JEDDAH, 26 September 2003 — Filipinos working overseas expressed shock yesterday over the latest scandal involving Kris Aquino, and many said their favorite TV host deserves a better man than Para?aque City mayor Joey Marquez.
Former President Corazon Aquino’s youngest daughter has publicly accused her ex-lover of almost shooting her and giving her a sexually transmitted disease, transfixing the nation with a sordid tale of sex and lies.
Kris, a 32-year-old television talk and game show host and actress, on Tuesday reported to police that Marquez — a comedian who started living in with Kris just after separating with his actress wife Alma Moreno — hurt her and pointed a loaded gun at her during a fight the previous night.
In an interview with ABS-CBN television Wednesday, Kris said Marquez, a former basketball player, removed the magazine from the pistol and threw the gun away at the last moment.
“They said it was a lovers’ tiff. It was not,” said Kris, visibly angry and her voice shaking. “I will assert the fact — he pointed a gun at me, he cocked the gun.”
Kris said she defied her devoutly Roman Catholic family by living with Marquez but was never sure of his love, and felt he showed her no respect throughout their 1 1/2-year relationship.
Marquez had denied Kris’ charges and countered that Kris was not only stricken with jealousy but also a “man-eater.”
Before Marquez, Kris lived in with Philip Salvador, an actor twice older than she was, with whom she has a son named Joshua.
“I have violated many church rules, but I am not a liar,” Kris said. Turning to the camera, she then challenged Marquez to take a televised lie detector test. “I’m prepared. ... I’m just asking you, Joey, can you also do it?”
Avid fans of Kris in the Kingdom and elsewhere said they could not believe what their favorite TV host had undergone.
As host of the popular game show Game Ka Na Ba? of ABS-CBN television, Kris is a familiar fixture to viewers of The Filipino Channel (TFC) in the Middle East and in some parts of Europe.
Freddie Nebre, an anesthesia technician at the King Fahd Military Hospital in Dhahran said: “Kawawa naman si Kris lagi na lang nai-involve sa lalaking may-asawa. Sana maghanap na lang siya ng iba. Marami namang singles d’yan (It’s a pity that Kris always gets involved with married men. I wish her luck that she would find a better, single partner.)”
“I could not help but pity Kris. Siguro yon ang destiny n’ya (maybe it’s her destiny) and I sympathize her for the ordeal,” voiced Mrs. Liza Chatkovsky, a Jeddah-based mother of two.
Even in San Francisco, California, Boyet Sena, a mechanic at a Mercedes Benz agency there, said in a telephone interview: “I could not believe what I’ve been watching on the TV set. I’m not a fan of Kris but I sympathize with her for her predicament. She really had the courage to express herself clearly.”
Another OFW, caregiver Fidez Atienza of Canada, grieved in dismay: “How could anyone hurt as good and nice a young woman as Kris Aquino? This is ridiculous. Anyway, she is brilliant and brave, I know she will overcome it soon. I wish her good health.”
Arlen Sallador, an official of the OFW Cooperative Council, said he was visiting a hospital compound in Jeddah at the time Kris Aquino’s sad story was being aired on TFC and noticed that every Filipino was hooked to their TV sets.
“I noticed that the viewers were also hurt with what happened to Kris,” he said. Sallador added, however, that some of the viewers thought that the extensive coverage of the scandal was an overkill, considering the more important problems of the Philippines.
“The scandal’s coverage is so extensive. It overrides 9-11 or even the Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial. Kris news is like a national tragedy,” chimed in Bernie Villorente, an IT specialist at Jeddah Cable.
Kris has shrugged off suggestions that she and Marquez kiss and make up. She said she feared for her life and refused a reconciliation because “next time, it would be easy for him to pull the trigger.”
Monday’s quarrel was about jealousy over alleged cell phone text messages each had received from other people.
Kris said Marquez, who has fathered several children with different women, infected her with a sexually transmitted disease in March and she had hospital records to back her claims. “The implication is that his womanizing is incurable,” she said, adding she was so mad that she grabbed his genitals. “I wanted to crush it,” she said. (Additional input from AP)
