The unsinkable Chavit Singson

It was really with trepidation and a racing heart that I stepped into the home of Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson in Quezon City. Not just for his reputation as an Ilocano kingpin one dared not cross — but because a tiger weighing a ton guards his front door like a dozen PSG officers with stripes.

Named “Max,” the tiger is chained to a bench but looks suspiciously at all visitors. It even cranes its neck to follow the visitor with its glowing amber eyes. After sizing up the chain around Max’s neck, I took a calculated risk and gingerly tiptoed around his hind legs to the front door.

I was to learn later on that among the 10 people invited to lunch at Singson’s house that day, I was the only one who dared pass the front door. What say you Siegfried and Roy? (The rest prudently passed the side doors.)

If crossing over the Singson threshold was no piece of cake, interviewing the man of the house was. Candid and often funny, Singson is a paradox. Tough and straight-talking yet softspoken, he is reputed to know how to take care of his friends — and his enemies — with equal passion. Singson took Manny Pacquiao under his wing during the latter’s lean and lonely days. Up to now, even when Pacquiao is old (and rich) enough to take care of himself, Singson still shows concern for him — if he’s had enough sleep or training, for instance.

THE GODFATHER: Singson with Rep. Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee.

One of his friends (they call him “Manong Chavit”) says Singson took over 20 of them on a private jet to Macau, all expenses paid, with diplomatic courtesies of the port extended to each and everyone. For our lunch, he let his in-house chef (a cook whom he sent to culinary school) whip up a four-course gourmet meal of fresh greens, salmon, rack of lamb and banana cake. For the People Asia shoot that same day, he obediently did as the makeup artist asked him, sitting put on a chair. He never once asked if she was done yet or complained that the light foundation used on him was sticky. Hard to imagine he was the same Singson who reportedly admitted on national television that he wanted to get back at someone whom he felt insulted his manhood. “Hindi ko naman siya pinapatay, pinapaputol ko lang ang...”

Nothing is off the record with Singson. Virtually nothing. The only question he declines to answer is: “How many children do you have all in all?”

He loves all his children dearly and says he was deeply affected when his son, former Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson, was jailed in Hong Kong. “But I don’t take life’s blows and disappointments too seriously, otherwise, I will just get sick!” (The only time he broke down and cried as an adult, he recalls, was when he saw the bloodied and bruised Ninoy Aquino in his coffin at the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City in August 1983. They were good friends.)

His son, Rep. Ryan Singson, who ran for his brother’s seat after the latter resigned, says his dad has always been a cool dad who was only strict on one thing: their studies. Not finishing his Architecture studies is Singson’s only regret. Though the elder Singson himself has bodyguards (he has been governor of Ilocos Sur for a total of 26 non-consecutive years), Ryan says he and his siblings were always free to go around with only their own shadows tailing them.

Few know that Singson likes taking care of animals. He pets Max and the nine other tigers that he keeps (mostly in Ilocos Sur). He has about 100 deer roaming in his ranch in the province. He also keeps a couple of ponies in his home — and a couple of private jets in the hangar.

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Perhaps Singson’s finest moment was when he testified as the main witness in the impeachment trial in the Senate of then President Joseph Estrada. People admired his guts and his determination to tell the truth. Singson recalls that after that, there was a time when he and former matinee idol Eddie Gutierrez were walking down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills when a group of Filipinos mobbed them. To both gentlemen’s surprise, the Pinoys asked that their picture be taken — not with Eddie but with Singson!

Singson believes that greed is what ultimately brings a leader down. A person’s greed in amassing wealth by all means puzzles him as he is of the belief that whether in private business or in government, “there is always enough for everybody to share.” He recalls the law he authored in Congress, R.A 7171, about sharing the revenues from taxes on Virginia tobacco with the local governments that produce them. In the past, 100 percent of tax revenues went to the national government. He asked that 10 percent plow back to the local provincial government, but even the senators insisted on a higher sharing. He compromised on 15 percent, and this is shared among the provincial, municipal and barangay levels. “Even with only 15 percent of the tax revenue, you already have billions to help your province.”

“You can’t take your money with you to heaven,” reasons Singson, who says he is a deeply spiritual person. An image of Jesus and Mary on glazed tiles is prominently displayed by the pedestrian gate to his house (to protect the occupants of the house, and to spare friendly visitors from the wrath of Max the tiger?). There is also a replica of the biblical burning bush on the roofdeck of his multi-story home in Vigan.

Perhaps his devotion to Jesus and Mary is what has spared him from several brushes with death. He remembers being saved from incineration from a grenade launcher because his driver, instead of following his (Singson’s) orders to “Abante!” (“Move forward!”) put the car’s gears on reverse instead (“Atras.”). The grenade launcher missed its target.

EYE OF THE TIGER: The author locks eyes with Singson’s pet tiger Max, wondering whether or not it will let her and her colleagues out the front door.

At another time, the bullet passed whizzed by the tip of his nose and hit the person next to him on the backseat of a car. He also survived a helicopter crash in 2007, which left the chopper in a wreck. He claims he has no anting-anting (amulet) but concedes that maybe he still has a mission in this world to be fulfilled, hence his “nine lives.”

Singson says he is a forgiving person. He has reached out to former political foes and even to former President Estrada.

But I think people are better off not crossing him — or Max!

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