The Defensors

The mind has a habit of playing tricks on you when you’re bored. By the tenth batch of people going in and out of the already packed conference room, I was starting to think of that magic car (if I’m not mistaken a Volkswagon unless I’m remembering that from an elephant joke) on Sesame Street. That’s the one where, when the door opens, a continuous flow of humanity comes out.

There’s nothing fancy about the office of the National Housing Authority’s maverick Secretary. For lack of chairs (though there’s a working ref and a stack of sealed carton boxes), those in the receiving room find innovative ways of getting comfy. Some sit on the front steps while others stand around looking restless.

Meanwhile, this interview’s subjects are besieged with an endless humanity of constituents. Al, Secretary Mike Defensor’s reliable assistant, strikes up a conversation with me. He is obviously used to keeping people entertained while his boss goes about his business.

"Wednesday and Thursday are People’s Days here," Al says, sounding as if it was an apology. "Residents of the 3rd District of Quezon City still go to him with their problems. He usually refers them to Maite. But, to them, he is still their congressman. This is an unusually large crowd. It’s a good thing they no longer go to Mike’s house in Loyola Heights. We had to tell them to just show up here at the NHA because the neighbors were complaining."

People’s Day is not only for the 3rd District. Now that he is Secretary, Mike has opened his doors to a constituency comprising the entire nation. Younger sister Maite, his newly-elected successor, is getting a taste of what being a Representative feels like on a routine day.

When at last we are ushered into the conference room, there is no hope of conducting a no-nonsense interview minus the prying eyes. It’s all seats taken even in Mike’s office where someone else is sitting behind his desk. With no other choice, we let the tape recorder grind while everyone gets a sneak preview of this article.

"Right now, I’m helping the people in the district get used to approaching Maite instead of me. I’m also familiarizing her with the problems of our (an operative word that changed July 1 when brother turned over the Congressional seat to sister) constituents and the projects we’ve spearheaded. But I’ll always be here to help out," Mike begins to explain. A wide-eyed Maite looks much thinner and more diminutive than in TV appearances and that much-talked-about campaign poster. Mike, of course, looks like Mike. He does seem more alive and in better color than in Maite’s poster where his faded image appeared almost ghost-like. "It became a running joke but it served its purpose. It had great recall," Maite comes to the defense of their Mom’s bright idea. So successful, in fact, that everywhere Mike would go, people assured him they would vote for his wife. Maite suspects that the poster made confused constituents bet on what her real relationship to the Spice Boy was. Was she the sister or the wife? "The only thing I know for sure is that even if Maite weren’t my sister, di ko liligawan ‘yan! Why? Wala lang. I guess she’s not my type," laughs the young politician who the other Spice Boys swear has an eye for beautiful women. "Ok lang yun kasi di din kita type," parries his sister in an exchange that could only be between siblings.

Defensor is not a rare name in politics. In their generation, Maite and Mike play in the same field as their cousins Art Defensor, Jr. and Maria Teresa "Tata" Defensor. Their father, Atty. Mathias Defensor, once worked with Kit Tatad in the Marcos administration. (He is now in private practice.) But no one can deny that the most (in)famous Defensor is former Senator Miriam who happens to be their father’s cousin.

In their brood of six (Mike is second eldest at 31 with Maite just a year younger), there were no efforts made to groom a future Congressman (or two). Mike was asked to take Economics at UP Diliman in the hopes that he would help their mother with her business ventures. He promptly shifted to Political Science a year later when he turned activist. Upon graduation, he was elected City Councilor at the age of 22. It was Maite who completed a degree in Economics. But not after beating their cousin Art as councilor in the UP student council elections. "I was active in student politics but I decided to be part of the private sector after graduation,"she says.

The new Congresswoman, just like our new President, has a strong background in finance and economics. Aside from her Economics degree, she also took a special program in economics at Harvard University. The mention of Harvard is done so matter-of-factly that one wonders if Miriam’s much debunked Harvard degree has had any effect on the Defensor clan.

True to her word, Maite did nothing in the last couple of years but flirt with politics. She kept one foot in the private sector as a consultant of various firms but would somehow get involved in the lives of politicians. For a time, she wrote for Senator Rasul. Harvard took her away from Manila for a time. When she came back, she started working for a bank. That was interrupted by her participation in the campaign of Renato de Villa who was then one of the presidentiables.

"I kept myself in the background by helping out in election campaigns and doing government consultancies. Did I ever think I would run for office?" she repeats the question and pauses meaningfully. "I always knew it was a possibility. But it was a possibility that I avoided."

Politics was totally out of sight when the offer to run came. Maite was actually in the States, about to embark on yet another round of studies. Back home, Mike’s supporters were in a strange dilemma. He could no longer run for Congress. Somehow, the threat of another candidate assuming power seemed unacceptable. (The events surrounding the Impeachment Trial were still fresh. Not mentioned but hinted at was the name of Nikki Coseteng who was vying for Mike’s 3rd District congressional seat.)

"Honestly, there were other possible candidates I could have endorsed. They were all competent enough but there was a question of winability. So we figured that the best thing to do was to let another Defensor run," Mike explains. "It wasn’t really a matter of keeping the position within the family. We are not power-hungry nor are we obsessed with that seat in Congress. But we knew that was the only way. In our family, Maite was the obvious choice since our Dad felt he was too old to run."

