Martin Nievera: The highs & the lows

There is no place
that I would rather be
than right here with you
and you here with me
there’d be no other love
that is heaven sent
not like our love for
ikaw lang ang mamahalin

This is the poem Martin Nievera wrote as intro to the song Ikaw Lang Ang Mamahalin, one of the 14 selections in his new album (tentatively titled) Souvenirs, released by MCA-Universal. Martin wrote poems for each of the 13 other songs. He doesn’t say who the poem quoted above is dedicated to.

The original idea of this Conversation was for Martin to recall the "milestones" of each of the 19 years, from 1982 to the present, he has been in showbiz as some kind of a celebration of his recent selection as Entertainer of the Year (his second time to be so honored) by the Aliw Awards.

But as our Conversation progressed, Martin talked about other interesting episodes of his personal life, so the "scope" was expanded, with Martin revealing hitherto untold stories about (parts of) his childhood, his and Pops Fernandez’s failed marriage and his romance with Katrina Ojeda whom Martin describes as "the only woman in my life now."

Like his Forever album, Souvenirs (whose title might have to be changed because Souvenirs has been used by Jose Mari Chan for his album which also consists of old, familiar love songs) is a collector’s item, including such other songs as You Are My Song, You, Forever (duet with Regine Velasquez), You Are My Everything, Never Said Goodbye, The Greatest Love Affair (duet with Bert Nievera), The Promise, The Last Time I Felt Like This (duet with twin sister Vicki), Kahit Isang Saglit, It’s All Up To You (duet with US pop star Mikaila), To Say Goodbye (new composition), The Greatest Love of All and Pag-uwi (a Louie Ocampo composition which won the grand prize at the 2001 Metropop).

Here’s Martin, as if in a "monologue":

– 1982 –

"I join my father’s show.

"I also join the Pilita & Jackie Show (with Pilita Corrales and daughter Jackie Lou Blanco), which introduced me to Vic del Rosario and got me into Vicor (Records). I’m a monthly guest and shortly after my second month, the show is cancelled. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Tita Pilita is the one who discovers me. It’s my Dad who introduces me to Tita Pilita. My sister Gina (Tabuena) is one of the show’s writers, so I get the job through her."

– 1983 –

"I win in the Metropop, amateur division, for the song Pain composed by Alvina Sy.

"I also win The Most Promising Artist of the Year award in the Aliw Awards. Six months later, I get the Entertainer of the Year Award, also from Aliw.

"This year, I mount my first concert, called Wanted: Martin Live, at the Folk Arts Theater, which is to be repeated only after two weeks, the first time it has ever happened at the FAT. Both concerts are sold-out."

– 1984 –

"I do another concert, On The Right Track, which is the opening show of the ULTRA whose construction has been rushed.

"In March, same year, I mount Martin’s Rage, which opens the ULTRA’s Football Field. Forty-five thousand people show up.

"The TV show Penthouse Live is born, with a different female host every week, finally ending up with Pops as regular host. (The other guest female hosts are Katrina Ponce-Enrile, Menchu Lauchengco and other socialites; the show is ‘AB’ and director Fritz Ynfante wants it that way, para sosyal.) Sixteen years later, I will write on the cover of a special CD which I give away to friends as Christmas gift: ‘I will forever be grateful to Fritz Ynfante for giving me Pops Fernandez, he being the one who introduced me to her.’

"I can say that my romance with Pops starts on Penthouse Live. Dito na-develop, during location shootings in Baguio and other places. Ang courtship namin ay nangyayari during shootings. Constant togetherness, you know."

– 1985 –

"We star in our first concert together called Martin & Pops Twogether, which becomes the name of our show a few years later on ABS-CBN.

"I propose marriage to Pops, on Dec. 7, 8:15 in the evening in their old house. It’s raining. There are only three of us — Pops, her Mom (Dulce Lukban) and me. It happens at their house in Dasmarinas Village (Makati City).

"Earlier tonight, Pops has just done seven songs in a concert where 120,000 people showed up. It’s held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, her birthday concert and her version of my Martin’s Rage concert.

"During this time, I am in and out of relationships and Tita Dulce dismisses me as a pabling (playboy). So during the concert, I pull Pops down from the stage because it’s raining hard and people are getting ‘electric shock;’ people are panicking and shooting guns in the air. I run onstage and nearly tackles Pops. I put her over my shoulder and she’s crying and crying because she wants to continue with the show.

"No way, though. The musicians are getting electrocuted because the rain pours and pours. I carry Pops bodily and throw her into the car and tell the driver to get the hell out of there, to just drive on and on and on. It’s very dangerous! Can you imagine 120,000 people getting on the stage.

"So there we are, in the dining room, Pops, Dulce and me. I tell Dulce, ‘A year from today, we want to get married, Pops and I.’ That serves as my proposal. Of course, everybody will later learn why we have to advance our wedding date... (Yes, Pops was pregnant. — RFL)"

– 1986 –

"Pops and I are married on June 28. On Nov. 30, our first child, Robin, is born."

