Rudy Fariñas: His side of the story

Since the death of Maria Teresa Carlson last Nov. 23, Rudy Fariñas had been pictured as the big, bad wolf by most people in media and various women’s organizations who blame him for his wife’s miserable life and tragic death.

Now, I’m not "lawyering" for Fariñas, who is a brilliant lawyer himself (1978 bar topnotcher), but – in the spirit of fair play – I think he is entitled to air his side. Women activists may frown on this interview – or even spit at it – but this is HIS version of his life with the late Maria Teresa Carlson.

Q: It is not uncommon among politicians to bring home a "trophy wife." Was this the case with Maria when you married her?

Rudy Fariñas: In politics, if you are going to get married, you will first look at your bride’s pedigree, her lineage. Politics is a dirty game and you can’t afford to have skeletons in the closet because those will be exposed. In the case of Maria, I knew that she had a lot of skeletons in her closet. She was a product of the nightclub strip in Olongapo. She never knew her father – and she carried that baggage with her even up to the time we were already married. But Maria herself didn’t have a bad reputation. And I kept telling her na okay naman ang public image niya. She was a beauty queen. She had a wholesome image. Hindi naman siya bold star. But I didn’t marry her because she was a movie star. Love talaga ‘yon.

But how was Maria as a wife?

RF: She was loving – yet erratic. Erratic in the sense that she’d be sweet now, but after a while, iba na ugali niya. And I think may connection ‘yon sa childhood niya. Para bang she felt that she was not fit to be my wife. So, she’d ask to be sent away. Ang tingin niya, she was doing us a favor by leaving us because she felt that she was ruining things for her family. Actually, nagkakaroon talaga ng clashes whenever she was around – kasi nga she didn’t have a concept of what a family is really like. There were times when she even got paranoid and accused our daughters of pimping for me. So, there were occasions when our children would rather not have her around anymore. Like when we watched the concert of The Corrs in Araneta last September. Sabi ng mga bata, ‘Huwag na lang nating isama, Daddy. Baka magyaya na namang umuwi.’ Sabi ko, hindi puwede. Nahihiya na nga ako sa mga anak ko kasi si Daddy, nato-torpe masyado kay Mommy. Anyway, we went – all of us. I spent around P26,000 because we were so many in the family. But everything went well and we all had fun.

Q: How did she celebrate her birthday last October?

RF: Muntik nang walang celebration. She went to Laoag that day after traveling all night by bus (owned by the Fariñas family – BF) from Manila to check on my son, her stepson, who had an accident. When she saw na okay na ‘yung fracture sa ilong ng anak ko, she left again for Manila. She said, ‘Alis na ‘ko.’ I didn’t think she was going to do that. But she did. Imagine, she already traveled on the eve of her birthday. And after five hours in Laoag – on her birthday – she was going to travel again. Before I knew it, she was already on a bus back to Manila. So I had to run after her. I had to call up the bus for them to stop. When she was brought back to Laoag, that was when we had the celebration for her birthday. She was happy and the kids were happy. But the same night, we had to leave together for Manila because I had a hearing at the Sandiganbayan the following day. She even joined me in the courtroom. She was there with the kids. You can ask the justices there.

Q: Given her supposedly erratic behavior, how patient were you with her?

RF: Naubos ang pasensya ko in the sense that I would just let her go. If she leaves, eh di umalis siya. Sige lang. Hindi ko na siya hinahabol-habol pa.

Q: Whenever you’d quarrel, did you ever hurt her physically?

RF: In defense of myself. Sometimes, she would hurt the kids and I had to restrain her. I would get scratched all over. And then, I had to twist her arm.

Q: If you were to live your life all over again, would you still marry Maria?

RF: Yes. I married her twice! ‘Yung love affair namin kasi was like a fairy tale at the start. I loved being with her. We enjoyed the same kind of things. We liked the same kind of music. We’d go scuba diving together. We’d go hunting. Okay lang sa kanya that she would be the butt of my jokes. And I really appreciated the fact na inalagaan niya ang dalawang anak ko sa ibang babae. During the elections, nangangampanya ‘yan. She’d go on a house-to-house campaign. Pero, kapag sinumpong na ‘yan... she’d start hearing things. And then she becomes uncaring. Ang pagkakamali ko, sana naki-ride-on na lang ako. May mga pagkukulang din ako sa kanya.

Q:Why is it that everyone seems to be afraid of Rudy Fariñas?

RF: I had to have this image of toughness. I was city mayor for six and a half years and governor for 12 years. We had NPAs here and they burned six of our buses. Kailangan matigas ka – otherwise....

Q: Should we be afraid of Rudy Fariñas?

RF: Bakit, may narinig ka na bang ipinapatay ko?