Mike Defensor: From Spice Boy to man of the house

It’s interesting to walk into a slice of life of busy Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor just for a couple of hours.

Our Kikay Team composed of Meg magazine fashion editor Peewee Reyes, stylist Charmaine Palermo and Philippine STAR photographer Jun Mendoza arrived one Friday afternoon at Defensor’s parents’ house in Quezon City.

While waiting, we admired the classy home with the Spanish-Filipino style décor and vigan tiles, wooden furniture and landscaping – all simple and in good taste.

A few framed magazine covers featuring the family hung in the study where we settled in with our stuff.

The young Chief of Staff arrived 45 minutes later, rushing in with a smile, handshake and an apology. I was told that Mike Defensor can charm your socks off, so I made sure to wear socks, just in case.

Although he later admitted he’s not the type to wear the stuff we brought, he gamely accepted our challenge to make him over.

"I don’t think this jacket is bagay," Mike said about a black hooded number we brought from Zara.

"You’re right, it looks a bit hot," I told him. "Feel free to make comments or changes."

Of the embroidered Paul Smith trainers, he joked, "May nagsusuot ba talaga nito?" and then later decided he liked them.

We basically breezed through five or six outfit changes.

Defensor, 36, seemed very comfortable with the camera and registered as rather photogenic.

Some of the Defensor grandchildren started to trickle in, playfully turning the house upside down. One of them even fell into the fishpond.

His eight-year-old son brought his report card from the Ateneo with five honors certificates. Very impressive. Mike checked them out one by one, and, just like my husband and I did earlier with our son, asked who else in class got the honors.

"Well done," he finally said, mussing up his son’s hair.

Mike has four children with Julie, 29, his wife of 10 years whom he met at a wake.

Michaela is 10 years old, Miguel is eight, Mico is five and Mica is four.

PHILIPPINE STAR: So what did you use to wear in school?

MIKE DEFENSOR: In high school it was preppy clothes. Normal jeans, straight cut, Tretorn rubber shoes, and then later on in college, uso yung Bagets, that was the fad.

Did you actually see the movie?

Yes, the first one I did. Well, I think I watched it in Beta.

Do you like gadgets, or are you a techie?

I am, but sometimes the problem is I don’t have the time. But I am, with the cell phones and computers. I have a camera. The iPod, I don’t have the time to load it. But I’ve always believed in technology and I think that even in the office, work or house, and with the children, I make sure they’re up-to-date with information technology, so they know what’s happening.

If you had an iPod, what sort of music would be on it?

Funk or hip-hop music. Extreme. Mga ’80s and oldies. The funk is mga old songs like Play That Funky Music (by Wild Cherry).

Who cuts your hair?

I have a barber who comes to the house. Before, there was a barber who did that for me, tapos nawala siya. So I used to go to this place in Shang. And then later on, here at Bruno’s Libis. And now there’s someone again who cuts my hair at home.

Tell me about the bracelet you’re wearing?

Madyaas is a mountain in Panay. It’s a myth folklore-cum-history that before there were 10 datus that came to the Philippines from Borneo and then the three of them, led by Datu Puti, went back to Borneo.

Seven stayed in the Panay Islands and they built a Madyaas confederacy, and were supposed to be the first Filipinos because diba we’re a brown race. So it’s a Malay-rooted race and it’s an organization we set up.

It speaks of Philippine tradition, our values, our culture and it’s also, in a way, a neoconservative group because now diba the nationalists would be the leftists. Even when we entered school parang they were the ones who were very noisy, they were the ones very critical, they were against the capitalist system, they wanted the communist system.

So now we want to say that, no, we want a group that’s really pushing for conservative ideals. We want to strengthen capitalism, we have to perfect it in the global fight. We have to make sure that we’re able to cope with the competition and it’s an ideological group.

We’re against communism. We feel that communism has brought down the country, the armed rebellion has put off so much investment and potential in the country. So it’s a very strong, conservative group.

I’m the chairman. So instead of armed struggle and using arms to topple the government, we feel that we should educate our people, make them understand what we’re fighting for, make them realize that this is what we should be doing. This is the kind of thinking that we have to have so that the country can move forward and develop.

What ever happened to the Spice Boys?

That was the tag that they had for us in Congress when I was in the opposition and then someone coined it na "Spice Boys in Congress."

We were six: myself, Miguel Zubiri, Ace Barbers, Nonoy Andaya, Ricky Sandoval, Nani Braganza. There was a time for that group and now we remain good friends. Up to now, we see each other, like the last State of the Nation Address we had dinner together.

