ON TARGET Chiz Escudero: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

There is a chink in the armor of senatorial derby frontrunner Chiz Escudero: his would-be parents-in-law.

Rey and Baby Ongpauco, owners of the Barrio Fiesta chain of restaurants, have poured out to their best friend what they felt about the senator. The friend, in turn, revealed all to this columnist.

The Ongpaucos are parents of actress Heart Evangelista,  Escudero’s fiancée.
Heart owns a condominium unit one floor above Heart’s parents in Makati City which Chiz visits regularly.

According to this friend of the Ongpaucos, Escudero’s driver went to the unit of Heart’s parents several days ago to get all of her clothes in her room.

The Ongpaucos asked why Heart would want all her clothes when she could easily get down to their unit to change, but the driver said he didn’t know and for them to just ask Heart and Chiz.

There was an altercation between Rey Ongpauco and the senator’s driver who was reportedly arrogant, according to  our source, leading to a fight that resulted in the driver being beaten up inside the unit of the Ongpaucos.

The incident was a culmination of the bad blood between the senator and the Ongpaucos, according to the parents of the actress.

“Bastos siya, ‘di kami ginagalang (He’s ill-mannered, he doesn’t respect us),” our source quoted the Ongpaucos as telling her.

Quoting the Ongpaucos, the young senator-reelectionist allegedly always had a drink too many when he talks to them.

When they visit Heart at the condominium unit and Chiz happens to be there, her parents feel insulted because the senator reportedly does  not even greet them or stand up.

“We thought that since he’s a senator and comes from a supposedly good family he was taught good manners by his parents,” the Ongpaucos were quoted by their friend as
saying.

“Talagang bastos siya, parang walang pinag-aralan (He’s so uncouth as if  he had no education at all),” Baby Ongpauco was quoted by her friend in describing Escudero.

The senator sounded surprised when I reached him by phone Monday.

“My God, why would I do that to Heart’s parents?” said the senator.

“My parents taught me good manners,” said the senator.

Escudero said Heart and her parents have a family quarrel and he’s caught in the middle.
I got back to my source and told her about the senator’s claim that he was caught in the middle of family intramurals.

She said it was Chiz who was prodding—“sinusulsulan” was her word—Heart to fight her parents.

She added that if  other journalists interviewed the Ongpaucos, they would confirm what she revealed to me.

If what the source said about the senator is true, then he has a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde personality,  showing his good side in public and the bad in his personal life.

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Rice smuggling is rampant at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and at Cebu Port, according to my  Bureau of Customs sources.

This belies statements by Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon that rice smuggling has been checked.

From 300 to 500 containers  of smuggled rice, declared as other items, leave Cebu Port every week, according to a highly reliable source.

At the MICP, a source identified to this columnist some of the shipments to prove his point: 

FSCU3656660; TCLU3250418; IMTU3089174; EISU3982370; EMCU3554425; EMCU3678302; DFSU2776189; EGSU3019182; IMTU3092579.

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Smuggled rice affects our  farmers who had a bountiful harvest this season. The country will be exporting home-grown rice because of the bounty, according to my source at the Department of Agriculture.