Maita Gomez: Coming to terms

Then: Sept. 5, 1984 — 26 years ago

When Maita Gomez came down from the mountains, she was at a crossroad in her life. She was sick and she was told that physical activity, which was inevitable in the mountains, had to be minimized so she could get well.

But, the former beauty queen and fashion model had come to terms with her commitments. “I have to give up a lot of things,” she said softly in an interview on Two for the Road. It was common knowledge that Maita, the beauty queen and prosperous housewife had given up her marriage, her lifestyle and life of comfort, to do what she believed in.

“Some comforts,” she smilingly recalled, downplaying the deprivations that she went through while working up in the mountains. One has to remember Maita in the ‘60s to feel the dramatic switch she imposed on her life for the sake of her commitment. From being one of the pampered darlings of society, she went into very basic terms. Her politics attuned to the masses.

The essence of this interview for Woman Today was to discuss her relationship with her husband Heber Bartolome, a singer and composer, with whom she had two children. Maita was married before to a top executive of San Miguel Corp. That was before she was awakened to new realities. That was another time. Another kind of world.

Heber talked about how they met. “She used to come to listen to me sing.” Heber used to sing at the Bodega during those days. His folk songs tell of the privations of Nena, a prostitute and our pride in being Filipino “Tayo’y mga Pinoy, Tayo’y hindi Kano...” etc.

“I was surprised to see someone like her involved in the cause,” he smiled shyly as Elvira Manahan laughed. How did Maita get so politicized? By her own admission it must have been there long before, even with the frills of beauty contests and modeling she was involved in. But it was when she went back to school (UP) that she got to be more positive about her direction. At first, her being a beauty queen raised some eyebrows. But it was also the time when Gemma Cruz, herself a beauty queen, led the demonstration against beauty contests with her Kabataang Makabayan. Then it dawned on a lot of people that one could be a beauty queen and still be committed.

Maita was still a stunning presence. At the press preview of Bayan Ko in Makati she made heads turn even when she wore hardly any makeup. Tall. Lithe and fair, she had a drastic resemblance to Hilda Koronel.

“I’m flattered,” she would tell people who comment on it. Maita was very active with WOMB, a woman’s organization that actively boycotted the last election. She was living with Heber at the Gomez mansion, an apartment building owned by the relatives. She and Heber, also a painter, were getting drawn to activities spawned by the present situation. For Maita, it was the sense of helping out, reaching out to a few that made it all worthwhile.

Now: June 21, 2011 — 26 years after

All these years, Maita remains as committed as ever. But in her own quiet way, so much so some people outside of the movement are wondering about her. The first big notice she got from mainstream media was when Melissa Perez Rubio, her oldest daughter and a popular model, was dating matinee idol Richard Gomez. When Melissa won as a runner-up in one of those contests, it was mentioned that her mother is rebel and nationalist beauty queen.

Maita (Margarita Favis Gomez) was a headline maker when 24 hours after she won the 1967 Miss Philippines title and the right to represent the country in the Miss World contest in the UK, she went to the mountains to join the communist guerilla struggle against the Marcos dictatorship.

At present, she is still busy in the political scene. She ran for public office but lost. But she was not deterred. She continues to fight for advocacies that would normally frighten ordinary politicians who will go for popular causes.

Maita is a popular political and women’s rights advocate. In the 2010 elections, she campaigned actively for the candidacy of Satur Ocampo and Liza Masa. She is now busy as an economist for the grassroots, fighting for long-term prosperity for women and the farmers.