The Sunshine of Cesar’s Life

Cesar, Sunshine hiwalay?

That was the glaring headline of a vernacular tabloid last Tuesday afternoon when Conversations paid Cesar Montano and Sunshine Cruz a visit at their two-storey residence on Scout Rallos St. in Quezon City.

Although there were whispers of lovers’ quarrel, typical of any married couple, several weeks after Cesar and Sunshine got married in a fairy-tale sunset wedding at the Coconut Palace on Sept. 24, 2000, it was the first time that another round of rumors was being played up in bold headlines in the media (other papers also came up with the unconfirmed rumor), making Cesar and Sunshine wonder if somebody was orchestrating it all.

In the column items, there was no mention about what caused the "break-up" (take note: in quotation marks). In fact, noted a baffled Norma Japitana, Cesar’s manager, "You read the stories and they’re all speculative."

Cesar just came from a game of tennis in a nearby court and, in a jiffy, he had taken a bath and dressed up for the pictorial-interview. Sunshine was all set, too, cuddling their seven-month-old daughter Angelina Isabelle (Angelina is taken from Angelina Jolie, Sunshine’s favorite Hollywood actress) who had just awakened from her afternoon nap.

The couple acted like any normal – and, I should add, happy – couple. There wasn’t any tell-tale sign that something’s the matter with their marriage, not even in their body language or in the way they looked at each other with a smile, with Sunshine sometimes touching Cesar’s face to check if it was shiny (not good for television, you know). If Cesar and Sunshine were simply "acting," then they must be such good actors. In the more than two hours we were there, all we could sense was that they were living happily ever after, thank you!

"The other day," said Sunshine, "we were on the way home when we caught the headline of a newspaper. Hiwalay na raw kami! One month na raw. That day, we just came from a game of tennis; we usually play together. Only last week, we went to Bangkok for a holiday. We don’t understand why people want to make us separate and we’re sorry to disappoint them."

How are you taking this nasty rumor?

Sunshine: Kaya nga Boboy (Cesar) and I are kidding each other, "Oy, di ba one month na raw tayong hiwalay? Bakit ka nandito?" We’re not taking it seriously kasi hindi naman totoo, e!

The same rumor actually spread only a few months after your wedding when Sunshine was infanticipating. You were even romantically linked to Jo Canonizado, your leading lady in Mananabas (shown last year, before the landmark Star Cinema movie Bagong Buwan).

Cesar: You know, it’s sad that in this country we have this kind of people who want – actually anticipate – happy couples to break up. Shine and I are not the type easily affected by things like this. What matters is not what idle minds are cooking up about you but how you respond to it. Our response? Wala lang. (Shrugging.)

You’re spending your second wedding anniversary four months from now. How would you assess your 20 months together?

Cesar: We’re doing... great! We’re doing...good! Masasabi nating nandoon ang kaligayahan, nandoon ang... We’re able to spend time together and share beautiful things together and sing together and laugh together.

Of course, part of the adjustment period is to overcome, and maybe reconcile, differences in your attitudes and character traits...

Cesar: "...kasama na lahat..."

Cear Montano is Cesar Montano and, besides being a brilliant actor he’s attractive to other women even now that he’s married (again). Does it make you feel insecure in any way, Sunshine?

Sunshine: Well, I must admit that during our first few months, naging selosa ako, especially when I got pregnant. I used to be very thin and suddenly, I grew big. Para akong naging butete! Nakaka-insecure ’yon sa isang babae, di ba? Plus ang asawa mo napaka-macho at napaka-guwapo. Nakaka-insecure, di ba?

Cesar (Flattered): Grabe naman ’to! Huwag mong ipagkakalat ’yan!

Sunshine (Touching Cesar’s face): Totoo naman, di ba?

Maybe that was part of your pregnancy blues.

Sunshine: I guess so. Ask any pregnant woman and she’ll tell you the same thing – lalo na ’yung mga guwapo ang mister. When you’re pregnant, parang you feel ugly, di ba?

But Cesar is a changed man now, especially since he’s married.

Cesar: I feel more contented and more accomplished as a person. What more can I ask for? I have a beautiful daughter, I have a beautiful wife... a loving wife. I have everything! Sa career ko, puwede akong tumanggap, puwede akong tumanggi. I have nothing more to wish for. I can only thank God for all these blessings.

Little things do count during the adjustment period, don’t they? Such as sleeping habits.

Sunshine: We have the same sleeping habits. We sleep at almost the same time, although he wakes up earlier. Kasi, at dawn I have to wake up for the baby, to check if her diapers are wet and for her feeding time. I’d be up at 4 or 5 a.m. for the baby and then go back to sleep again. In a little while, gumigising na si Boboy.

Which side of the bed are you in?

