Scenes from a (golden) marriage

Toward the end of the ceremony, held as, to quote the song, heavenly shades of night were falling, the groom, dapper in crispy Barong Tagalog, shed quiet tears...of joy and triumph, for sure. And the bride blushed and then broke into a tentative smile.

After Fr. Larry Faraon reminded the newly-reweds, “Don’t say you are old, say you are ‘gold’,” Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada and former Sen. Loi Ejercito sealed their 50th renewal of vows with not a gentle kiss as first-timers would usually, very shyly, do but passionately as experienced partners were expected to do.

The well-heeled well-wishers, mostly from business, politics and showbiz, broke into a resounding applause, capping the fairy-tale affair that seemed to have been lifted straight from a romance-drama screenplay Erap was noted for at his acting prime (the Erap series, remember?). It was solemnized last Sunday afternoon, Dec. 6, at the chapel on a hill at the sprawling JEE Compound in Barangay Sampaloc, Tanay, Rizal, where Erap spent six long years in a house arrest that gave him ample time for soul-searching and character-strengthening in the same manner that Nelson Mandela did during his own similar experience in South Africa. The chapel was decked with thousands of white roses, every single post in it, and so was the altar. Tons of white roses.

It was the couple’s three children --- Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Jackie Ejercito and Jude Ejercito --- and their spouses --- Precy Vitug, Manuel “Beaver” Lopez Jr. and Weng Ocampo --- who sent out the invitations to selected guests who very gladly took the two-hour drive to Tanay from Metro Manila.

Some of those who wouldn’t be accommodated at the chapel watched the ceremony from four giant monitors put up around the tables at the Maranaw Village where, earlier, the guests partook of appetizers prepared by Via Mare which also catered the dinner held at the basketball court converted into a posh hall for the occasion.

The first among the early birds we bumped into were charming couple Gretchen Barretto and her beloved Tonyboy Cojuangco. Still glowing from the Best Actress award (for the ABS-CBN Maalaala Mo Kaya episode) she won at the recent Star Awards for TV of the PMPC (Philippine Movie Press Club), Gretchen said she’s looking forward to shooting her yet untitled ABS-CBN soap in February next year (with co-stars Derek Ramsay, Angelica Panganiban, Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz). Gretchen’s sister Claudine Barretto was originally in the cast and the plot had to be changed when Claudine jumped ober da bakod to Kapuso and was replaced by Bea.

“Makapatid sana kaming buo ni Claudine,” said Gretchen. “In the revised script, Bea and I play half-sisters.”

Unlike Claudine, Gretchen said she doesn’t want to be tied down to an exclusive contract.

“I prefer a per-project contract so I can choose which ones to do and in which network,” she said.

The couple is spending the Christmas holidays in San Francisco. Tonyboy is leaving any day now and Gretchen will follow next week with their Dominique. They will be back first week of January next year.

Like Dolphy and Zsa Zsa Padilla, Gretchen has been waiting for her own long-delayed march down the aisle.

At the reception, I wondered how Gretchen felt as she watched a short film on the oft-told Erap-Loi romance that started at the National Mental Hospital where Loi was a resident psychiatrist and Erap, an ambulance driver. The short film, directed by Joey Javier Reyes and starring JC de Vera as the dashing Erap and Jewel Mische as the lovely duktora, titillated the audience, especially when it ended with Erap and Loi in a gentle embrace after she said “yes” to his proposal for them to go steady.

Singer-comedienne Marissa Sanchez, who hosted the program with Ariel Ureta, drove the the audience into a roar of laughter when, first asking Erap and Loi’s pardon for “intruding” into their private affair, asked the newly-reweds, “Pres. Erap, nag-sex po ba kayo kaagad nang sinagot kayo ni Ma’am Loi? Ganyan kasi usually ang ginagawa ng mga bata ngayon.”

After Richard Poon sang two “old-time” songs, the Ejercito Family Show followed: Jinggoy sang two songs, Jackie did a dance number Chicago-style and the painfully-shy Jude, would you believe, also sang!

The clincher came at the end when Erap and Loi did duets of love songs, looking into each other’s eyes the way they must have done 50 years ago when they were fresh and young and acting as if the world belonged only to them, with nobody else distracting Erap’s attention and affection.

Those were the days, them were the days!

Then Erap said, for the whole world to hear, referring to his Dear Loi, “My First Lady forever. Kasama ko sa ups and downs. Hindi niya ako iniwanan. Hindi ko makakalimutan ‘yon.”

It was Loi’s turn to become misty-eyed.

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