Every inch a survivor

Mon Confiado has learned a lesson he will never forget: think twice before plunging headlong into a live-in relationship. The realization hit him hard after his four-year romance with Ynez Veneracion recently ended on a sour note.

Ynez has accused Mon of hurting her, a serious charge the character actor flatly denies.

"The last time I figured in a violent fight was at 11 – away-bata, they call it," recalls Mon.

But he does remember a time when he dealt Ynez a blow.

"It was during one of our fights. She was starting to become suicidal and would bump her head against the wall. I did that to stop her," he relates.

Not only that. Mon adds how he gave her a dose of her own medicine: He bumped his head against the wall in an effort to make her come to her senses!

That true-to-life action-drama scene happened in Japan, where Mon and Ynez found themselves crying together – and back in each other’s arms not long after.

It turned out to be the lull before another storm. Mon insists that other suicide attempts would follow (he remembers four).

"One time, she took 40 pieces of Flanax and 40 pieces of Ponstan. We were in a restaurant when the medicines began to take effect. She looked every inch a stroke victim. Her face was distorted. We rushed her to the Medical City where she stayed in the ICU unit for three days," reports Mon.

Meanwhile, they fought over the slightest issue, like ordering food from Jollibee or McDonald’s.

The final breakup came after another big fight, where Ynez ended up crying and locking the door of their Wack Wack condominium unit. Afraid she’d do something drastic again, like jumping from the terrace located at the 22nd floor, Mon knocked frantically on the door. After being met with stony silence, he begged their next-door neighbor to let him cross their terrace.

It was a scene straight from an action film – the kind Mon would do in many an acting assignments – as he balanced himself precariously between two adjoining terraces on the 22nd floor.

The inevitable breakup (no, Ynez’s being linked to Caloocan Mayor Rey Malonzo – which they denied – had nothing to do with it, says Mon), coming as it did after four suicide attempts (on Ynez’s part), ended a prolonged struggle that had nothing to do with the physical, but involved everything mental, emotional.

The larger part of the burden, Mon looks back now, was for him to bear.

"Imagine having to shoulder the responsibility of Ynez’s four suicide attempts!" he gasps.

He brought her to a psychiatrist who charged P5,000 per session, told her in no uncertain terms that she has everything to live for since innate goodness and talent are on her side.

"I reminded her of her acting award from the Young Critics’ Circle. She also got noticed at the Awit Awards," reveals Mon.

Ynez, according to Mon, has many winning ways. One of them was her closeness to his parents. She visited Mon’s dad when he was confined in the hospital. His late mom was also extra fond of Ynez and would have approved seeing them together, for keeps.

Even Mon’s elder sibling was close to Ynez, who, to this day, has a share worth P1-M in the family-owned Confiado Apartelle in Quezon City.

"We either sell it or pay Ynez P1-M," Mon reveals. He adds that Ynez has also entrusted P800,000 to his elder sibling. The money is intact and Ynez can get it anytime.

"I understand her completely. She was so deprived of love as a child and would hop from one residence to another. At 14, she was already working at Infiniti. And she was a typical movie fan asking for an autograph. So any little gesture of affection moves her," muses Mon.

In fact, it was this need for emotional support that brought them together. When Ynez figured in that controversial episode in The Correspondents years back, it was Mon who came to her rescue.

"Most of her friends abandoned her. She only had P1,000 in her wallet. I alone remained," recalls Mon.

So emotionally-draining was that chapter in Mon’s life he has sworn to lie low in the love department until he has fully recovered from it.

But, like a soldier who gets braver after getting wounded in a battle, Mon says, "I’m not scared anymore, even if I have 10 wives someday."

Bold words these. Only Mon Confiado, who has survived so much in a matter of only four years, can utter them with utmost conviction.