The taming of Dennis Padilla

It could be the sobering hand of experience or the mellowing effect of time. Or could it be the influence of a woman? Dennis Padilla likes to think it’s all of the above.

But the change is as clear as day to those who know him since his Hawi Boys days when he received a measly P50 a day as one of Randy Santiago’s sidekicks. The youngest Caloocan City councilor (elected into office four years ago at 36) has changed for the better.

For one, Dennis has kissed his days as ladies’ man goodbye. He and wife Marjorie Barretto have been together for five years and are looking forward to the birth of their third child (their first son to be named Leon) in April next year.

Dennis is the first to acknowledge Marjorie’s sobering effect on him.

"She has tamed me," he says.

What does Gretchen’s younger sister have that the others did not?

Dennis refuses to spell out the reasons. But he is quick to admit that he learned a lot from Marjorie whose picture he keeps in his wallet.

"I learned how to fix the house. She’s good at that. I also learned how to handle money. I used to buy inexpensive things, thinking I’ll be able to save that way. But she taught me that expensive need not necessarily mean wasteful. The costly piece of furniture I bought today, for instance, can last until I get tired using it."

Marjorie’s Christmas gift to Dennis, the Louis Vuitton clutch bag he carries around these days, drives home her point. It must have cost a fortune to daily wage earners, but it will serve Dennis for years and years. (Dennis’ gift to Marjorie is a pair of earrings.)

But even if she buys costly things that last, Marjorie also shows Dennis the value of saving for the rainy days. It was she, says Dennis, who volunteered to save his money for him.

"You can never be too sure in this business," Dennis echoes what many actors realize only too late. "Today, you may be on top of the world. Tomorrow, you’re jobless."

Marjorie, no stranger to showbiz herself, will not let Dennis go through this agony, if and when.

As tradition has it, the couple spend Christmas and New Year’s Day alternately with their respective parents. Dennis, Marjorie and the children visited Mike and Inday Barretto at their Merville Park home in Parañaque City on Christmas Day, and will spend the first day of 2003 in Caloocan with the equally-big Padilla clan.

Over at Dennis’ ever-bustling home adorned with two Christmas trees – a big one for adults and a small one for children – everything is humming with activity.

Caloocan folk knock at his door, some first thing in the morning, with all sorts of requests. It could be money for hungry mouths, or for hospitalization bills, or for donations to fiestas. The list is endless.

Some requests are urgent and genuine. Others are fake. Dennis senses this a mile away, tells the person pointblank, and forks out a modest amount to pay for the man’s transportation fare.

Marjorie takes charge of events the busy Dennis cannot attend to, like standing as proxy in baptisms, gracing fiestas and others.

People of varied persuasions are not wary of approaching the comedian whose funny ways serve as the great leveler for them, closing the gap between public official and constituents.

"I get a lot of requests to write referral letters to congressmen and senators," says Dennis whose name spells such instant recall among public officials that helping people this way is peanuts to him.

He gets a big kick out of helping the needy, knowing that somehow he has lightened someone else’s burden. But the cost is nothing to sneer at. Dennis shells out as much as P5,000 a day for such expenses. Put them all together and the sum is a dozen times bigger than his monthly salary as councilor.

That’s when showbiz comes in handy. As one of ABS-CBN’s recently-signed talents (he moved from GMA 7 only last August), Dennis has two regular shows, the long-running Home Along Da Riles and Whattamen, both on primetime. The pay takes care not only of the household expenses, but of those for Caloocan as well. His monthly paycheck as councilor is so modest compared to his showbiz earnings, equivalent to only one guesting stint on TV!

Thus, Dennis looks forward to a more fruitful year as comedian in 2003.

"Comedy," he paraphrases director Johnny Manahan," is like wine. It gets better with age."

In Dennis’ case, where he meets lots of people – from the lowly utility man to highly-placed public officials – it gets better with exposure to things as lofty as policies for the betterment of Caloocan and to those as trivial as gracing a Christmas party.

"The trick," he says, "is being a good listener. I observe a lot. I get ideas this way."

That’s also how this Political Science graduate learned the ropes of public office as a neophyte councilor four years ago. He’s still learning – he assures you – from books, regular sessions with fellow councilors when he turns off his cellular phone, and the common tao who see in him a familiar face on TV who will not let them down.

Next year, Dennis hopes to return to the movies through his mother studio, Viva Films. He has a "special participation" in Ai Ai de las Alas’ Tanging Ina, all right, but Dennis longs for the days when he can again deliver those stinging punch lines and sport that familiar underdog look that has endeared him to moviegoers.