– 1987 –

"I mount the concert Airborne. Our TV show, Penthouse Live, is slowly fading out.

"It’s a bad year for me. My career is on a downswing and Airborne is my comeback concert. This is the worst year of our marriage, too. Pops and I almost separate. We’re finding it hard adjusting to each other. The people around me intimidate Pops as a wife. I don’t know how to be a husband; neither does Pops know how to be a wife.

"My solution? I take my four-month-old son and I take my new bride and we get into a plane. I call the producers of Penthouse Live and I tell them, ‘We’re not coming back for about three weeks.’ We fly to Hawaii where my family is having a reunion. Right there, we solve our problem. How do I do it? There, Pops and I go hunting for a piece of property. I tell Pops, ‘We have to commit ourselves to something; we have to invest in something.’ We take stock of things, sort things out.

"Is there any professional jealousy between us? None. Period of adjustment lang talaga; our careers have nothing to do with it.

"We get into a lot of fights. As newly-weds, Pops and I are staying in a small house. Then we move to a bigger house in Alabang, the one that I bought when I was new in the business. We live in that house for only about five months.

"We stay in Hawaii trying to fix our marriage. Channel 7, producer of Penthouse Live, is freaking out already. This is the time when Edu (Manzano), Louie (Heredia) and a girl named Kris Aquino start hosting the show. That’s how they get discovered!

"We sell our house and buy another house, also in Alabang. In that new house, we spend the best years of our marriage."

– 1988 –

"A good year.

"I got to Hawaii and become a semi-US artist. I do two shows a night, six nights a week, and I am considered the biggest act in that part of Hawaii.

"I also perform in Reno and other parts of the USA, doing shows as an ‘American singer,’ not as a Filipino singer. I do shows in Hawaii for four weeks.

"I then do Reno, leaving Pops and Robin in Hawaii. I join them and we spend Christmas together."

– 1989 –

"Another good year.

"This year, my show M.A.D. (Martin After Dark), on GMA 7, is born. My show with Pops, Martin & Pops Twogether, lasts for only a year on Channel 2. It sort of replaces Penthouse Live which folded up the year before.

"Our family was having a wonderful time in Hawaii when I get a call from GMA 7 which is asking me to do another TV show. ‘What kind?’ I ask. We think of doing a Johnny Carson type of show. And M.A.D. comes up. The acronym M.A.D. is the idea of my sister Gina — you know, M.A.D. like the magazine. My pool of writers includes the likes of Deo Endrinal, Enrico Santos and Jillmer Dy who, only a few years later, will become big names at ABS-CBN."

– 1990 –

"Ram is born. Is his name derived from the RAM boys who were behind the 1989 coup attempt (against the new Cory Aquino Government)? Not really. Ram is from my name, Martin Ramon. He is born on Jan. 26.

"How did I learn that Pops was pregnant again? It was toward the end of 1989. In the closing credits of M.A.D., we usually thanked a lot of people and sponsors and greeted a lot of people. A card was handed to me and on it was written: ‘The frog died. Love, Pops.’ I didn’t get it. ‘The frog died.’ What did that mean? It turned out that Pops underwent a frog test and when the frog died, it meant that she was positive.

"I have my first concert with a 50-piece orchestra; I release my album, called Miracle, which I dedicate to Robin. It should have been titled Miracle of Life but you know my preference for one-word titles (Roads, Forever, etc.)."

– 1991 –

"A good year both in my career and in our marriage, highlighted by another concert called Daydreams."

– 1992 –

"More concerts, a series of them actually, called The No Brownout Series. This is the time when we’re suffering from too many brownouts.

"Sad news: M.A.D. goes off the air. I feel really bad. The station keeps on moving the show, napre-preempt ng special events. When there’s a Bb. Pilipinas Pageant, usually held on Saturday, my show is cancelled to give way to Bb. Pilipinas.

"There’s a misconception that ABS-CBN is ‘pirating’ me from GMA. Not true. I have no more show at GMA, so my writers are moving to ABS-CBN which offers me to do a show six months later."

– 1993 –

"M.A.D. debuts on ABS-CBN. This is about the only highlight of the year.

"Pops and I are enjoying blissful togetherness; our marriage is going great. No more fights, no more problems. Our careers are going okey. She’s doing shows, I am doing shows."

– 1994 –

"To celebrate the 10th anniversary of On The Right Track, we try to simulate everything while putting up the same show. I try to lose weight, back sana to my weight in 1984 when I did the first On The Right Track — 160 pounds — but I can’t do it. Now I weigh about 175 pounds. Well, I always have this weigh problem even as a child. Always. At age 3, I had hernia, so I undergo surgery. No, they aren’t cutting ‘it’ off; the doctors are just putting ‘it’ back in. (‘It’ is the portion that protrudes into his testicles which remain intact. — RFL) Obviously, my reproductive system isn’t damaged as I will have two children later."

– 1995 –

"We celebrate the 10th anniversary of our concert Twogether by restaging it and it turns out to be our last concert together.

