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A few days before Christmas, Neny Montinola (left) and Patricia Panlilio-Cu-Unjieng (right) choose to put the "pepper-spray" issue behind them.

FIRST READ ON PEP: Socialites bury pepper-spray scandal: Trish apologizes; Neny drops suit

Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
01:57 AM

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The "pepper-spray scandal" involving two socialites at the Embassy Fly at The Fort in Taguig City is officially over. It has taken the two women a whole month to come to a resolution, they've done so without once coming face-to-face with each other, and they leave in their wake a strange drama that remains unexplained.

On December 18, socialites Neny Montinola and Patricia Panlilio-Cu-Unjieng arrived at this mutually acceptable ending: Patricia would apologize publicly; Neny would no longer sue. The scandal, which began in the late hours of November 18 and culminated in the early morning hours of November 19, was finally over.

Originally, Neny was all set to sue Patricia, the woman she accuses of deliberately hurting her with a pepper spray at a birthday party that both had attended at the Embassy on November 18. Neny has now dropped this legal option, following Patricia's offer to write a "letter of apology." This came at the end of two weeks of negotiations where only their lawyers ever sat down to meet.

Patricia has "owned up to her mistake," according to a source who knows both women personally. The source adds that Patricia's lawyer has already forwarded the letter of apology to Neny's lawyer. The terms of the agreement, however, allow the publication of the letter of apology only in one daily broadsheet, which is Patricia's venue of choice. Neny waives all rights to a choice, although Patricia is expected not to delay the letter's release.

That something as threateningly debilitating—or even as lethal—as pepper-spraying should happen between two socialities begs an explanation. But for some reason, neither the "victim" nor the "culprit" has offered any.

The two women are not friends. They know each other, they have many common friends, and they both went to the Assumption College for high school, but they remain simply acquaintances. If they should have a common denominator, that would be Ricardo Po, Jr., a young and wealthy businessman who has been, in his words, "a friend of Neny for fifteen years" and the boyfriend of Patricia "for five years."

Neny is one of nine children of Serge and Ching Montinola of Bacolod. Ching de las Alas-Montinola is a prominent society figure, having served as presidential assistant to both Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos; while Serge Sr. is famously known today as the uncle of Gigi Montinola, currently the president of the Bank of Philippine Islands. Despite the pedigree, Neny is far from being a lady of leisure.

She is a single parent to two kids, after her separation from her husband Mandy "Boy" Eduque, the son of the late Elvira Manahan by a first marriage. She holds a regular job as a stockbroker in Makati, in an office that frowns upon strong media attention on its staff's private life. This is, PEP gathers, the source of Neny's extreme reluctance to speak to the media even about an incident where she is clearly the victim.

Patricia—better known as Trish in her circles—is a sometime model whose high-profile exposure came in 1987, when she emerged as a finalist in the Super Model of the World Philippines Search. (She eventually lost to Tweety de Leon, who went on to become an actress and a celebrity endorser.) Trish is married to, but separated from, Philip Cu-Unjieng, who currently works for the Lopezes of ABS-CBN. They have three boys.

Trish is the daughter of well-known jeweler Fe Panlilio and lawyer Peping Panlilio of Pampanga, now both deceased. A tall and stunningly attractive woman, she still turns heads wherever she appears. She is not known to hold a job. She has also found a protective knight in Ricardo, who openly defended her after the pepper-spray scandal. Although recently there has been talk that she and Ricardo are no longer an item, this is yet to be verified. Ricardo is presently in the United States.

NENY'S STATEMENT. After numerous attempts to get a statement from Neny, PEP finally received a text message from her on December 21, at 6 p.m. Neny sent what she calls her "first and last" comment about the issue and Trish:

"I'm just relieved that all this is now over, and we can get on with our lives. More importantly, I wish her all the luck in the future."

PEP went on to ask Neny what she believed to be Patricia's motive. Her reply: "I have no idea nor am I interested to know what she's thinking or why this happened. But what's important is that she realized she did something wrong. For whatever reason she may have had, it was wrong and unfounded, and it's all I need to know."

Neny begged off from answering any more questions, saying she really wanted to put this behind her, but PEP tried for a last one: If you bump into Trish again, what do you think your reaction will be? She waves the question away initially. An hour later, she sent this reply: "I will say hello and goodbye in the same breath!"

THE INCIDENT RECALLED. Last November 18, Ilocos Sur Representative Ronald Singson—son of Luis "Chavit" Singson, the wealthy veteran politician who was instrumental in deposing former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada—celebrated his 40th birthday among well-heeled guests at the often-controversial Embassy club. At around 2:00 to 2:30 in the morning of November 19, when the party was winding down, guests were stunned by the sight of one of them crying out for help.

Just meters outside Embassy, where a Christmas tree stood, Neny Montinola, a guest at the same party, was seen groping her way around, saying, "I can't see! I can't see! My eyes are burning!" She was in a panic and clearly in pain. Coming to her rescue, some guests grabbed hold of water, put the water in glasses and a bucket, and threw it at her. Neny was drenched, but the water was clearly not helping because she still moaned about the stinging pain in her eyes. At one point, she was crouching on the ground, in panic.

Taking matters into their hands, movie stars Angelu de Leon and Maricar de Mesa, who had shared a table with Neny at the party, rushed Neny to the Makati Medical Center, the closest hospital to The Fort. Angelu sped away, said one witness approvingly, "like a madwoman," with Neny beside her, while Maricar followed in another car.

Angelu said in a PEP interview days later, "Neny felt parang nasusuka siya. Then nagi-intensify yung burning sensation... Nagwawala na siya." That was when she decided Neny needed to be in a hospital. "Nakababa ang windows para mahanginan ang mukha niya. We went to ER. 'Tapos, flinush siya with sterile water. Kasi kung ordinary water daw, may chlorine pa rin, e."

Quoting the doctor at Makati Medical Center's emergency room, Angelu said, "'Good thing nakakontak [lens] siya kasi direct hit sa mata yung pepper spray, e. Possible na ma-damage yung cornea.'" That was also when she found out that the foul smell at the party, which she thought at first to be "ammonia," was from a pepper spray.

Neither Angelu nor Maricar actually saw the pepper-spraying itself. They said they were saying goodbye to friends at the time. They began heading toward the same exit only after a very foul stench began to fill the club. This odor, Angelu would later realize, was chemical from the pepper spray.

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