A PRESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
Article By Vip Malixi
Photos By Jim Paredes

To be invited to the house of a President is always a thrill. But to be invited to the house of four Presidents-wowza! Of course the Ate Glo, Erap, FVR and Cory inhabiting it are just, well, duamadalaw; the true owner of this very beautiful house is Jon Santos.

One of only four houses currently standing at Ayala Westgrove Heights in Santa Rosa (of the famous Enchanted Kingdom and you-know-who’s detention camp once), Jon’s palace is still hard to pick out Das ‘cuz the façade is of classic straight lines and symmetry, the kind that does not scream for attention but quietly blends with the hacienda-ic hills. Very unlike the Jon Santos persona on TV and stage: always a colorful character, always the flamboyant performer.

Painted a subdued bone-color, the house is just lightly accented by the maroon roof and red-varnished narra front door. Jon and his friends have psycho-analyzed his choice of restrained home styling and have concluded that it is an escape. Since he’s into flash and showmanship for a living… then his place for rest and recharging must be the opposite: quiet, serene, “monastic”. His gag mates of comedy writers, in fact, call thinks house “the seminary” and all-weekend brain-storming are called a “retreat” or “cursillo.” When you wake up in the house on a Sunday morning, you are likely to hear a Gregorian-chant-like singing from the church in the newly built St. Scho, just 300 meters away.

The out-in-the-boondocks nature of his residence tend to make him turn down late-night invites: “Once I’ve crossed Magallanes, it’s hard for me to go back to Malate or Makati (if someone calls me).”

Jon’s abode consists of living room, dining room, kitchen, servant’s quarters, two bedrooms (one of which is more of an A/V room, although that’s where his guests bunk), a small office, a small garden in front and a big one at the back (spacious enough to play badminton and touch-ball), front and back balcony, and a really cool staircase made of iron and thick solid yakal steps. This is the one part of the house that is very Jon. Wide and winding, the stairs guarantees a grand entrance.

During the planning stages of the house, Jon admits that his “iluyson” was that of an Italian country home in Tuscany eck. Inspired by a short but eventful trip to Italy, Jon really liked the Italian appreciation of the rustic, the antique, the coarse and rough. Hence his house interior is again bone-colored with an “aged” effect. Breaking the white monotony are his genuine antique and (nag-a-antik-antikan) furniture that are mostly dark brown in varnish. Other non-white accents are the black metal, ribboned railing on the windows, the heavy duty iron support of the staircase, and black metal braces holding up shelves filled with knickknacks

The living room floor tiles are inspired by old church floors. (Baldosa series it’s called). There is a brownish discoloration on the corners from, supposedly, having too many parishioners walking, kneeling and walking while kneeling on it! They certainly hide spills and mud from shoes well. Some unique things about Jon’s place: the cowboy-like dining room with long wooden benches fronting the wooden dining table and a wooden thingee a the side of the rooms that looks like the kind traveling cowboys or hacinderos would tie their horses to. Jon said he wanted the effect of a weary traveler having found an oasis to rest in.

Other noteworthy Jons-ism are a multitude of dipping fonts (the ones holding holy water you dip your finger into when you enter a church), a long Church pew in his living room, a wooden kneeling confessional and a bishop’s throne with an ornate clown’s mask on the wall above it in his bedroom, a Lanelle Abueva ceramic bowl (with a hole in the center for the drain pipe) as his bathroom sink.

Some of his furniture and décor reveal Jon’s closeness to his family. He has pictures of his Mom and Dad in their glowing-black and white youth in his bedroom. His garden set came from his grandmother, it’s the very set where his mother entertained her manliligaws (including his dad kaya?). His bed was his grandparent’s wedding gift to his Mom and Dad. “When I had a party here for my relatives and they saw the various furniture that came from my parents and grandparents, they started making pledges to get me more stuff handed down for generations in our family.”

This is how he got his grandmother’s aunt’s German piano – playfully surrounded by little glass frog candleholders on the floor as if the amphibians are waiting for a pianist to perform some koak-symphony.

Lets it be concluded that Jon’s home is all old stuff, he still has use for modern conveniences: his living and dining areas are lighted by roof-embedded pin lights, his kitchen is ultra-modern with the metallic book shelf (shaped like a check mark) filled with cookbooks, metal looking granite kitchen island; stainless-steel cabinets replete with spices: paellero, rosemary, curry powder, Tabasco, broth cubes, liquid seasonings, canned laughter; plus a huge oven and a big matte silver fridge. As a touch of whimsy that breaks the metallic theme, his kitchen door is bright fire truck red.

His office is air-conditioned (with a breathtaking view of the endless hills) and is stuffed with his technical books on comedy, character creation, biographies of comic personalities, his HP Omnibook laptop, his make0up and clothing and props for his characters.

Unlike some stars who go on a spending spree when they start earning, Jon and his handlers make sure he stays liquid. He did not commit to buying the lot for his house until he first made sure he had enough saved for it and that his TV show contracts were renewed. Since his father is a contractor, he was also able to get quality work as well as of great savings (you know, the kind of discount only a son could get from a father).

Since Westgrove Heights is still virtually uninhabited, standing on Jon’s home’s balcony is quite refreshing: the breeze rustles through myriads of mango trees in the fields outside, there is a peaceful quietness from not hearing any neighborhood car honks and alarms. Even when it rains really hard, there is no noisy takatak, because the drops land on soft hills and not on your neighbors bubong na yero. Jon considers the house’s current design as a kind of first phase though. “When I become a homebody, maybe I’ll go more for high-maintenance things.” He says that just like everyone else, he has different moods and may go for different schemes. But even with future renovations in his mind, he still considers his current setup to be the base. He sees himself living in the house for years to come. There may be new decorations, new adjustments, but they’ll be founded on the current structure, never replacing it. Hmm, makes for a good ending: just like in his character-performances where, no matter how many pounds of make-up and wigs and costumes are piled on top of Jon Santos, no matter how many new accents and personalities he adapts, his base character is still intact, and is the home-sweet-home for all his creative works.

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