PEP exclusive: Jay-Jay Barretto: You want to fix this family, fix Claudine

For speaking up in the unfolding real-life drama of his family, Joaquin “Jay-Jay” Barretto now finds his life disrupted.

 

He is no longer welcome at the condominium where his parents stay in Bonifacio Global City. This is where Jay-Jay, who has no steady partner, practically lives when he is not in Tarlac, where the youngest of his four children is based. 

 

The 51-year-old son of Estrella and Miguel Barretto admits that the disruption to his life is not a small one.

 

“I can’t even see Dad, and he’s sick. I’ve always been close to Mom. My life just changed. Nag-iba, nagulo. Mom daw said, ‘Tignan natin kung may mukha pa siyang ipakita rito!’”

 

The condominium is owned by his sister Claudine—the youngest Barretto child, a famous star whose once-dazzling career is now in limbo, and the sister he spoke up against.

 

“I don’t really come out, I don’t say anything,” Jay-Jay, the third in a brood of seven, says. “Even in the Mon Tulfo thing, I didn’t say a thing. But that one showed you what kind of person Claudine is, what she’s capable of.

 

“Wala ako sinabi. Even in Claudine’s quarrels before, wala. Ngayon lang ako nagsalita. Banatan na nila ako, I want to tell the truth.

 

“This is not my doing. Mom should never have put out that letter. Sobra na itong ginawa kay Gretchen. Awang-awa ako kay Gretchen. She didn’t start any of this, e, di ba? Siya ang in-attack ng mommy ko. Why would I not come to her rescue? You know what I mean?

 

“Prinsipyo na ito. What I’m saying is just the truth. Now if the truth will hurt them and lumabas na sa publiko, that’s not my doing. I just have to refute all the lies. All the lies. I cannot stand it anymore.

 

“Si Gretchen and Marjorie walang ginagawa. Si Claudine umaatake. Si Mommy kinakampihan pa siya! Tama ba iyon?

 

“Si Claudine sinasabi wala akong utang na loob. Pero hanggang saan ang utang na loob? Kelan siya matatapos sumingil?”

 

To go by posts on social networking sites, Claudine’s irate fans are not done collecting. They’ve taken to calling Jay-Jay an “addict” on cyberspace. On PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) alone, they taunt him with cuss words like “lapastangan,” “sira ulo,” and “adik-adik.”  

 

When we ask for his reaction to the taunts, Jay-Jay is silent for a couple of seconds. He is in Tarlac when he takes the call of PEP editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon, who will call him twice on April 26, once at 10 a.m. and another at 7 p.m. 

 

This is our second interview with Jay-Jay, and it comes soon after the letter of his younger sister Gia Barretto-Reyes is published in a newspaper. Our first interview was on April 24 (posted April 25), and it came right after the open letter of his mom Inday Barretto also hit the press.

 

When he finally speaks, he faces the name-calling head-on: “Addict daw ako? I’m an open book. Everybody knows my story. I’ve made some bad judgment in the past. But today, I don’t even drink. No more drinking.

 

“Kahit nitong gulo, I’ve more to lose—I can’t see my parents, I’ve nowhere to go—a drink would be good, right? No, I didn’t drink. I’ve been sober eight years. Eight years! By October 22, it will be exactly eight years, and I’m so happy for myself.” 

 

But, right now, the fellow is smarting. He says he knows Claudine is behind this.

 

“She’s calling me an addict? I knew she was going to use that. Sige, magpa-drug test kami. Anytime! Kaming dalawa ni Claudine. I challenge her. Tignan natin kung sino ang addict. Let’s see who really is on drugs.”

 

When he returns to this point—at the tailend of the first of our two phone interviews on April 26—he sounds less offended and more thoughtful.

 

“I had drug problems, but I was never like Claudine. I never gave problems to the family. I just stayed by myself. I had bad judgment once in my life, but I did something. Sana si Claudine din.

 

“I went to rehab, I don’t deny that. I was lost, but I got myself sober. Mom and dad should seek help for Claudine.

 

“Huwag ibigay kung ano ang gusto ni Claudine, ibigay kung ano ang kelangan. Get her a psychiatrist, get her... If she has a problem, she should seek help.

 

“Si Claudine, dapat mag-iba ng behavior. I hope mamulat din katulad ko. I changed my life. Now I live a good, clean life. It’s simple but it’s good.

 

“Inaayos ko ang buhay ko, inaayos ko ang buhay ko. I hope she does also. Magbago na siya. Mag-iba na siya ng buhay. I’m proof that you can change your life.”