What keeps you busy at the moment?

I’ve been lying low in the media for quite a time and I’m doing a lot of paperwork, a lot of reading relative to the work I’m doing now. Primarily I’m making sure that things are getting done in terms of the projects of the President, the State of the Nation Address, or making sure that the projects are in place, or being implemented, so there are a lot of meetings.

Today I met with two senators and we were discussing possible areas of cooperation of how we can work together and do away with the divisiveness that we have seen in the past and how we can work and assure that immediate laws can be approved like the anti-terror bill, which is very important.

Do you work every day?

Yeah! Today I woke up at about 6:30 or 7. Had a meeting at eight. Several meetings before this (interview), and then I have another meeting after this.

Do you work on Sunday?

Usually, Sunday I don’t. But after I’m with the family, at night I try to fix my things, I try to process what I have to do for the week or the next day. Tomorrow I’ll be going to Nueva Ecija with the President, so I’ll have to accompany her there.

So what kind of activities do you get to do with your kids?

Last Sunday we went rock climbing in Rockwell. Went on the trampoline. Sometimes we go to the arcade and play together.

Last night I was able to play with my two kids, and then they slept with us, all of them. These past weeks we’ve been sleeping in one room. We watch a movie together.

This morning I went to the parent-teachers conference of my daughter and my son. I try to make it a point that I’m updated on what’s happening. I try to discipline them, talk with them. I think it’s really just putting in quality time with the children.

Sometimes when I’m really too busy and I’ll be in the office the whole day, even if I have several meetings, I bring them with me. So they’re there with me the whole time, they’re playing with the staff.

Every time there’s a break I go to them, talk, play around. And I also try to make them understand the work. I think that’s very important.

You know, I grew up with some friends who were in government and the tendency was to look at it from a point of view of power, or a point of view of influence, instead of looking at it from the point of view of really helping the country.

So if you look at it from that perspective I think you get to understand one another and you also avoid having your children growing up thinking that you don’t have time for them, or you devote more time to your activities which they cannot appreciate, instead of them.

So when I go to Guimaras, when I go to Mount Mayon, my wife explains to them that I’m trying to help the victims there. So they understand where I’m coming from and the things that I’m doing.

And with Julie?

Si Julie kasi is into shooting. Well, I’m also into shooting so sometimes when we see each other in Malacañang we shoot there in the PSG (Presidential Security Group) compound. She actually represented the country in the World Shoot in Ecuador. She’s faster than me, ha.

And then she was part of the Philippine team that won the championship in Jakarta last July. So that’s one thing we both like.

And then movies – either in the house or in the theater. She likes romantic movies, I like action. She likes feel-good movies so we usually end up watching the gay movies kasi gusto niya romantic but it’s actually a gay movie.

Your name: Michael T. Defensor

Your favorite virtue: Humility.

Your favorite qualities in a man: Courageous, principled, humble and bold.

Your favorite qualities in a woman: Beautiful inside and neat, simple and sincere.

Your favorite occupation: A lawyer – also veterinarian.

Your chief characteristic: Courageous and diligent.

Your idea of happiness: To have a happy family – God-fearing and responsible individuals.

Your idea of misery: Failure in family life.

Your favorite color and flower: Blue, orchid.

If not yourself, who would you be? Antonio Luna.

Where you would you like to live? Philippines – Baguio.

Your favorite poet: Walt Whitman.

Your favorite painters and composers: HR Ocampo, Luna, Amorsolo.

Your favorite heroes in real life: A. Luna, Rizal, Bonifacio, my Dad, Joker Arroyo.

Your favorite heroine in real life: Theresa Magbanua (Iloilo), Gabriela, Melchora, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Your favorite heroes in fiction: Superman, Spiderman.

Your favorite heroines in fiction: Catwoman.

Your favorite food and drink: Filipino food, Johnnie Walker Black.

Your favorite names: Mike, Julie, Mikee, Miguel, Mico and Mica.

What characters in history do you most dislike? Past popes, friars, Hitler, Judas.

What is your present state of mind? Stable and serene.

For what fault have you the most toleration? Honest mistakes.

Your favorite motto: Knowledge is the inheritance of mankind and only the courageous can inherit it. – Based on The Proust Questionnaire

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Special thanks go to Jappy Gonzales of Homme et Femme for the Y-3s, Carlo Rufino of Paul Smith, and the people at Stores Specialists Inc., A/X, Zara and Kenneth Cole.