Cesar: It depends. Sometimes, Shine is on the right side and sometimes, on the left. Same with me. It all depends on who’s minding the baby. If it’s Shine, she sleeps on the side near the baby’s crib. If it’s me, I sleep near the baby. I also help change the diapers and feed the baby. But basically, talagang early riser ako. I’m up at around 7 a.m. because I have so many things to do – I play tennis, I have to shoot (movies), I do a lot of things.

Sunshine: Sometimes nga, he would tease me pa, "Baby, wake up. It’s 11 o’clock!" ’Yon pala, 8 o’clock pa lang. Niloloko niya ako! Sometimes, I’d wake up with my face full of Pentel Pen drawings.

Really!?!

Cesar: Masyado siyang conscious sa mukha niya, so I would put drawings on her face while she’s asleep. Dahan-dahan ang pagdro-drawing para hindi magising. One guhit every minute. Shine is a light sleeper so I’m careful.

Do you sleep with the lights on or off?

Cesar: With the lights on but dimmed low, because of the baby. Otherwise, pag kami lang ni Shine, we prefer to have the lights off.

Who reads in bed while the other watches TV?

Sunshine: Magkasundo kami diyan. Sabay kaming nagbabasa at sabay din kaming nagwa-watch ng TV.

Are you pillow people? You know, kailangan maraming pillows na katabi.

Sunshine (Laughing): I had all our pillows thrown away. No, hindi ako mahilig sa pillows.

Cesar: I’m also not fond of pillows.

Anyway, you have each other as pillows.

Sunshine: Si Boboy, masarap na pillow. Firm body – and hard!

Cesar: She’s also my pillow. Soft – and tender!

Sunshine: I don’t even use a pillow under my head. Since I was small kasi, ganoon na ako. I used to sleep with my ate who didn’t use a pillow. Now, when I use a pillow, sumasakit ang leeg ko. With Boboy beside me, what do I need a pillow for? Boboy is very huggable, masarap yakapin. Siksik ang katawan. At ang tigas!

What about bathroom habits? Do you fight over how to properly press the toothpaste tube (from the bottom, of course!) like some showbiz couples I know?

Sunshine: I tell you, Boboy is very organized with his things in the bathroom. Ang linis-linis! We have "His" things and "Hers" things. We don’t share toiletries, not even toothpaste. He has his own, I have my own.

Cesar: Actually, it’s Shine who fixes my things, including my clothes. Ako kasi, I take off my shirt and I just throw it around. Now, everything is organized in my cabinet. The briefs are arranged together, the sandos together, the pants together, everything together! Maayos na maayos.

Sunshine (Joking): If I had a heart condition, I’d have a heart attack everytime I opened his cabinet. Dati kasi, magulung-magulo! Sometimes, one of his socks was in one corner and the other was somewhere else.

Who uses the bathroom first? Or do you use it together?

Cesar: Usually, sabay.

Sunshine: Lalo na sa shower, sabay!

Cesar (Amused): She would even sit on me while I’m answering the call of nature. Kuwentuhan lang kami. We’re very casual about it. Walang malice, ha!

What about eating habits?

Sunshine: I’ve learned how to cook. But I’m not making him eat as much as I used to because he’s gaining weight.

Cesar: I am trim again because I’ve been working out, playing tennis.

Sunshine: He doesn’t eat pork. Sometimes, a little beef. But most of the time, chicken. And fish.

Do you have any differences – you know, in anything?

Sunshine (Thinks awhile): None at all. We have the same likes and dislikes in almost everything and in anything.

Cesar: We seldom disagree or fight. When we do fight, it’s usually over petty things.

Such as?

Cesar (Breaking into laughter): Very funny...

Sunshine: Such as takip ng cuticle remover.

Takip ng cuticle remover?

Sunshine: Yeah. Takip ng cuticle remover.

Cesar: If you remove the cover of the cuticle remover, you find another cover inside. ’Yon ’yung bubutasin mo. Ayaw butasin ni Shine and I warned her that the cuticle remover fluid would spill over. We’d argue and then, hayun, away na kami.

Sunshine (Continues to laugh): Matinding away ’yon, grabeng away ’yon. Lasting for three to four days; walang kibuan. Kasi nga naman, I would make lambing-lambing, you know, "Halika, Boboy, lilinisin ko ang mga kuko mo!" And then here he came with the butas-butas of the cuticle-remover bottle.

Wala namang major eksena – you know, nagbabatuhan ng cuticle-remover bottle or some such things?

Sunshine: Nothing of that sort. No violence! All I’d do was frown and tell him "O, ayan, linisin mo ang kuko mong mag-isa mo!" And then I’d stand and leave him alone in a huff.

No major, talagang major, fight so far?

Cesar: None pa naman.

How do you usually kiss and make up?

Sunshine: In bed, he’d embrace me and I’d embrace him. Hayun, bati na kami.

