BODY  TALK  WITH  ERAP


MANILA, MARCH 1, 2010 (STAR) FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo - “It means that I am healthy!”

With that, former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada took another bite of crispy balat of the lechon that was part of the catered Kamayan dinner his team hosted for The STAR editors, columnists and reporters in the third in a series of presidentiables being “grilled” on issues covering health, defense, foreign affairs, sports, lifestyle, etc. to inform and guide the public when they go to the polls on May 10.

“My blood pressure is normal, and so is my blood sugar,” said Erap as he helped himself to chicharon.

Unlike the two presidentiables, Sen. Manny Villar and Sen. Noynoy Aquino, who came (separately) at lunchtime for more than two-hour sessions with The STAR, Erap arrived at 9 o’clock Friday night from a campaign sortie in Tarlac, together with former Sen. Ernie Maceda (one of his advisers) and Kit Tatad who is running (again for senator) under Erap’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP). The “grilling” ended at way past 1 o’clock Saturday morning.

“Has everybody eaten?” he kept asking. “Is there enough food for everybody?”

He made sure that everybody, not just The STAR editorial team but other employees as well, was sharing dinner with him. He came wearing an orange shirt, claiming that the color orange is his own, never mind if Manny Villar is using the same color.

“I am the original orange,” Erap insisted in a previous Funfare interview. “The Marcos Loyalists were using red as their color and the Coryistas were using yellow. I wanted to reconcile and unite the two groups, so I mix red and yellow, and what do you get? Orange, di ba?”

Erap doesn’t hold grudges. When Nora Aunor turned her back on him, despite the “blessings” he had heaped on her (a Jollibee franchise, a house worth reportedly P50-M and a huge amount) after she campaigned for him in the 1998 presidential race, he simply shrugged it off. (Nora has since sold the Jollibee franchise and the house and lot, leaving her with nothing, until she left for the States and got involved in that infamous drug incident.)

When Erap learned that Dolphy, who was a staunch campaigner for Erap’s bosom buddy FPJ in the 2004 elections, has been signed up by Villar as an endorser, he smiled and breathed not a negative word about Dolphy. “It’s part of his job,” Erap said.

As with Villar and the other presidentiables, Funfare is doing a “body talk” with Erap to see how fit he is to be president (again!). Why isn’t Noynoy included in the series? Well, I did ask his sister Kris Aquino about it but she said Noynoy didn’t want any “body talk.” She referred me to the team of Noynoy’s running mate, Sen. Mar Roxas. If not face-to-face, I said, Noynoy may e-mail to me his answers to the same set of questions. I was referred to somebody else in a run-around way. I have given up on them.

And here’s Erap whom Funfare interviewed before the “grilling” session proper, over bites of lechon, chicharon and other mouth-watering Kamayan delights.

What kind of diet do you follow?

“I eat anything, especially during this campaign.”

Aside from lechon, what’s your favorite dish?

“Among the native food, I love kare-kare.”

Favorite vegetable?

“I like the Ilocano dinengdeng and pinakbet.”

What about fruits?

“Any kind of fruit.”

How much water do you take per day?

“Not much. Mas maraming coffee. I take a minimum of six cups a day. I developed the habit as an actor, palaging lamay kasi sa shooting, eh.”

Are you taking vitamins or medications?

“No. As I said, I am healthy. I haven’t been sick since I was nine years old.”

Wow, really?

“Except for my bad knees.”

Have you gone under the knife?

“No. Except when I was circumcised.” (He didn’t say when.)

Do you have regular executive check-up?

“Yes. Every six months. I have a personal physician.”

Do you work out?

“I do but not the strenuous exercise because of my bad knees. I have a gym at home but I hardly use it now because I’m busy with the campaign. I have a treadmill but I don’t use it. The only workout I do is calesthenics. I have a sauna at home. Nagsa-sauna ako for 30 minutes every day. I sweat out the impurities and the toxins in my body. And that’s when I pray — when I’m having a sauna. I can’t concentrate in public. I pray more effectively when I’m alone.”

What about, uh, “sexercise”?

“These days, very rarely. Walang time, eh.” (Note: Like Dolphy, Erap doesn’t need Viagra. Dolphy said that his “viagra” is his beloved Zsa Zsa Padilla while Erap claimed that his is “natural.”)

What part of your body needs improvement?

“I have lost five lbs. since the start of the campaign. I still have to lose more. Kailangan ko pang mag-reduce, magpa-payat.” (He stands 5’8" and weighs 187 lbs.)

What’s the size of your shirt?

“Large. Not XL or XXL.”

And your briefs?

(Didn’t comment)

Do you have a temper?

“Well, dati mayroon...I used to have a temper. But as I age, nag-mellow na ako ng kaunti.”

What makes you angry?

“People who are not doing their job properly. ‘Yung mabagal mag-trabaho.”

What’s your favorite pastime, watching movies?

“I have no time to watch movies, not even TV.”

Does Senadora Loi join you in the campaign?

“Once in a while. Kasama ko siya sa Ilocos.”

How do you divide your time bet-ween your work and your family, er, families?

“I spend Sundays with my family. We hear Mass together in the afternoon doon sa aming chapel. Then, we have dinner together.”

No more nightlife?

“I have a little wine in Tangerine (a fine-dining restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan City) while listening to music.” (Note: Pilita Corrales is the resident singer. If you are in the mood, you can take the microphone and sing.) “Since I became president, I have refrained from taking hard drinks, wine na lang.”

How much sleep do you get per night?

“Four hours. Enough na ‘yon.”

Last thing that you do before you go to sleep?

“Read the newspapers and watch the newscast.”

What section of the newspaper do you read first?

“The front page and then the sports page.”

Do you have a favorite TV show?

“None. I watch sports.”

Favorite hideaway?

“Tanay (Rizal, where his and Loi’s 50th wedding anniversary was solemnized in December last year).”

Your 50th wedding anniversary celebration was fabulous.

(Joking) “Mabuti nga inabot kami ng 50 years, kasi ang matagal ko nang theme sa kanya ay Please Release Me.”

At ano naman ang kinakanta ni Senadora Loi sa’yo?

“As Long As (You) Need Me.” (Note: The song, As Long As She Needs Me, from the musical Oliver.)

Do you still look at other women?

“Siempre. Hindi mawawala ‘yon, ikaw naman.”

What’s the first thing that you notice when you meet a woman?

“The boobs.”

How’s your sex life?

“Very good. That’s what keeps me alive.”

Are you able to please, uh, all of them?

“Yes, I can. I have to.”

(And then he laughed and laughed as if the joke was on him.)