"Is there ever any professional jealousy or competition between us? As I’ve been saying, ‘No, there’s none.’ Pops is a female performer and I’m a male performer. Obvious ba? So we belong to different categories, but we cater to the same market. I’m never jealous of Pops, career-wise that is, even when she’s getting offers for commercials and other projects, and I’m not getting any. Marami siyang endorsements and she’s winning awards for it. I never feel insecure; I’m never envious.

"That isn’t the problem; the problem is that I don’t have a wife, or so it seems. No, I’m not blaming Pops. What I mean is that, Pops has become so busy that she’s spending less time at home, making me ‘wife-less’ for quite a while. Sometimes, I escort and accompany her to her shows or appointments, carrying her things, when I have nothing to do. But I don’t mind. I enjoy doing it for my wife."

– 1996 –

"I start turning to other ways of satisfying my needs as a man — not necessarily sexual. There’s a void in my life all too suddenly and I need to fill up that void. This is the year when things sort of start slowly crumbling. I’m not blaming Pops, I want to make it clear. Career becomes more important in both our lives and it’s affecting our marriage. My mistake is that I look elsewhere, if you know what I mean.

"And I meet Katrina. I’m doing a show for the birthday of the owner of Duty-Free Philippines, Benjie Lim. Joji (Dingcong, now my manager), who was then second-in-command to my manager, my brother Luigi (Tabuena), also attends the party on his way to another appointment and he brings along his friends, one of them Katrina. They’re all going to the other party afterwards.

"Is it attraction at first sight? Not at all. I don’t notice Katrina at all; I’m not attracted at all to her the first time I see her. Na-develop lang siguro. Well, I guess what happens from hereon later becomes public knowledge.

"In hindsight, I daresay that A.S.A.P. (the ABS-CBN noontime show) proves to be the downfall of the Pops-Martin marriage. Why? In 1994, Pops and I became very passionate about God; we became Born-again Christians. We became closer, we went to church three times a week, including Sundays. During our first two years as Born-again Christians, we had ourselves to and for each other. During my days-off, I’d tell my driver to have his day-off, too, and I volunteer to be Pops’ alalay, with pleasure. My friends were amused.

"And then the offer to do A.S.A.P. came and suddenly, our Sundays abruptly changed; we could hardly do the same non-showbiz things anymore. Parang na-sacrifice ’yung private life namin for our career. When I look back, I think if one of us was not in showbiz, either her or me, we would still be together today, happily married.

"It’s all my fault, though. I started feeling sorry for myself. After M.A.D., I wouldn’t go straight home and instead go out with friends (Louie Ocampo, etc.) and sleep at our sponsor hotel. Parang nag-binata uli ako. Things began going out of control. I learned how to drink. Nagpunta-punta na ako sa mga bar. I was in this state of being when I met Katrina at the party.

"Our marriage is suffering damaging cracks and we can’t patch them up the way we did back in 1987 when we arrested an impending separation."

– 1997 –

"Four months after I met the ‘other woman,’ who’s the ‘only woman in my life now,’ she and I have a decision to make. I feel that our relationship is wrong. Pops isn’t aware of what’s going on between me and Katrina. Pops doesn’t know a thing.

"I compose a song called This Is Your Song, not for Katrina but inspired in a way by our relationship. The song is for Regine (Velasquez) and her movie Wanted: Perfect Mother with Christopher (de Leon). I finish the song in 30 minutes flat.

"From Day One, I know that my relationship with Katrina is wrong. But I cannot stop talking to her or seeing her. She gets a letter from New York University that she’s accepted for her master’s degree. I tell her, ‘Don’t be a fool. Go to NYU. This has been your dream even before I met you, before you even knew I existed. Go to the States and make something of yourself. I’m a married man and (our relationship) will never work.’ Those are my exact words to Katrina. So she leaves, sad goodbyes. Cry dito, cry doon. Everybody suspects that Katrina is having an abortion in the States or giving birth when she’s not pregnant at all; all she wants is to get a diploma. Katrina never asks me to choose; I never intend to leave Pops..."

Epilogue

End of the story? Hardly. Pops finally got wind of it all and the years from 1998 to 2000 were turbulent ones for her and Martin. They went through a charade of denials, only to make a public confession, complete with tears, that, yes, they were separating.

Thinking his career was finished, Martin left for the States, only to come back several months later and successfully revived his career, thanks to his admission on national television that the break-up of his and Pops marriage was all his fault, with due apology to Pops. He starred in a "comeback" concert and drew SRO crowds. He’s still holding SRO concerts until now, at the same time hosting the ABS-CBN show martinlate@night.

Pops filed a petition for annulment in 1999 and the court decided to annul the couple’s 1986 fairy-tale marriage last year.

Martin’s romance with Katrina goes on. She’s "my only woman" now.

Meanwhile, Pops has remained fancy-free, although she’s romantically linked to some guys every now and then, much to her vehement, sometimes tearful, denials.

So what’s in store for Martin — and for Pops, for that matter — in 2001 and the years ahead?

With a big smile, Martin said, "The best is yet to come."

Should we say "amen" to that?