Cesar: It usually starts with sagian ng paa. You know, I’d brush her leg kunwari by accident. If she responded by also kunwari brushing back my leg, ’yon na ’yon.

Sunshine: But when I wasn’t ready to make peace with him, I just didn’t move. Hindi ko rin sinasagi ang paa niya. Or I’d remove his leg from beside my leg.

What happens next?

Cesar: What do you think?

Well, what about the, ehem, slight age gap? Being older, are you the one who sort of put the situation under control?

Cesar: Ganoon na nga. But I’m happy that Shine is learning things fast; she’s maturing fast. Umaalalay ako sa kanya, umaalalay din siya sa akin. Shine knows how cranky I become when I’m on a diet, when I’m preoccupied with many things, when I have a lot of work to do. Sometimes, I’d tell her, "O, sige, you be the one to go to Pandi (Bulacan) to check on the construction of the house, you be the one to do this and to do that..." I do a lot of things, I attend to a lot of things, such as looking for material for my next movie project, attend to the payroll of my workers, go to the gym, go to Bohol to check on our business (bottled water) there, at kung anu-ano pa. "Okay, ikaw ang mag-asikaso lahat niyan and I’ll stay home with Angelina."

Sunshine: Mothering is a career in itself. Now I understand. It’s not easy, baka akala nila. I’m the type of mother kasi who just doesn’t entrust everything to the yaya. I’m a hands-on type of mother.

Cesar, what did you learn from your first marriage that you’re now applying in this marriage? What are the things that you avoid? You were young then (barely 17?) and, let’s face it, impulsive and immature?

Cesar: How to love your partner – your wife – and how to give her importance than anybody or anybody else.

What about as far as fathering is concerned, it being not new to you? Do you give Sunshine any pointers?

Cesar: Ask Shine.

Sunshine: I could see how he brought up Angelo and Angela (Cesar’s children with his late first wife. – RFL) and if I have to judge by it, okay siyang father. Angelo and Angela were brought up well. Mababait na mga bata, masunurin at magagalang. They’re not fond of "gimik" or going out of the house. Walang bisyo. So I’m confident that Boboy will bring up Angelina the same way.

You’re suddenly a stepmother of grown-up kids, almost as old as you are (Angela at 20 is only three years younger than you are). Doesn’t it come as some kind of a shock to you, Sunshine?

Sunshine: Not at all.

Are you okay with Angelo and Angela?

Sunshine: We’re okay, just like a barkada. Sometimes, we take one side against Boboy. Pinagtutulungan namin si Boboy.

What have been the major changes in your lifestyle with the arrival of the baby?

Cesar: Na-lessen ang paglabas-labas namin. We’re planning to go to Europe but we cannot because we can’t bring along Angelina with us yet. Maybe when she’s one-year old or two-years old, puwede na siyang mag-travel with us.

Sunshine: That would be our second honeymoon. (They had their first honeymoon also in Europe. – RFL)

Maybe when you come back, Sunshine would be infanticipating your second child.

Cesar: I’m sure!

Aren’t you going to Paris next year for your pictorial (as image model) for Petit Monde?

Sunshine: Maybe.

Seriously now, when do you plan to have another baby?

Sunshine: After two or three years. Kapag medyo malaki-laki na si Angelina.

Cesar: If ever, we want to have twins. Or triplets. Wholesale, di ba?

Sunshine: We’re asking my OB-Gyne if it’s possible – to have twins or, why not, triplets. In my family kasi, may lahi kaming twins. My Mom has sisters who are triplets.

You’ll be working double or triple time.

Cesar: Yeah. Morning, noon and night.

By the way, what about your career, Sunshine?

Sunshine: It’s "on hold" muna. Right now, my priority is family – Boboy and our children. ’Yung pakanta-kanta sa TV, it’s only for enjoyment... just to be, you know, visible... at para makita ako ng asawa ko na, "Oy, maganda pa pala ang asawa ko kahit may anak na – sexy pa pala!"

How do you feel when you see Sunshine so sexy – and desirable on TV... or even in person?

Cesar: Panalo!

If and when Sunshine goes back to doing movies, would there be do’s and don’t’s, Cesar?

Cesar: None.

Sunshine: Ako mismo, I know what to do and what not to do. But if ever, siguro I’d do a movie only if it’s with Boboy, if he’ll direct it and star in it with me. Otherwise, okay na sa akin ang pa-TV-TV.

Cesar (Tongue-in-cheek): No more risky stunts, like jumping from tall buildings or from a speeding car. Bawal din ang tumulay sa alambre.

In the meantime, talagang family ang focus mo, Sunshine.

Sunshine: Enjoy ako, contrary to the tsismis. Boboy and I are okay, don’t worry.

How many kids do you plan to have?

Cesar: At least five. We want to have a big family.