Rico Puno

Days before President Noynoy cleared Rico Puno of culpability in the August 23 hostage-killing, I had a long conversation with the Department of Interior and Local Government undersecretary. Astride the hostage fiasco Rico was grappling with was whether President Noynoy Aquino would kick him out of the Cabinet for accepting grease money from jueteng lords as charged by a grumpy retired Catholic archbishop. Rico told me he knew the President, he knew that if the President believed he was guilty, he would drop him.

Well, the other day, when the President cleared Rico of wrongdoing in the hostage-taking tragedy, it was understood that he did not believe his close friend had received jueteng payoffs either. In fact, Noynoy had told him to bring a lawyer to a Senate investigation, but Rico said no, what for, since he did not accept jueteng money at all. The president told him to relax.

It isn’t just their close friendship that made the President absolve Rico. It’s a relationship that is built on trust, sincerity, respect, and confidence in each other’s capabilities.

Rico is only one of three men who can enter Noynoy’s room in Malacanang. (The two others are Romy Mercado, a businessman who lives in Guam, and Cristino “Bong” Naguiat, now the new PAGCOR chair.) Rico has worked for Noynoy for nine years, during his three terms as congressman, and first term as senator.

How did this friendship start that will stick through hell or high water?

Although both of them come from Tarlac, it was when Noynoy’s mother, Corazon Aquino, was president that the two men became close. Rico, 56 — five years older than Noynoy — took up agricultural economics, major in farm management, at the UP Los Banos, decidedly to manage the family farm in Tarlac after graduation. The farm, originally consisting of 200 hectares, was owned by Rico’s maternal grandfather (an Escalona), and was later divided among Rico and his siblings. Rico now has 11 hectares grown to mango trees, 11 hectares of rice land, and cattle and sheep, and a fishpond (crabs and milkfish) in Bataan owned by his father (Puno).

While schooling, Rico was in the shooting team of UP and Ateneo that competed with the Dela Salle team. “The craze at the time was practical shooting, everybody wanted to learn to use the pistol, using paper targets.” Rico became an accredited firearms instructor. After EDSA 1, with Cory as president, Col. Hermogenes Ebdane, was appointed head of the Presidential Security Group. He and Rico had joined shooting competitions in the past, and he asked Rico to train PSG guards who had been recruited from the provinces. The old guards under the Marcos regime had been removed for security reasons. There were no firearms in Malacanang, said Rico. Firearms were donated by Cory’s friends. He taught junior officers, who are now senior officers, to shoot.

He was a paid volunteer, but he was also in the business of selling firearms and ammunition. Today his personal collection includes about 20 registered sporting firearms, shotguns, pistols and high-powered hunting rifles. Rico stayed in Malacañang for almost two years, and survived two coup d’etat attempts.

While in Malacañang, Rico formed shooting clubs. At this time, Noynoy had developed a passion for shooting. “We were together most of the time.” Is Noynoy a good shooter? “Yes,” said Rico.” Can he become a better shooter? “Well, he’s the president,” said Rico, leaving his sentence hanging.

“The fun is I do practice shooting with my wife and children on weekends.” Now that he is undersecretary, and being at the beck and call of the President, he hardly has time for his family. “It’s important to have free weekends, I tell the President.” Rico and wife Delia Delgado have three children.

Rico’s tasks have been to provide Noynoy security, lead the advance party, and talk with politicians and officials.

Rico talked of Noynoy’s very close relationship with his late mother and three sisters. When Noynoy told Cory he wanted to run for senator, Cory said no, “Bakit ka tatakbo e mahirap ‘yan.”. It was after Senators Frank Drilon, Serge Osmena and Mar Roxas and Butch Abad talked about the need to strengthen the Liberal Party that Cory agreed. Noynoy got the fifth slot in the senatorial elections.

Then the clamor for a new national leadership became strong. People egged Noynoy to run as running mate of Mar, the then likely LP standard bearer.

Cory, Ballsy and Pinky agreed to let Noynoy run, but Viel did not, saying, “Why make a great sacrifice again?” She was referring to her late father’s exile and assassination.

When Noynoy talked about running for a national office, the older sisters said, “If you run, we’d like it to be for president, not for vice-president.” Again a reflective Viel said no, “Why make this ultimate sacrifice again?” As for Kris’s vote, Noynoy said, “She will agree with her sisters’ decision.”

Rico described Mar’s giving the presidential slot to Noynoy. Away from mediamen, Mar, Butz, Noynoy and Rico met in Rico’s house one afternoon in October last year. They had sisig and Coke. Then Mar delivered his valedictory address. He said his and Noynoy’s fathers were nationalists and thought of the common good, and that they, the sons, also had the same dreams and aspirations. For two years, Mar said, he worked hard campaigning for the presidency. But he made up his mind to give up his presidential ambition, let Noynoy run for president, and he would be his running mate instead.       

Said Rico: “Tumayo si Noynoy, nagsigarilyo, umupo. Mar asked, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ Noynoy’s first words were, ‘We’re 95 million Filipinos. We must not fail them.’ Wow, I said to myself, he’s not thinking of himself, of his becoming president of 95-million Filipinos, but of not failing them. This guy is really something.”

When Mar returned, Noynoy did not say anything, except that he was going to talk to his sisters first, then to a Carmelite sister in Zamboanga.

Why Noynoy chose Rico for DILG undersecretary is beyond mere friendship and gratitude. The Usec said that it was his “personal acquaintances” with police officers whom he taught to learn to shoot, whose backgrounds he checked, whose lifestyle was beyond what they wrote in their personal data sheet — “the information I can give him, that are important to Noynoy.”

A heavy set 6-footer, Rico said, “If you know Noynoy, you’ll know what he’ll say, what he wants to happen, there’s no way you cannot support him. He is really clean, he lives a simple life. And I would like to serve the country by helping him.”

* * *

My e-mail:[email protected]