Uncle Ramon

My family and I paid a visit to my Uncle Ramon Sunday afternoon in Beverly Hills. He had flown into LA for a wedding and also to watch the Pacquiao/Morales fight. When I was young, I used to spend time at his house in Bacoor Cavite, and when he was in the States, he'd come to visit my mother, who is his niece. My mom wanted me to come so I went, because usually when he comes to town, I don't visit him so much anymore, but he is getting old, (he'll be 80 next year) and I still like to talk to him. I thought it would be fun.

My Uncle Ramon has led a very colorful life, in his 79 plus years and even though he calls himself "old and tired," he still gets up everyday to go to work in Makati city, he still combs his hair, and generally he is still handsome and very good looking in his old age.

I had several one on one conversations with B movie screen star Ramon Revilla, the man who I always call Uncle Ramon. People can say what they want about him. Playboy, ineffective politician, bad actor. But to me, he has always been a man who has taken care of me when I stayed in his house on Aguinaldo Highway in Bacoor. He has always been, and will be my Uncle Ramon.

We talked about everything and anything. We talked about Nascar, sports, his old amateur boxing days (He was a pugilist before he became a movie star, in part he says, to pay his college tuition, but when his mother found out, she told him to stop because they have plenty of money to pay tuition), surfing in the Philippines, where I had mentioned surfing at Matabunkay Beach in the 80s, he talked about Siargao, (a world class wave that has appeared in Surfer magazine several times) and how the waves were so high, and was astonished when I told him that I could ride them.

We talked about his early days, how he was "discovered" pumping gas at the family gas station in Imus, how he had told his mother to give the gas station to his brother, Carlos, my lolo, because he wanted to pursue his dream on the silver screen. He told me about his current work at the public estates authority, and how much of a bore his time in the senate was. And then he told me about his children. Not so much about them but how many he had. Pegged at 81. I grew up with his batch from the 60s to the 80s born to starlet Azucena Mortel. He told me that he has to continue working at his age not only to keep busy in his years, but also, he still has small children and needs to make sure that they are taken care of.

Then there was his revelation to me that even though he has 81 children, he has never held one of them in his arms when they were babies. I was pretty shocked when he told me that. I then asked him, "Not even Bong or Andeng?" And he replied, "No, not even one of my children."



Perplexed, I went on to ask him why. "I don't like to," he said. "They are too small, I am afraid I might break them." His niece Jacqueline was in the room and her husband Anthony was also in the room at the time, holding his newborn daughter. So I challenged him and told him, "Uncle Ramon, when your daughter Andrea has her first baby, I want you to hold your grandchild in your arms. Andrea will be thrilled." And he was hesitant. "I am scared," he said. and I said "No, you can do it." And then he replied to me, "I will try." I was thrilled to get that response from him. I cannot imagine a 79-year-old man with so many children, and he hasn't carried not one of his babies. He had put it off, claiming he was too masculine at first, then got down to it saying he was scared and might break the baby. He just doesn't know what it is like, and I am now hoping that Andrea will have a child soon so her dad can hold his grandchild in his arms. It will be a sight to see and I hope I am there to see it.