Note:  Upon seeing the Jan-Feb issue of Esquire, my husband asks me questions.

by Gang Badoy, Writer-at-Large, Esquire

Autographs from left to right: FVR, PNoy, Erap

Jay (Gang’s husband): When did this happen?  (pointing to my photo beside President Aquino on the contributor’s page)
Gang: Sometime in July of last year.

J: Did you really Indian sit beside the President or is that Photoshopped?
G: I really sat beside the President. He was cool about it.  That was before the interview, while we were waiting for a room to be prepared. He was in between meetings and he sat down so comfortably on the wooden seat.  So I sat beside him and we started to talk.  Wait – are you embarrassed I was photographed sitting that way?

J: No, but your Mom will be.
G: Good answer.

J: What was it like?
G: Just like interviewing any other person, I guess – only these interviews required me to bring an ID and I couldn’t show up in jeans.

J: Were you nervous?
G: Well, wait let me give you back stories.  Back in the 70s until the early 80s, President Fidel Ramos was my neighbour in Makati.  I was part of a group of kids playing soccer in front of his house and we broke his window.  (Then) Col. Ramos went out of his house and made us kids do push-ups as punishment.   Thirty years later in his Makati office, I show up for this Esquire interview and he makes our team do the same.  “I won’t answer questions until you give me fifty,” he says.  I laughed heartily and said, “Sir, patawarin niyo na ako.  Napalitan na yung bintanang binasag namin.” (“Sir, I think it’s time you forgive me! The window we broke has long been replaced.”)  He laughed.  I thought he was kidding, my god, the memory of this man was amazing!  Anyway, after five minutes of chuckling and haggling and grunts of disbelief — all of us were on the floor doing (our own versions of) push ups and sit ups.   All of us – Paul Mondok (photographer), Joey Samson (in charge of style), Erwin Romulo (Editor in Chief), Jonty Cruz (Web Editor), me (interviewer).  Audrey Carpio (Features Editor) was pregnant at that time so she was spared this activity, hung around and took our photos.  So, winded and sweaty, I finally got answers from Fidel Ramos that interesting afternoon last June. I finally got to ask him why he wore glasses that didn’t have, uh, glass.  His answer? If I remember right, he said something to the effect of ‘wanting to talk about the wonders of Lasik surgery and the value of taking care of one’s eyesight.’  I was too tired from the push-ups to remember exactly how he phrased it.

President Joseph Estrada was so entertaining.  His Media Consultant and Spokesperson, Margaux Salcedo, was genial and breezy when she ushered us into his home in Greenhills.  She sat our team down and asked us to watch a one-hour documentary on the life of Erap before we began the interview.  So there we were sitting down, watching the life and times of the man we were about to meet on a big screen nailed to his living room wall as narrated to us by the voice of Joonee Gamboa.  Surround sound! Then, as if on cue, the man walks into the room when the credits roll up.  His face is still onscreen and he’s right there before us.  Voila, surround sight!
He put us all at ease, you see, Erap is so used to this.  If he didn’t like the question, he’d dodge it so playfully that I’d forget to press for an answer down the line.  So we went along that afternoon, regaled by this man from San Juan.  He’s so gallante, (gracious) he fed us pizza and halo-halo while he chatted on about his possible future plans.  He gamely posed for photos beside a life-sized statue of him placed in the hallway by the living room.  We experienced Erap in 4D.

Interviewing incumbent President Benigno Aquino III was the most startling for me.  He was the one closest to my age. He used present-day lingo. He was the one who lit my cigarette, and yet his crib was the most formal.  (Of course)  So that was a bit muddling.  When we entered, the President had just finished one meeting and was working his way to the music room followed by a slew of palace photographers.  Apparently, the palace staff prepared the music room for our interview.  The staff positioned two chairs diagonally facing each other (like during peace talks between Heads of State) and he heard me mumble my apprehension because it looked so stiff, “Ah, masyado bang pormal?” (“Oh, is this too formal?”  He then motioned to his escorts and said, “Doon na lang kami sa loob.” (“We’ll just go inside then.”)   With a casual flick of his hand, he motioned for us to walk together through another hall way and into his actual office found in one corner of the Palace.  We walked into this high-ceilinged space lined with bright tall windows, and we talked about everything there.  I looked at him from across his desk, this young President with the view of the Pasig River to his right.  The formal dark wood panelled backdrop was the penseroso to his allegro manner of replying to my questions.
Wait – what was the question?  Was I nervous?  The nights prior to the interviews, yes.  Upon meeting them, not so much.

J: Did you notice any similarities among the three? Differences?
G: Yes, they all hinted at the concept of destiny, something like that.  Of course they all touched on capacity, the campaign, how their previous positions positioned them to be an eventual standard bearer, but the common thread was they all brushed on the concept that the fates were already drawn for them beforehand.  That the Presidency was somehow in their stars.  Of course I can’t quote any of them, it’s just a gut vibe I picked up from the musings.   (I’ll update this blog post if any of their assistants call me tomorrow to say that I’m totally wrong on this one.)

FVR and Erap were both very comfortable talking about themselves in third person, in the most flattering of lights.  FVR always talked about his physical fitness (“I beat you younger kids in push ups and sit ups!”– I think even toddlers can beat us to that, Mr President.)  and mental acuity. (“I edit my own books, I write my own speeches, I write fast, I’m publishing a new book this year. I can spell better than anyone.”)  Erap would comfortably say he was a class A artist, a consistent box-office hit, and that he turned San Juan around, etc.  Self-praise rolled off their tongues so smoothly.  It wasn’t arrogance – as I further observed, it was just the trait of two men who knew exactly what they were about and how they affected/still affect people.
PNoy wasn’t so much this way.  He was the only one of the three who tossed out self-deprecating quips.  He was actually rather funny.  I asked him how does he wake up in the morning.  He said, “Para akong sinigawan ng ‘sunog!’ sa tenga.” (“It’s like someone screamed ‘FIRE!’ right at my ear.”)  Then he moves with a wide-eyed-jolt showing us how he wakes up with a start every day.   (natawa talaga ako do’n)  

J: Did you vote for any of them?
G: I was out of the country for FVR’s and Erap’s election.

J: After meeting the three would you consider voting them again?
G: Depends who’ll run against them, I guess..?

J: Minus the politics, who did you like the most?
G: Does that translate to whom I would like to interview again? Erap – because he fed us real food!  (just kidding)  FVR kept moving around while I interviewed him.  I was asking him questions while following him literally jog around his office. (Room to room!)  He did offer coffee though and whiskey if we’d have it.  PNoy, is too austere to feed us yata.  But I think I remember his staff giving us regular Coke, offered ensaymada, and placed a bowl of chocolates by the side table.  Basta, I remember leaving Malacanang VERY hungry.   They were all interesting, of course.  I’d love to interview them all again another time.  Maybe when there’s a new incumbent.  I’d love to hear what they’d say about the new one.

Follow Gang on Twitter: @gangbadoy and Esquire Philippines: @EsquirePh  ///  The January-February 2012 issue of Esquire Philippines is out now