Susan Roces on books, beauty, Erap, FPJ, GMA and daughter Grace Poe

Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences. — J.K. Rowling

Susan Roces, one of the queens of Philippine movies in the 1960s, is now 71 years old and still glamorous. Born Jesusa Purificación Levy Sonora to a French Jewish mestiza mother who descended from the Levy family that founded the 19th century La Estrella del Norte, and a Spanish-Chinese mestizo doctor father, Roces is widow of the late “King of Philippine Movies” and 2004 presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr.

Susan and FPJ’s 44-year-old daughter Grace Poe Llamanzares, former chairman of the  Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and Boston College political science graduate, is now a senatorial candidate.

Susan Roces recently gave STAR an interview. Here are excerpts:

PHILIPPINE STAR: Ex-President Joseph “Erap” Estrada of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) is your late husband FPJ’s best friend, but due to your daughter Grace Poe, Senator Loren Legarda and Senator Chiz Escudero not joining the out-of-town campaign sorties of UNA, the three of them had been dropped by UNA as their common candidates. How do you feel about Erap not supporting Grace in this election?

SUSAN ROCES: It doesn’t matter how I feel. I understand it’s a political decision. In politics, you set emotions aside. You cannot afford to be emotional. That is what we learned from the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. He advised us: “Don’t make decisions when you’re emotional –– when you’re too happy, or too angry or too sad –– because you’re bound to make the wrong decision.”

Have you spoken to Erap recently? When was the last time you met him?

I think it was during his birthday last year.

Since you mentioned your wedding godfather, President Marcos, what is your reaction to recent news that the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) will exhibit the three sets of Imelda Marcos’s jewels in late 2013? PCGG Commissioner Maita C. Gonzaga said the exhibit will make people “remember the profligacies and excesses of the Marcos regime,” and  that the PCGG might auction off the jewelry?

Si Mrs. Marcos, dalaga pa siya, mahilig na sa alahas (When she was still single, she already loved jewelry). I heard that she had alajeras (jewelers) from Meycauayan, Bulacan who were talented at creating beautiful jewelries and not at very high costs.

Personally, I’ve never been a First Lady and my parents were not rich, but my late mother was able to save money to buy jewelry for me. Our late mother believed in the idea of saving up to buy jewelry for daughters, because if they had no jewelry, their future mothers-in-law might look down on them. Isn’t it also a Chinese tradition for mothers to save money through buying jewelry for their daughters? 

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos told me that she and her siblings were kids when their parents took them to your wedding during Christmas, that they were waiting in the car while President and Mrs. Marcos were in formal attire as godparents at your wedding. Why Christmas?

Yes, Ronnie and I were married on Christmas Day in the early morning of 1968. It was the only date that the church and reception venue were both available.

How many other suitors did you have before your husband FPJ?

Secret! (laughs)

How do you feel about those people who allegedly cheated or allowed the cheating of FPJ during the 2004 presidential election, including some who are now your political allies?

I don’t dwell on matters like that. I just leave those things to God, otherwise life will be very lonely and very sad.

Your comments on the legal and other problems of ex-President GMA, now that she’s confined to the hospital?

Wala na akong masabi (I have nothing more to say)… Siyempre (of course), we all feel sorry for her, what do you expect me to say?

Any personal message for GMA?

Matters like that are best said privately… She is in my prayers, always.

Ang bait naman ninyo (You seem too kind), especially since she was the arch nemesis of your late husband whom you publicly said had stolen the presidency.

No, it’s not being mabait (kind). That’s really how it should be, because we are all Christians.

What are your beauty secrets? Have you tried stem-cell treatments like that of Erap or Enrile?

No stem cells (laughs). I just do what is required of personal hygiene, such as removing makeup daily, taking a bath and washing my face. One thing I believe is this: the less fragrance on cosmetics or soaps, the better they are for our skin. Kung sobrang mabango ang sabon o cosmetics (If soaps or cosmetics are too fragrant), they’re not good for the skin.

What about your food intake or diet?

I drink a lot of water and eat a lot of fruits. I love all fruits, but I try to stay away from those that have too much sugar. For example, when I eat a mango, I only eat half a cheek for lunch, the other half for after dinner.

What are your favorite foreign and local movies?

Among foreign films, my favorite is Gone With the Wind. For local movies, my favorite is Asedillo starring my husband Ronnie. Maganda siya (It’s excellent).

(Writer’s note: Made in 1971, Asedillo is perhaps the quintessential FPJ film. It established his public image as action hero and defender of the poor. The film recounts the saga of Teodoro Asedillo, a nationalistic public school teacher turned rebel hunted by the police constabulary in the Sierra Madre mountains in the 1920s during the American colonial occupation, and labeled by Americans as a “bandit”).

I heard you, your husband FPJ and Grace Poe love to read. What types of books?

Yes, we all love to read. I go more for biographies and autobiographies. Ronnie likes to read, anything that would entertain him. Grace also reads. I don’t like too much heavy reading. I read mainly for entertainment, and the best way to learn and to absorb knowledge is when you are being entertained. Dapat Masaya (We should be happy).

I think teachers should make the students be entertained when they’re reading books and studying, or else they cannot absorb well, magiging parang punishment ang pagbabasa at pag-aaral (reading and studying will become like punishment to them).  

You and FPJ are good role models of showbiz stars who love to read books.

Actually, many stars are voracious readers, like Amalia Fuentes loves to read. Sharon Cuneta loves to read, Kris Aquino also; they read more books than I do.

You, FPJ and Sharon Cuneta are reputed to be among the few showbiz stars who wisely save earnings to prudently invest.

That’s not true. Our actresses and actors now are more conscious about their future, their investments. In our generation, my fellow actors also realized then that we had to save, such as my contemporaries Erap and Amalia. It’s not only us.

Does your daughter Grace own any dogs? What about you and FPJ?

Grace loves pets, she has a dog named Fusion, it’s medium-sized. Ronnie and I also had dogs in our house, we have a beagle named Ginger, she later gave birth to puppies, so I have a dozen dogs now at home.

FPJ wasn’t afraid of dogs? Is it true his father died after having been bitten by a dog?

No, Ronnie wasn’t afraid of dogs. Yes, my father-in-law died of hydrophobia, that’s what happens when people are bitten by dogs.

Did your daughter Grace Poe ask your permission to run for Senator?

Grace is already an adult, she has a mind of her own. She has no need to ask my permission to run. She’s already married and her son just graduated from college. She can ask my opinion.

How did you and FPJ raise her? Who was closer to Grace, you or FPJ?

She’s a papa’s girl… Grace has always been a smart, good and honest person even in her youth. She has a very inquisitive mind and he articulates her views. Ronnie and I, we treated her as an equal, even as a kid. She had the right to ask questions and we talked to her like an adult, we didn’t baby talk her. That’s how my parents had brought me up, maybe that’s also how Ronnie was brought up by his mother.

When your husband was deprived of the presidency in controversial circumstances and you came out strongly in public denouncing the alleged cheating, people had expected you to run for public office like the Senate. Why didn’t you run?

Me in politics? That’s not my… maybe if I was more prepared or younger, or like my daughter Grace who studied political science in college. Maybe in our next life, nasa politics tayo (laughs).

Your success secrets?

I wouldn’t put it that way. Whatever it is that happens in our lives, it is God’s will. Whether it’s success or tragedy, you accept it, because it’s God’s will. My favorite prayer is Our Father. I owe everything to God. Look, late in my age, I still do TV shows and commercials — there is a reason, that’s His assignment, it is He who wills everything.

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