Dad Mathias told Maite that the family wanted her to run for Congress. He told her to weigh things and to pray about it. "He also said this was my chance to serve the country. I was thinking that if I turned down the offer, it might look like I wasn’t willing to sacrifice. I know how much work I’ll have to do. It’s not a glamor job. I had to set aside my career as a financial analyst. Though I felt maybe I might join politics one day, I didn’t have to be in government to serve the country. I could help improve the situation of the country even as a private citizen. I had to really be sure I had the calling to serve in that way," she stresses.

Her brother breaks down the decision as a choice between a financially-gratifying, satisfying job and a highly satisfying one, minus the big pay check.

The Defensors were patient enough to wait until she figured out if government service was her calling. They waited all of 24 hours. That’s how much time it took Maite to agree.

Once she made the commitment, Maite was confident that she was going to be elected into office. But Mike was worried about how much handshaking she had to do–regularly showing her her standing in the surveys.

"I remained positive throughout the campaign even if some people around me were thinking negatively. Actually, I was sleeping soundly during the ballot counting," she says.

Mike butts in. "She was so into positive thinking that we had an argument one night on our cellphones. I was so shocked to hear that she went straight from a miting de avance to a restaurant to meet friends just when the news of Punzalan’s death (Rep. Marcial Punzalan of Quezon was killed in an ambush) was announced on the news," he says sternly. "What got me riled up was that she kept answering back."

Maite denies the accusation with a cool smile. "I wasn’t answering back. I was just very hungry. Imagine, I had just sat down to eat my roasted chicken when my phone rang.

Mike was asking me to go home immediately and I was wondering whether or not to take a bite," she clarifies in the vernacular, causing those eavesdropping on the interview to laugh aloud.

Actually, the protective brother shouldn’t be too hard on his neophyte sister. Al, his assistant and one-time driver, bodyguard and secretary, swears that the young Congressman spent all of his last term without the usual coterie of gun-totting guards in barongs. "It was only when he became Secretary that he agreed to have real bodyguards," Al intimates as we waited for the crowd inside the room to dissipate (something that didn’t happen while we were in the NHA compound). "I kept begging him to hire real bodyguards. But he said he preferred having just the two of us inside the car. Of course, he had death threats. That’s why we were carrying around a lot of guns in the car–all licensed, of course."

Though Maite may be a Congress newbie, she knows what she’s talking about. Mike stresses the fact that in the last three years, Congress has been dominated by talks of economic issues and the goings-on in banking and finance–fields where his sister is considered an authority.

Despite accusations of building a political dynasty, neither of these two Defensors can tell how long they’ll be in public office. Mike is certain he won’t grow old in government service. Maite feels it is premature to be looking forward to another campaign when she is supposed to focus on her work.

Secretary Defensor is fortunate to have a wife who understands the hours he pours into his work. He was given permission to stay in the office till 1 am every day for the first 100 days. Maite, on the other hand, leads a stable if not "boring" (Mike’s description) love life. Her boyfriend took a two-month leave of absence to campaign for her. "Maite’s idea of a night out is watching videos at home," Mike teases.

When it comes to her plans as a Congresswoman, Maite is taking a few hints from Mike’s projects (some of which she’ll be continuing) and adding a few things of her own. "I would like to still have some scholars. But instead of depending too much on government funds, I’d like to tap the private sector. I don’t think it is solely the responsibility of the government to solve the problems of the nation."

Media had been all agog over the Congress Spice Boys, of which Mike was one of the more visible members. The term Spice Girls has recently surfaced. Maite sounds unsure about the Spice Girl title. She does admit she has been talking to other Representatives of the same age group. "I think it’s a natural bonding that we have because of our age and our gender. There are only a few women in Congress–an estimated 36, less than half of which are as young me."

If even actors (especially those who claim they were cheated) believe politics is so dirty, why are smart, young citizens like Mike and Maite sacrificing life, limb and reputation? Is there hope for the Philippines?

"I believe fears on national security are a bit exaggerated," Mike assures us when we ask aloud if the metropolis is becoming the Wild, Wild West. "There is a strong campaign from certain quarters to discredit the efforts of this administration. I do believe that we should do something about national security. As for the Abu Sayyaf, they’ve been a problem for some time now. What gives me hope about the direction of the country is our President–her work ethic and the way she thinks. I know that as individuals, we in government will be making mistakes. But as long as we’re sincere, we’ll do okay."

Congresswoman Maite turns financial analyst when pressed to forecast our economic future. But even she is optimistic about our chances. "There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a dire need to work together. The economy is bad. We don’t have revenues. The government is running on a deficit. However, I’m a positive thinker. I always think there’s hope. I consider GMA a savior because, right now, we need a working President. If our leader doesn’t do anything, the economy will keep sliding. But so far, she has kept it from really going down. Actually, when the former President began his term, I was positive that the economy was going to improve. But that didn’t happen. Certain people were favored and work was not done. Now, we’ve got to work doubly hard. I think it’s safe to say that things will start getting better by 2004."

Staying afloat may not seem as bad as sinking deeper into debt but this private citizen is impatient to move forward. Three years doesn’t sound too optimistic a forecast, as Maite claims. Sensing the lukewarm reception to her statement, the more veteran public servant has the last say. "There was a time when all of my siblings left the country. Then, after Maite came back, they too returned. That, to me, is a good indication of things to come."