All in the family

Everybody is accounted for. The seven Revilla children, I mean: Marlon (married to former actress Gigi dela Riva, with whom he has four children), Rowena (to Boyet Mendiola by whom she has three children), Princess (to Greg Ocampo, three children), Sen. Bong (to Lani Mercado, six children), Bacoor Mayor Strike (unmarried), Andrea/Andeng (to Rizal Gov. Jun Jun Ynares, one child) and Diane (to Rafael Paterno III, two children).

“The clan is growing every year,” says Lani.

This year, there are two additions: the first-born (a girl named Alexa Daniella) of Lani and Bong’s daughter Inah, who got married to Vince del Rosario in May this year, and Igor, the three-month-old second son (the other is three-year-old Sam) of Diane and Rafael.

It’s Sunday, Dec. 14, and the Revillas are having a big party at the family mansion in Imus, Cavite. It’s a scene straight out of The Godfather, with grandchildren running around while their fathers are shooting the breeze over cold drinks and their mothers are busy checking if everybody is okay. The occasion is Igor’s baptism.

Former Sen. Ramon is not among the family members moving about in the sprawling compound. He’s in his room at a bungalow next to the mansion, recovering from a stroke on Sept. 30, rushed to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City on the same day that Sen. Bong was checking out after being confined for a few days due to stress-related chest pains. Inah was having labor pains while Sen. Ramon was being wheeled into the ICU.

“What a day it was!” recalls Lani. “Lumalabas si Bong sa ospital at ipinapasok naman si Daddy. In another hospital naman, Inah was giving birth. Parang sine!”

Actually, not all the Revilla children are present.

Forty-five other children have been “documented,” although, according to Mayor Strike, “Daddy will say that we are 88 all in all,” adding in jest, “kasi he wants to hold the record of having the actor who has the most number of children.” More than the late showman Lou Salvador Sr., that is, who is reported to have...80-plus?...with the late actor-director Leroy Salvador as the eldest.

How do they verify that so-and-so is their sibling? Does anybody who comes knocking at the Revilla door claiming to be a son or a daughter immediately recognized as one?

“Daddy has a way of checking,” says Andeng (remember her as the child actress who played the title role in Dang/Dong?). “When somebody claims to be his child, the first and only question he asks him or her is, ‘Who is your mother?’ And he would know.”

It’s Rowena who holds the precious list of the 45 “documented” love children, kept in a vault, and all of them are well provided for.

None of the seven Revilla children can say how many grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) Sen. Ramon has.

“But among us seven,” says Rowena, “he has 20.”

Lani and Bong have the most number of children, namely: Bryan, Jolo, Inah, Gianna, Loudette and Ram. (One died). Currently “on leave” from showbiz, Bryan will soon graduate from La Salle with a degree in Consular & Diplomatic Affairs from St. Benilde De La Salle.

Gianna was chosen Ms. Pearlsonality of De La Salle Zobel.

Jolo’s loveson Gabriel (with Rosanna Roces’ daughter Grace who is heavy with her and her current boyfriend’s child) is not around (but he was during the family pictorial a few days earlier). Jolo’s girlfriend Lovi Poe is present. It’s very clear to see that Lovi is at ease with the Revillas. She excuses herself to make a personal appearance at a nearby mall and is back soon after, holding hands with Jolo as they walk around the compound and sitting beside each other during dinner.

“The Revillas would usually spend Christmas Eve at our house in Ayala Alabang,” says Lani. “But this year, because of Daddy’s condition, we are all spending Christmas here.”

This Sunday is a preview of how the Revillas will fill up every nook and cranny of the compound come Dec. 25.

“After his stroke,” says Andeng, “Daddy has become sensitive, always looking for all of us. That’s why we see to it that we visit him as often as we can.”

We make a courtesy call on Sen. Ramon’s room which has been converted into a virtual hospital suite, with nurses alternating 24 hours a day in watching over him and his personal doctor monitoring him every hour on the hour. Everybody who enters the room is required to wear a surgical mask because the patient is susceptible to infection.

“I’m back in the world,” says Sen. Ramon, speaking louder than a whisper, very softly and very slowly because of a tube stuck into his neck, but very distinctly and very clearly. It’s a great improvement, considering that he used to communicate with the family with the aid of an alphabet board. “By January, I will be up and about.”

For somebody his age and who spent time at the ICU, Sen. Ramon looks, well, “un-sick.” He continues to “hold office” in his room, highly-alert, going over important documents and, yes, reading the papers (The STAR happens to be his favorite).

To show us that he’s “back in the world,” Sen. Ramon lifts first his left leg and then both his arms, one after the other. Before long, I’m sure he can also lift his right leg with ease.

Is the agimat (amulet) really working?

Jokes Bong, “It does!”

Says Andeng, “Prayer helps.”

At the hospital, Sen. Ramon was prayed over by healing priests Fr. Joey Faller and Fr. Fernando Suarez who was personally invited by his friend Danny Dolor upon the request of the Revilla girls.

Over dinner, the same question that has been hounding Bong is thrown at him anew: Is he or isn’t he running for vice president in 2010?

His usual answer: “I’ll wait for the surveys and the will of the people.”

Is Mayor Strike running for a higher position, maybe as governor of Cavite or as a representative?

Mayor Strike: “Too early to tell.”

But the Revillas are one in making a Christmas wish: For Sen. Ramon to get stronger and stronger every day and to get back on his feet.

Lani has a personal wish: To stop being a Wonder Woman.

Laughs Lani (who “made peace” with the actresses — Gretchen Barretto, Rufa Mae Quinto and Ruffa Gutierrez, among them — romantically linked to Bong by inviting them to his birthday bash last September): “You know, I used to wonder where my husband is and what he’s doing. Ayoko nang maging Wonder Woman.”

That makes Bong blush.

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