 

INDAY BARRETTO. Caught in a family firestorm now burning six days and showing signs of gathering more strength before it dies, Jay-Jay is left asking why his family needed to be this “exposed.”   

 

He especially asks why his own mother, an Ilongga whom the showbiz industry calls Inday, would hand over to a newspaper a personal letter she had addressed to her fifth child, Gretchen.

 

In the April 22 letter, published in The Philippine Star on April 24, Inday extols one daughter (Claudine) and damns another (Gretchen).

 

Following this, the many little secrets of the Barretto family have vastly found their way out, as from a Pandora’s box, to regale and dismay a startled public.

 

“Mom opened the floodgates. Before this, wala naman. Tahimik lang kami. Ngayon, sino nag-expose ng hiwalayan? Sino nag-expose ng sakit at pagwawala? Hindi nag-isip si Mommy! Napapahiya ang dad. Si Mom is overdoing it.”

 

Jay-Jay is referring to the separation of his sister Claudine and actor Raymart Santiago, whose seven-year marriage has been beset in the last two years with rumors of infidelities and verbal and physical rows.

 

He is also referring to how his mother, in praising Claudine as a God-send to the family, has unwittingly painted a picture of his father as weak and dependent.  

 

In a moment of pique, Jay-Jay says, “Mom is gloating. She wants the attention. Everyone’s listening to her now.

 

“She probably thinks it will bring back Claudine’s career. She’s [Claudine] getting talked about. Even if it’s in, wow, a negative way. She’s [Inday] gloating at the attention—at the expense of the family.”

 

Then he interrupts himself to make a plea that will run through our two interviews: “I love my mom, please understand, and I know mahal niya ako. Mas mahal pa nga niya ako kaysa kay Claudine, e. So I don’t want to sound like I’m fighting her.

 

“Pero, prinsipyo na ito. I have to do what’s right. I have to speak up even if it’s hard for me personally.   

 

“I cannot comprehend what kind of mom would expose her family like this—just to please Claudine!

 

“Mom doesn’t listen to anyone—not even my dad. She doesn’t even consider that my dad just had a heart attack recently. He’s had a series of attacks. She doesn’t think that this might kill him!”

 

Instead, he says, his mother does only Claudine’s bidding. Such is the power of Claudine over his mom, he says, that “several times” he saw his mom “trembling” after one of Claudine’s “many phone calls” to her.

 

“In the condo, I saw my mom, she went out of her room. She was trembling. Talagang trembling! I hugged her, just to make her stop. I even called my sister-in-law.

 

“This happened not just once, but several times, this year. Si Claudine na naman ang kausap sa telepono! Nag-aaway sila [ng mom]. Minsan, meron na namang nangyari sa kanila ni Raymart, sa bahay nila.”

 

By Jay-Jay’s telling, Inday truly thinks the world of Claudine, but their phone conversations can often be harsh and exhausting. Claudine shouts at her mother.

 

“Pag hindi inaaway si Mom, inuutusan si Mom awayin ang kaaway niya. Yes, she wants Mom to fight for her. She expects Mom to take up her battles.

 

“Claudine can’t do all the fighting herself. Gusto, kaaway niya, kaaway ni Mommy. Isang tawag lang ni Claudine, si Mommy…,” he lets the sentence trail off.

 

He says his parents really put their lives on hold for Claudine. “Every time my parents want to go home to Subic, they can’t. Because they’re always on their toes waiting for something to happen.

 

“The phone may ring. They don’t know what time it will come. Kahit early morning iyan, it comes.”

 

He says, sounding both sad and angry: “Violent si Claudine. Hindi na naawa sa mommy, si Dad, nag-heart attack. Ang problema, two, three a.m., tumatawag si Claudine!

 

“Violent na away na naman doon sa kanila ni Raymart. She calls so many times in one day! They pick her up. Or they go there to see what’s happening. This happened so many times!”

 

In sum, he says, “Claudine needs professional help—anger management or something. Her moods are unstable. One minute, she is so mad; one minute, she is so mabait.

 

“Ano sakit niya, I cannot say. Mom says Claudine is bipolar, manic, whatever... All I know is—it’s not the same Claudine.”

 

But apart from saying that the family has noted the erratic behavior of Claudine in the last two years, Jay-Jay refuses to explain what he means by “violent.”

 

Begging off, he says, “Huwag na, pamilya ko pa rin ito. One day, magbabati-bati kami. I'm praying for that. May problema talaga si Claudine, pero si Raymart na ang dapat tanungin diyan. Hindi ako.”

