and pressuring waiters to get going, one would think of the many years he had spent incarcerated at the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) and in his rest house in Tanay, and wonder, really wonder, why he has no chip on his shoulder, no grudge against anybody, no anger at the world.

His detractors, for they are still around (though no way as numerous as those now against the woman who manipulated his downfall in order to take his place), insist he’s never really been in prison, never really been put behind bars — so why should he bear anger in his heart, when even at the VMH, he had good food for the asking, lechong baka for his birthdays, and all the amenities of an hacienda lifestyle in Tanay?

As a young boy, his own mother had tried keeping him within the confines of their house as early as when he was in grade school, but failed. As a teen-ager, he was all over his beloved San Juan, and as an actor, all over the country, too. You keep a person as exuberant in a corner, you expect him to at least get upset with the memory of the confinement that came after he was illegally booted out of office. But he is fine, or “cool,” as my grandchildren say.

I have had the occasion to be with him up close, twice in a row. First, in the wedding of Abigail Binay and Luis Campos, where we were both godparents. I was partnered with George Yang, CEO of McDonald’s Philippines, while he was with former President Cory Aquino, whom I must add looked radiantly well that night.

And then, at his restaurant’s “soft opening.”

The place accommodates more than 100 per seating, and it was well-packed. A failing memory, bad eyes and dim light prevent me from remembering who else where there, out of Mayor Jojo Binay and wife “Doctora” Elenita, Sen. Chiz Escudero, Mayor Toby Tiangco and wife Michele, Tony Boy Cojuangco, Ernie Maceda, former Erap Cabinet men Ben Diokno, Alberto Romualdez, Vicente Rivera, Titoy Pardo with wife Marilyn, Eki Cardenas, Dong Puno, restaurateur Bong Sta. Maria, Boots Anson-Roa, Eddie Romero, Mrs. Justa Tantoco, Ditas Rodrigo, Pilita Corrales, and, but of course, former Sen. Loi Estrada.

But this much I recall: The food was good. I’m poor with names of specific dishes, you’ll have to trust me when I say everything was great from soup to salad to main course down to the desserts. A glance at the menu — the real one, as opposed to the party fare served us — revealed many more mouth-watering dishes for future sampling, and the prices were not bad, either. Justa Tantoco said she was there to sample the pica-picas, and advised us to do the same in a return trip.

For this Lola, much more than the food, it was the company that was memorable, the snippets of conversation from table to table.

There was the usual Obama vs. McCain talk, a discussion we’ll all have to bear in all the places we go to from now and until after the US elections on Nov. 4. This is what easy access to the Internet has wrought us; we get involved in events happening all over the world and naturally take sides. I’m pro-McCain, but the others rooting for him were already throwing in the towel in anticipation of an Obama victory. I stuck to my guns as I always do, and proclaimed myself for the US war veteran, win or lose, and his running-mate Sarah Palin.

Pilita Corrales, who is involved with the running of the restaurant, took to the microphone for several songs, and boy, was she impressive. People continued their private discussions, but from time to time stop to stare at Pilita and listen, then tell each other, “Ang galing pa rin niya!”

Ang galing I found to be an understatement. She wasn’t only magaling, she was confident. She never stopped to scold the chattering crowd to stop, the way younger singers do, with “Hoy, makinig naman kayo!” Pilita sang her standards, her “Historia de un Amor” as usual impeccable, and did not make it her problem that a part of the audience was doing something else. So much so that those who did not listen to her first set, listened to the second, and got wowed, too.

In a while I got asked to sing, and I did two Pete Lacaba salinawits of Nat King Cole’s “Making Believe You’re Here” and Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose,” followed by Jun Rivera, Ben Diokno, and Arthur Manuntag, dubbed as the “Tony Bennett of the Philippines.”

But in-between the singing, the conversation continued. Greatly discussed, albeit in whispers, was whether our host was indeed to run for another term as president. A good number believed he could, as he had not been able to finish his term, and should. The cautious expressed wary concern about Gloria Arroyo’s cabal leading Erap on about the legality of his candidacy, and then letting out a Supreme Court ruling at the last minute to disbar him, and assure the administration candidate’s victory.

Also bruited about was the possibility of Erap being friends again with Chavit Singson. Some were appalled by the very idea, some insistent it was in all likelihood going to happen, “Mabait iyan, hindi nagtatanim. Kita n’yo naman, linggu-linggo ando’n na sa bahay niya si Cynthia Villar, nanliligaw. Tinatanggap niya, na parang wala talagang nangyari, na parang hindi siya niyari ni Senator Villar no’ng araw.”

The summation brought a hush upon the table adjoining ours. In a while, Erap was making his rounds again, concerned that my husband was absent, asking Dra. Binay what her husband the mayor was taking for his cough, prodding waiters to be quicker with the orders — he was in his element.

His political enemies must be so afraid of his next step. For really, all he has to do is declare his intentions, and the winner is…

(For comments, write to: armida114@yahoo.com)

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