Do you know what the ultimate symbol of corruption is?
Its not cars, big houses and properties or billions in bank accounts.
Its mistresses.
I guess, just like in any other country, power, politics and philandering too often go hand-in-hand.
What makes it disturbing and ironic here in the Philippines is that while we proudly acknowledge that we are a catholic country, it seems we’ve been very tolerant of adulterers in our government. We almost elected one— twice for president and seem to have turned a blind eye on those other politicians whom we know are womanizers. Didn’t we have an elected official who should be in the record books for fathering 30 plus (or is it 80?) children—obviously from several women.
Yet why do we continue to vote for them?
Don’t you think its time we choose someone who values his “only” wife and “Only family for once?
When I sat down with Vice Presidential candidate Gringo Honasan a few weeks ago (for what has become our semi-regular afternoon chat) we got to talk about the things that made him happy in his life.
“…The ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions. Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not. ‘Have you found joy in your life?’ ‘Has your life brought joy to others?’”
Bucket List
It came up when I asked him about one of his interviews where he mentioned the above quoted line from the movie “Bucket List.”
“Have you found joy in your life?’ I asked him.
UNA’s Vice Presidential candidate answered, “Yes. definitely, I find joy in my children and in my grand children—but all that joy started when I met a woman named “Jane.”
Jane is his wife and their marriage has lasted for almost five decades.
“Ours wasn’t love at first sight but a romance that would last a lifetime.”
When Gringo Met Jane
The year was 1972, Greg had just graduated Class Baron from the Philippine Military Academy and was among the most promising young soldiers at that time.
For four years the PMA has molded him to become a great soldier and a master tactician, but all those years of training and studying at the Academy could not prepare him for that one night, when he surrendered so easily and willingly to cupid’s arrow.
“My first assignment was at Fort Magsaysay, and during the New Year’s Eve Party, we were joined by a group of guests who were volunteers from the Red Cross. So there I was trying to relax and enjoy the party when out of the 200 or so people in the crowd, one particular woman caught my eye.
“She was a Red Cross volunteer stationed in Cabanatuan, and for some reason, I was immediately drawn to her. The problem was, I had no one to introduce me to her.”
Greg had survived year of stringent physical and mental training from the academy but they weren’t taught how to sweep women of their feet.
Conditioning himself as if it was another mission, Greg walked across the dance floor to her seat and asked her for a dance.
“Nagulat siya nung lumapit ako, and at first I feared that I was going to be rejected, so I put up my best “intimidation” face to show her I was really serious and siguro tumalab naman because she agreed.
Her name was Jane Umali a Medical Technologist who was part of the Red Cross volunteers stationed in Cabanatuan.”
“As we danced I knew it was love at first sight for me.
Greg admits he was a “late bloomer” when it comes to love. “Noong una kase gusto ko mag pari, then nung napasok ako sa PMA puro naman aral.”
“As soon as she went home that night, I knew I had to see her again, so the very next day I joined the group that was going to Cabanatuan to buy some supplies at the market. There I bought some roses and a ream of cigarettes. Binili ko lang yng sigarilyo para kunin yng cellophane wrap para pambaot sa roses.
Pagdating ko dun nakita ko siya nagwawalis at gulat na gulat kung bakit ako andun… Ako lang pala ang na love at first sight.”
Yung mga red cross volunteers di ba nanghihingi yan ng dugo, ako di lang dugo binigay ko lahat lahat na!
That was the beginning of Greg’s frequent visits to Cabanatuan. He would ride at the roof of the bus, travel 40 kilometers (to and from Fort Magsaysay) just to see Jane at the Red Cross center.
A few months later when Jane was reassigned to the Red Cross office in Taft Manila, Greg was coincidentally assigned to Fort Bonifacio.
“We called each other “sweetheart” and our dates would usually be at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
For a soldier whose salary was just P160 hati pa kami kapag nag date. Pero ang memorable was the time when it was raining so hard, and the streets were flooded, I had to carry her on my shoulders to bring her home just so that she wouldn’t get wet.”
But just as they were getting to know each other better, Jane finally got the call from Canada which meant that she would have to leave for work.
“At that time, we were already going steady, but wala akong magawa dahil she applied even before we met. I had no choice but to let her go because it was her dream. On the other hand, I was about to be deployed to Isabela. We kept in touch via letters, parang yung sa mga war movies, and I would write to every chance that I got, even if we were on the battlefield.
On June 1973 while on a mission in Mindanao, Greg was shot and seriously wounded that he asked Jane to come home to visit him.
“When she came back I knew I couldn’t let her leave again, so I asked her to stay and thankfully, she did. We got married in December of that year.”
Sen. Honasan said it was one of those times that you knew you were making the right decision.
“I knew she was the one. She was strong and could play both mother and father to our children should something bad happen to me. I wasn’t the perfect husband or father, and my work would often take me away from them, but Jane was able to take care of our children and raise them to be good people.”
They have five children, Kim Francis Honasan, Karel Paolo Honasan, Rex Kit Martin Honasan, Klarisa Rosario Honasan, Klarina Fatima Honasan.
“You know when you search for a partner, there are certain traits you look for, but when you get married you realize that it’s not the traits that matter, but the moments, the trials, the situations that brought you closer together—that is what will keep your marriage intact. I believe we both made the right choice, that we were perfect for each other.”
“As a soldier, the time between 2am and 4 am in the morning, we call them “oras de peligro” those are the crucial times when the enemy might attack, and up to now, during those hours, I sleep very, very lightly, maybe a force of habit, but when I turn around and see my wife, fast asleep, tired of taking care of our grandchildren. I would mutter a simple prayer of thanks and tell the Lord that if our time comes, to take me first before her, because I cannot imagine a life or even a day without my wife.”
Greg Honasan has proven his love for God and Country time and again, often at the expense of his family. “I have missed the birth of my children, missed some of their most important milestones, but they know that everything I am doing is for them to have a better future.
“They say a soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves the ones he has left behind.”
I then asked him about the second question; ‘Has your life brought joy to others?
“You know I’ve been a soldier for 17 years, a rebel for 7 years and 18 years as a member of the senate, I have risked my life time and again for God and Country, often at the expense of my family—I do hope that during all those years I’ve brought some joy to our people.
