After the love has gone….

In the elegant dining room of socialite Baby Cruz Vazquez, Dr. Martin Bautista, older brother of beleaguered Comelec Chairman Andy Bautista (and son-in-law of Baby), sings some lines from the old standard The Way You Look Tonight.

“Some day, when I’m awfully low

When the world is cold

I will feel a glow just thinking of you

And the way you look tonight… Lovely...Never, never change

Keep that breathless charm

Won’t you please arrange it? ‘Cause I love you

Just the way you look tonight”

“That was Andy’s song to Tisha,” explains Martin, a successful gastroenterologist who flew all the way from Oklahoma to offer moral support for Andy, who is being accused by his wife of unexplained wealth while in government. Aside from his brother Martin, present during the merienda to which a few columnists were also invited were Andy’s mother-in-law Baby and her husband Dr. Daniel Vazquez, and his sister Susan Afan.

The song was in response to a question directed at Andy: “Describe how Tisha was like before.”

“Yeah, that was our theme song,” says Andy, a flicker of a glow in his eyes.

* * *

Tisha and Andy first met on a plane, en route to Hong Kong. She was meeting up with her mother, and he, on the other hand, was working in the former Crown Colony. A few days later, she dropped by his office at the Landmark, and gave him a book, Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.

According to Andy, in the beginning of their courtship, Tisha told him that a certain architect was pursuing her but nothing was going to come out of it.

“You know what, he’s dating me now but we’re not going to prosper. You and I, I think, will get married,” Andy remembers Tisha as telling him. At the time, he was just “showing interest” in her and Tisha seemed sure they were already meant to be.

 “Now, when I look back, if she really believed that I was the one for her, what happened? If Tisha saw me as her ‘Prince Charming’ even then, what the h__l happened?”

One of  Andy and Tisha’s neighbors in their condominium building says that Tisha found Andy “controlling.”

“I was not perfect but I was not a bad husband,” he says. “I didn’t know daw how to communicate my emotions, there’s some truth to that because growing up we were a bit emotionally challenged.”

If he was “kuripot,” he says it is because he is a true-blue Ilocano. But he endeavored to give her the best home he could afford, hence the two condominium units at the luxurious Pacific Plaza Towers. When she ran up a credit card debt of P3.2 million, he paid for it and he claims it was her idea to come up with a promissory note for it.

Then he found out about her alleged infidelity.

“There were people then telling me that there’s really something going on and that if I were you, I would file a case against her. Two things, though, prevented me. One was we had four young boys at the time, the youngest was probably five or four and the eldest was about 12 or 13. The second, my mother and my mother-in-law were saying no. That you have to keep the family together. That she will one day see the light, turn around maybe this is just a phase in her life,” Andy shares.

At the time, if it were proven that his wife was unfaithful, was he willing to forgive her?

“At the time, yes,” Andy says without a second thought. “We went through counseling, we went to CEFAM, we went to Ateneo and several other groups and people who tried to intercede. But she really wanted out and I think she was conveying that to my mother-in-law time and time again. At the time, we were already estranged technically.”

Comelec Chairman Andy Bautista. Photos by JOANNE RAE RAMIREZ

* * *

Tisha has accused Andy of having more wealth than what he declared in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), P176 million, based on documents he claims she stole from his locked cabinet.

“Before this happened, I felt that a man could not be raped. Wow, your right to privacy, your right to your property, right to home, not being allowed to go home, it was a traumatic experience for me,” Andy recalls the night he returned home from the US in November 2016, and was not allowed to enter his home. And when finally he was allowed in, to be confronted by the sight of his ransacked cabinet.

“There were documents that belong to myself and my family. And again, she has known ever since, even before we got married, that my family members were co-investing. In fact, I have a document that she was acknowledging that fact.

“In my SALN, I do not include properties that are not mine. They were not under my name, they were and/or my mother, my father. In SALN, you may exclude it if it’s not yours.”

Andy was asked pointblank, “May kulang ba sa ni-report mo na SALN (Was there anything lacking in what you reported in your SALN)?

“Wala. Because the assets that weren’t there are those that belong to my siblings, particularly my brother. It’s usually father, mother and/or me. Father, mother, my sister Susan, when she came back. It’s not only me but my name is there. We do this in case something happens to one of the persons in the ‘and/or’ so somebody will be able to withdraw from it, just in case.”

I asked him if the combined properties belonging to him and the members of his family would indeed total P1 billion.

“Depending on the fair market value, it’s about P800 to P900 million. Including everyone’s,” he replied.

Andy then shows us a list of the alleged 32 bankbooks found in his cabinet, and a corresponding report on their status. More than a dozen have been closed, others are unverified (“No knowledge.”). Andy declined to have us take a photo of the report as “this will go to court.”

Andy says that when even his mother-in-law’s efforts to patch things up between Tisha and himself seemed futile, he and his wife started to talk numbers.

“We really had terms of agreement dated April 2017.  Seventy million pesos. My SALN is P176,300,000 but fair market value, I say it’s about  P250 to P270 million. I was willing to give her one third. One third for her, one third for me and one third for the kids. Akala ko tapos na and she agreed. All of a sudden again, she changed her mind.” He then showed a document from lawyer Lorna Kapunan asking for a settlement of about P620 million.

Andy claims to have received this forwarded message allegedly from Tisha’s lawyers in December 2016, “The only remaining issue here is the dissolution of the absolute community and financial settlement. The divorce in Hong Kong is a non-issue. It can be done quietly in HK. But only if other terms of settlement have been agreed upon. Otherwise, we will have a full-blown annulment trial here coupled with money laundering impeachment proceedings. Please advice your client that the obvious delaying tactics will only work against your clients and ADB (Andres D. Bautista). Already bits and pieces have been already leaked to the media we think from your side, disparaging Patricia’s reputation. Enforced by circumstances and to protect our client, we will resort to media as well. We trust  that this is clear to you and that you will explain this to ADB and your client.”

* * *

Andy’s biggest concern now are his children, and the integrity of the Comelec. “I have three basic options, one is  to stay and fight it out, second is to take a leave or third is to resign.”

“I just hug my sons when I see them. They know there is a problem. My second son, 14,  has not been going to school since this broke out. My youngest just called me saying sorry he failed his test, which is so unlike him because he is an honor student. My third boy goes to Mass every day.”

The eldest just arrived from the US. During our merienda, he gave his father a call about a gathering he was going to attend.

Andy was asked, if you were to give the public one message, what would that be?

“That we’re the victims here.”

“They’re trying to destroy the credibility of the elections by destroying me, and destroying the Comelec.”

* * *

When Andy was asked to describe Tisha now, the Tisha he once adored, Dr. Martin again breaks into song. He sings the Earth, Wind and Fire hit, After The Love Has Gone.

Somethin’ happened along the way

what used to be happy was sad

Somethin’ happened along the way

and yesterday was all we had

And oh after the love has gone

how could you lead me on

and not let me stay around

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)