Rep. Soon-Ruiz story different from hubby?

Our special presentation on our talkshow on Straight from the Sky is admittedly a non-scheduled taping for a host of reasons. First, I do not accept any taping schedules on Sundays, second, we did this show only with one camera and crew and most important of all, this is the first time we ever did a taping with a live audience at the Social hall of the Cebu Provincial Capitol. But we should never allow a good opportunity to pass as our special guest tonight is no other than Rep. Monica Louise “Nikki” Teodoro, wife of Lakas-Kampi Presidential standard bearer Sec. Gilbert “GIBO” Teodoro Jr.

In truth, I was asked by the close-in staff of Nikki to host a “Chat with Nikki” at the Social Hall with the Cebu Green Team. While the Social Hall could accommodate more than a hundred people, I thought of doing a show with Nikki as our tv show would give her a wider audience.

It turned out that Nikki is a very private person and has never done any tv interviews except with her husband on a national tv network. But she was game and I had to make do with only one crew. Co-hosting the Chat with Nikki is my dear friend, Mrs. Honey Loop of the Philippine Star. So watch this very interesting show tonight on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm. Who knows, Nikki could very well be our future First Lady!

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Did we not give a good advice to Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and her husband Lito Ruiz about that Chinese proverb, “More talk, more mistake?” Well, after my good friend Lito Ruiz finally shut his trap, after saying that it was Divine Providence that prodded Nerry to leave the Lakas-Kampi, suddenly last week, Rep. Nerry Soon-Ruiz gave her own explanation as to why she left the political party where she was party vice-chairperson. She blamed her own party for ignoring her. Say what?

Now that’s two different stories. First was Divine Providence as mouthed by her husband and now the wife says that it is the fault of her party. Hmmm, this makes me believe those ugly rumours that this couple must have already separated as they cannot even come up with a single story to sell to the people. Remember the movie where a couple had to make believe that they were married in order to get a green card? But since they did not live together, they were caught because their stories didn’t match?

Obviously, since no one believed that “Divine Providence” yarn that Lito tried to sell to the public, now Nerry is selling another story, that’s if we’re buying this yarn. This is the problem when people no longer tell you the truth; they peddle a story and if no one buys it, you peddle another yarn again and again. But when one tells the truth, there is only one story to tell!

I got a very interesting report from the Congress Watch Report of the Makati Business Club dated September 2003 which apparently showed that the net assets of Rep. Soon-Ruiz of the 6th District was a negative P265,000. Back then, Inday Nerry reportedly had one of the lowest net worth statements together with Bayan Muna’s Crispin Beltran. There could be some truth to this because we learned that she loaned some P6 million from then Sen. John “Sonny” Osmeña with their maternal home used as her collateral. This issue was splashed in the local newspapers.

Move forward to her Statement of Assets and Liabilities in Dec.31, 2007 where supposedly her list of personal assets and properties went up to P5,630,000 - a whooping 523% increase for a Congresswoman who also paid her loan to Sonny Osmeña? Also in the year 2007, she moved into a new palatial house in Casili, Mandaue. Is it true that she only pegged her house and lot at a value of P2 million? Let’s ask our business friends if they were able to increase their businesses by 523% from the year 2003 to 2007.

No doubt these ugly issues have surfaced due to the present election season. But it just makes me wonder how incompetent the Office of the Ombudsman is, that they would not spot such a glaring increase from one who is supposed to be a public servant. Given the ambiguous stories that the Ruiz couple is selling to the public, there is no question that this ambiguity is also prevalent in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN).

Mind you, what I’m writing here is not new as I already heard it over the radio. What we did not hear is the reply of Inday Nerry. But hey! She’s a traditional politician and what can we expect her to do, but act the way she is acting! Instead, what we heard from Inday Nerry is her justification for leaving her good friend GIBO whom she sold to the public long before people even heard of him. But the greatest sin that Inday Nerry committed to the people of Mandaue was her failure not to make Mandaue a lone congressional District an honor she gave to Lapu-Lapu City. I thought that Mandaue is the second largest city in Metro Cebu?