MANILA, Philippines ? Former foreign affairs minister Manuel Collantes was, to the very end, a deeply devoted husband to the late heiress Consuelo ?Chito? Madrigal, whom he first met in Washington in 1944.
Collantes died last Thursday at age 91, the day, as if by coincidence, close to the May 18 birth anniversary of Mrs. Collantes.
In an interview, about two decades ago, with Letty Jimenez Magsanoc (now Philippine Daily Inquirer editor-in-chief) published in Panorama, Collantes recalled how meeting Madrigal ?sparked a desire deep down in me for Chito. That old feeling never died.?
A longer excerpt from that interview:
?I would like to spoil Chito,? says the undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Manuel Collantes, the durable, dapper bachelor and the man in Chito?s life. Asked why he has eluded the tender trap all this time, he replies: ?I have been taught by my parents to be independent and marry only when I can afford the girl I want to marry.?
He adds: ?I would marry Chito now but for the obstacles.? Chito is working for an annullment of her marriage...
In the meantime, the waiting is not exactly wearisome. The two are inseparable. They even quarrel like a wedded couple. Manoling proudly points out that Chito has taken charge of the beautification of Luna Hall at the Foreign Affairs department on Padre Faura. Explains Chito: ?Angel Nakpil will be the architect and we hope to make the hall into one of the major tourist attractions in the country.?
To Collantes, however, the waiting may be a bit much, considering that he started decades ago. It was 1944 when he first met Chito in Washington, D.C. She was a law student and he, the second secretary in the office of the resident commissioner. ?She had an American boy friend,? recalls Collantes. ?And to a Filipino then, that did not seem to be a respectable alliance. I felt she was too sophisticated for me.?
Chito?s version:"I practically grew up in the States and the very first Filipino male I saw, I screamed...?Is that a Filipino??...I used to chaperon Manoling on his dates.?
Collantes claims that first meeting sparked ?a desire deep down in me for Chito. That old feeling never died.? So, getting together after Chito?s marriage broke up was really like ?picking up where we left off.?
Chito and Manoling make an unlikely pair. She?s outgoing, he?s reticent; she is vivacious, he looks like a sourpuss most of the time. The Belgian ambassador?s wife once remarked to Chito: ?I sat next to the undersecretary at a dinner party and he didn?t say one word to me that I cried when I got home. But ever since you?ve been going out with him, he talks more.?
Such remarks obviously please Chito who says that her man ?is sad all by himself,? to which Manoling agrees. Chito perks up to explain what it is the steady twosome has going for them. ?It?s a meeting of the minds. When we quarrel, we argue and reason out and really talk out the problem. If I am wrong, I admit it.? Something, Chito adds, that?s hard for her to do, being a ?strong personality?.
?I have a strong character too,? says Collantes. ?I do not bow down to anyone when it comes to my principles, not even to the highest person in the land, but Chito is something else. I am very proud of her. She is personality plus. In my present position, I need someone like her.?
But can he afford the girl he wants to marry? Manoling, usually grave and stiff and very proper, breaks out into carefree laughter, saying: ?The trouble with Chito is that she has too much money.? That?s the kind of trouble that should delight the likes of us.