 

But all the way to the end of our two interviews of April 26, Jay-Jay clearly sounds miserable for his parents. He laments that Claudine exacts too much from them.  

 

“Si Mommy, nagsisisigaw, umiiyak ’yan all the time because of Claudine. Sabi ko, ‘Pucha! Oo, you [Claudine] claim na binuhay mo nga ’yong magulang mo, e ngayon pinapatay mo naman.’”   

 

Jay-Jay wants it known that he never wanted to take sides. “Yeah, I’ve always been neutral. My God, I’ve always been neutral.

 

“Si Claudine, she had my back for the longest time. Until, hindi ko na kaya ’yong ginagawa niya sa magulang ko. Di ba, I was telling about the calls, and my dad just having an attack, and si Claudine pestering them left and right?

 

“Doon na ako nainis. For the longest time, these past few years, I was even closer to Claudine than to Gretchen. You know what I mean? Oo, parati kong kinakampihan ’yang si Claudine, pero hanggang saan naman, hanggang kailan?”

 

He has no doubt, Jay-Jay says, that Claudine has done much for their family. “She’s very generous to us, to her pamangkins, to me. Especially kina Mom and Dad, gumanda talaga ang buhay nila dahil kay Din,” he says, using Claudine’s nickname.

 

But, he says again, “Kung si Claudine ang bumuhay sa mommy at daddy noon, siya ang pumapatay sa kanila ngayon.

 

“Iyan ba ang kapalit sa tulong niya? What good is that kind of help? They’re old already, they need some rest.

 

“Sure, they have utang na loob kay Claudine. Pero hanggang saan nila ito-tolerate si Claudine? Up to when magbabayad ng utang na loob si Mommy at Daddy?”

 

CLAUDINE BARRETTO.  “Awang-awa ang mommy sa kanya,” he says, referring to Claudine’s present troubles with her homelife, career, and health.

 

“E, sabi ko nga kay Mommy, ‘You cannot defend Claudine all the time, Mom. That’s not the way to solve the problem. Solve her! Iyon ang solusyon—ayusin mo siya, ayusin na natin.’”

 

But he regrets that his parents missed their big chance to do just that last December 21. 

 

“You know, for my mom’s and my dad’s sake lang, you know, I just kept quiet. Pero I’ve been telling them over and over again, ‘Mom, we have to do something!’

 

“The whole family actually, iyon ang talagang ano namin. They’ve [his parents] been trying to hide it. They’re all in denial. Na walang problema si Claudine, na si Gretchen ang may problema!

 

“You know, if there’s anything good that will come out of all this—iyon lang, na maayos na si Claudine. Kasi kung naayos na nila si Claudine nung December, none of this will happen!

 

“Even my brother [Mito] said, e. We were talking, my brother and I. Sabi niya, ‘Kung nakinig lang si Mommy when she called for that meeting, and we all talaga, we were firm, wala, all of this wouldn’t have happened.’”

 

Four days to Christmas in 2012, Inday and Miguel called for a family caucus. Responding to the call were Jay-Jay, Gretchen, Marjorie, a sister-in-law, and a nephew.

 

In that caucus, they had a grave discussion on the arrangements for confining Claudine in a hospital. The doctors’ advice, says Jay-Jay, was that their youngest be confined for a minimum stay of 12 to 18 months. So urgent was the matter, they felt, that the decision was made to bring her to the hospital the very next day, December 22.

 

But after his parents went to Claudine to lay out the family's plans, says Jay-Jay, “Everything changed. My parents changed.”

 

Claudine convinced them that she was perfectly fine. But more than this, she also convinced them that the problem was not her, it was Gretchen, because the latter was “threatening” to come out on television to reveal that something was amiss with Claudine, when nothing was.   

“Mom’s always spreading that Gretchen will come out and talk in The Buzz. Ilang buwan na niya sinasabi iyan. ‘Lalabas na si Gretchen! Lalabas na si Gretchen!’ Wala naman. I said, ‘Mom, did she?’

 

“Mommy is Claudine’s co-dependent. She [Inday] is an enabler. In rehab, they tell you that an enabler is someone who protects the addict who is both in denial and not normal.

 

“When Mom, when she called us to the meeting, itinuloy na dapat! Di na dapat ito [public exposure of the family’s troubles] nangyari. Pero naunahan na ng mga pangyayari.”

 

He says, before hanging up, “You know, I just came from church. I prayed for all this to stop. I pray even more now, I just pray.”

 

But for all this to stop at all, everyone in his family has to see what is key, says Jay-Jay: “You want to fix this family, you fix Claudine.” — PEP.ph