Dan speaks up: I feel betrayed!

Hadn’t, so to speak, the cat gotten out of the bag, former Laguna Vice Gov. Dan Fernandez (who ran for governor in last year’s elections but lost to Luningning Lazaro) said that he would have continued to keep mum on his and wife Sheila Ysrael’s separation even if he was hurting in his self-imposed silence for more than two months.

"I’m the aggrieved party," Dan insisted in an exclusive interview with Funfare, armed with a bagful of evidence consisting of love letters and transcriptions of more than 3,000 text messages between Sheila and her alleged boyfriend, a 20-something guy also from Sta. Cruz, Laguna, where reside Dan and Sheila and their three children (Danzel, 7; Danalyn, 5; and Daniel, 2). "I really feel betrayed. But just the same, I opted to keep quiet and agreed to the set-up of having our children stay with me Mondays to Fridays (when the two older ones have classes) and with Sheila Fridays (nights) to Sundays."

Until, according to Dan, several days ago when Sheila’s relatives violated the unwritten rule and spilled the beans on The Buzz, followed by Sheila’s filing at a Quezon City court a Petition for Temporary Protection Order against Dan, accusing Dan of being "a habitual wife beater," and custody of their children.

"Foul, isn’t it? As I’ve said, ako ang aggrieved party at ako pa ang binaliktad nila. That’s why I’m speaking up to defend myself and clear my name and reputation."

As Dan recalled, he started suspecting that Sheila was "fooling around" as early as May when he spent one month in the US.

"Kung mayroong woman’s intuition," said Dan, "mayroon din namang man’s intuition, di ba?"

To make a long, complicated story shorter, Dan said he finally "caught" and confronted Sheila last Sept. 21 when he found her locked up in the bathroom apparently exchanging text messages with somebody.

"I checked her cellphone and true enough, I saw in the Inbox several text messages – ‘I love you,’ ‘I miss you,’ etc. That’s when I saw red. When I confirmed that Sheila and the (other) guy were texting each other, I slapped her. That was the first and last time I ever hit her. That doesn’t make me a ‘habitual wife beater,’ does it? What kind of a husband would keep quiet once he catches his wife fooling around? Other husbands would have reacted in a worse manner."

Through his own sleuthing, Dan discovered that the alleged text messages between Sheila and the (other) guy have been logged first by Sheila herself (while Dan was in the US) and then by the cashier of the family co-owned Rafter’s Bar (in Sta. Cruz) where, according to Dan, Sheila first met the guy, a hip-hop type who works as a care-giver in London.

"I gathered more than 3,000 text messages between them," said Dan, "many of them sent when the guy was in London. One phone call lasted for more than 54 minutes, so you can just imagine the cellphone bill – and it was I who had to pay it?"

To confirm his suspicion, Dan patiently texted the numbers reflected in the text messages (sent via pre-paid cards), using Sheila’s cellphone and, he said, "I felt as if the world caved in on me when the guy started replying with love and ‘horny’ messages. In one of the exchanges, they planned to have a vacation in Thailand in January next year and Sheila agreed to shoulder the expenses. Imagine, money that we could use for our family ang gagastusin niya sa kanilang bakasyon!"

The confrontation scene ensued.

"I felt sorry that I hit her," Dan admitted. "That same night, I requested Sheila’s mom to fetch Sheila at our home, otherwise I might not be able to control myself and hit her again, especially when she continued to deny everything maski huling-huli ko na siya. They took Sheila, including our three children."

The other day, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court dismissed Sheila’s Petition for Temporary Protection Order and the case for custody of their children due to lack of jurisdiction, a decision which Dan considered to be in his favor.

"Now, we can go back to the old set-up, with our children staying with me Mondays to Fridays and with Sheila on weekends."

Asked if everything is final, that there’d be no more chance of a reconciliation, Dan said, tears welling in his eyes, "There’s no more turning back. Masakit ang ginawa niya sa akin."

That’s why he has filed a petition for annulment of their marriage solemnized (civil and in church) in year 2001.

"If I am a ‘habitual wife beater’," said Dan, "would she have agreed to marry me? She was with me during the two campaigns (in 2001 and 2004) and she could have said so to stop the people of Laguna from voting for me."

