Then, according to reports, before his marriage with Sharon was nullified, Gabby was said to have married then 25-year-old model Jenny Syquia. She was the mother of Gabby's third daughter, Helena Cloie. Again, this did not last long as Gabby again made showbiz headlines when they separated in 1995. Jenny is now living quietly with her Swede husband Philip Skarne.
During the 1994 Metro Manila Film Festival, Gabby met his current wife, Genevieve Yatco Gonzales. She recently gave birth to Gabby's fourth daughter named Samantha Alexis. Recent reports say Genevieve and Samantha are coming over soon to visit Gabby.
There were also rumors that Gabby married a certain Jenny Martin after Sharon and Jenny Syquia. That would make Genevieve the fourth woman married to Gabby.
UNFORGETTABLE SCAM. Gabby was not much affected by the intrigues about his marriages. However, there was one issue that made Gabby abandon the industry he had learned to love—the 1994 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) scam. He and actress Ruffa Gutierrez were wrongfully given acting awards. The real winners were Edu Manzano and Aiko Melendez.
Investigation revealed that the award presenters— Viveka Babajee (Miss Mauritius) and Rocky Gutierrez, Ruffa's younger brother—conspired to switch envelopes containing the real winners' names with the other envelopes that were allegedly prepared by Lolit Solis, then Gabby's manager. The fake envelopes contained Gabby's and Ruffa's names. Later, Gabby himself named talent manager Lolit as the mastermind of the scam.
AMERICAN DREAM. A year after the scam, Gabby left for the States to "start a new life," as he said in his interview with The Buzz last Sunday, March 30.
In the U.S., according YES! magazine's October 2004 issue, Gabby started his life from scratch—he started a new career by going back to school. He graduated from Lincold University in San Francisco. Afterwards, he was hired as a purchasing agent for GAP, Fisher Development.
Eventually, Gabby studied real estate for a year to become a licensed realtor in California. In an interview with YES! Editor-in-Chief Jo-Ann Maglipon in 2004, Gabby remarked, "Oh,well, that's the only way to go here in America. You have to do something to stay alive. So, from scratch talaga. No showbiz influence, nothing, just started from the beginning."
For 13 years Gabby apparently lived a normal and peaceful life in the U.S. But now the former matinee idol seems ready to face the glam and glare of showbiz once again.
Projects have been immediately lined up for him by ABS-CBN, where he inked a two-year contract with the network and with Star Cinema. This, after he backed out of a movie with GMA Films.
After all the ado he created upon his arrival, will the moviegoers and TV audiences welcome him with open arms and support him all the way to his next acting award?