(Note: Funfare tried calling Sheila for her side of the story but she didn’t reply. For more on Dan’s story, watch tonight’s episode of Showbiz Stripped, 11:30 on GMA, which also features stars in the same boat as Dan and Sheila, like Lotlot de Leon, Mark Herras and Jackie Forster.)

Carlene is top Miss World favorite

As rejoinder to Funfare’s story on the ongoing 2006 Miss World contest (finals to be aired on Star World on Dec. 10, Saturday, from Sanya, China) the other day, my New York-based friend Raoul Tidalgo (Entertainment Editor/Columnist of The Filipino Reporter) sent the following item about our bet, Carlene Ang Aguilar:

Here’s the item I picked at Lucknow Newsline Cities.expressindia.com

Beauty And The Bookie

By Parizaad Khan

Feminist organizations are going to have a field day with this one. Online betting, so far restricted to sports like football and horse racing, has entered a new realm. Now, sites on the Internet are offering odds and taking bets on the likely winners of the 2006 Miss World contest.

Sportsbook.com, a leading online betting, gambling and gaming company, was one of the first to release their odds for the contest, which will be held in Sanya, China, on Dec. 10. The site names Miss Italy and Miss Philippines as the front runners with 12-1 odds, while Miss Canada and Miss England are both in second place with 15-1 odds.

Oddschecker.com goes a step ahead. The site has put out a table, with each of the 102 contestants’ odds from a variety of online bookies. So while Sporting Odds gives Miss Philippines Carlene Aguilar, a 6-1 chance, Bluesq. com’s score is 8-1.

And if you’re wondering, Miss India Sindhura Gadde’s odds on sportsbook.com are 30-1, while most of the bookies on oddschecker.com give her a 20-1 chance.

When actress Diana Hayden took the Miss World crown in 1997, betting on the contest hadn’t started online.

"I heard after I won that I was a favorite in the betting polls," Hayden says.

Yukta Mookhey, who was crowned Miss World in 1999, was shocked to know that people were betting on the contest like they would bet on a sport. "Beauty pageants are already such a delicate subject. Don’t make them out to be a racket," she says.

It remains to be seen whether the crown will go to Miss Philippines. "I don’t think the odds are an accurate estimate of which girl is going to win. The bookies’ favorites would be the girls the other contestants may have to contend with – the ones that will definitely be in the top 15 or 20," says Hayden.

But for the ones who feel the sole purpose of beauty contests is a good laugh, bestbetting.co.uk is the site to visit. There’s a section where you can bet on more than just vital statistics. They’re taking bets on whether any of the contestants will faint on stage during the finals, whether the winner will be stripped of her title, whether there will be a cat fight and many more such amusing probabilities. Now if only these odds were foolproof, we’d watch that show for sure.

Fr. Joey Faller’s healing schedule

Readers have been asking for the regular healing schedule of Fr. Joey Faller, the healing priest from Lucban, Quezon, where stands (in Barangay Tinamnan) a Healing Church and Grotto that has become a pilgrims’ destination:

• Buklod ng Pag-ibig Chapel, 97 Balete Drive Extension, Quezon City – every first Wednesday, 12 noon

• Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City – every second Friday, 5 p.m.

• St. Francis of Assisi Church, Sariaya, Quezon – every third Friday, 7 p.m.

• St. Joseph the Patriarch, Mabolo, Cebu City – every fourth Friday, 1 p.m.

• Shrine of Divine Mercy, Maysilo Circle, Mandaluyong City – every Saturday, 9 a.m. (anticipated Mass and blessing of the sick at 5 p.m.)

• Kamay ni Hesus Healing Church – SM North EDSA every first Sunday, 9 a.m.; Circle C Mall, Congressional Ave., Quezon City, every third Sunday at 9:30 a.m.; NBN Channel 4, Visayas Ave., Quezon City, every first, third and fifth Sunday, 8 a.m.; SM Bacoor, Cavite City, every second and fourth Sunday, 9 a.m.

• Kamay ni Hesus Healing Center – every Sunday, 4 p.m.

• St. Louise Parish Church, Lucban, Quezon – every third and fourth Sunday, 7 p.m.

(Note: Schedules are subject to change without prior notice. For inquiries and confirmation, call (042) 540-3085, (02) 929-0333 or 0917-853-6267.)

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