EXCLUSIVE: Sunshine Cruz reveals honeymoon nightmare, abuse leading to marriage breakdown

Sunshine Cruz on wedding to Cesar Montano: “I was thinking na pag kinasal ka na, fairytale na, and we live happily ever after. Magkakaroon ka ng mga anak, and we’ll be happy. Ganoong-ganoon ang iniisip ko noon.”

Sa sobrang saya ko ngayon, lahat ng kaaway ko, kahit yung mga may utang sa akin, patatawarin ko! Ngayong araw lang, ha!” a grinning Sunshine Cruz says within minutes of welcoming the Philippine Entertainment Portal.

This was on September 18, 2018–the day PEP.ph was in Sunshine’s Paranaque home, following two postponements, for an exclusive pictorial of the residence that the Kapuso star had built for herself and her children.

It was also, it turned out, the day Sunshine got word that the court had finally come out with its ruling on her petition to have her marriage to Cesar Montano annulled.

After a four-year legal battle with Cesar, the court had finally ended their tumultuous 13-year marriage.

Sunshine was now, officially, on her own again, except that now she had three daughters–Angelina Isabelle, 17; Samantha, 14; Chesca, 12–all by Cesar.

“Annulled na ako!” the Kapuso star exclaims as she descends the stairs from her bedroom to greet PEP.

Like a young girl telling a story, she trills, “Napasigaw talaga ako nung nalaman ko. Yung malakas na sigaw, dinig hanggang baba! Nagulat buong bahay!”


And, what was supposed to be a house shoot and regular interview–by a reportorial team headed by PEP.ph editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon–turned into a baring of the heart by the 41-year-old star, on her first official day back as a single woman.

FAIRYTALE WEDDING

Sunshine was 23 years old when she married Cesar on September 14, 2000.

He was then, at 38, fifteen years her senior, but everyone in showbiz seemed to think everything was in its place for the bride and groom.

Theirs was a grand, high-profile wedding set against the sunset of Manila Bay, to which a veritable who’s-who of showbiz and select politicians had been invited as sponsors and guests.

Shine–Sunshine’s nickname–wore a princess-cut gown made of duchess satin, with intricate details of silk chording, beadwork, and cutwork at the hem, and a 20-foot-long train.

Buboy–Cesar’s nickname–was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer saying the Eric Pineda creation for his bride was a “very expensive gown.” It reportedly cost in the vicinity of half-a-million pesos.



A COUPLE IN LOVE

Underlying all this, of course, was the big news: This was for real. A romance between two very attractive and well-regarded showbiz stars, walking down the aisle and toward the altar, looking truly in love with each other.

Indeed, they were.

“I know, I know that he really loved me, I know that,” Sunshine says today.

“He wouldn’t have married me if he didn’t love me–and I loved him so much, I really fell for him.

“I was really in love with him, especially when he watched Jose Rizal with me.”

Jose Rizal was the big GMA Films’ release of 1998, directed by Marilou Diaz Abaya, starring Cesar as the country’s national hero.

Sunshine recalls, “It’s like, shucks, right? He’s courting me like that.

“He was really charming, really sympathetic, and really handsome. ‘Then, really good artist.’

“And that’s it, I just believed him when he said, ‘I’m done with the nonsense, with the womanizing.’”

Sunshine recounts that this was also the line that Cesar used with her dad, 747 band leader Danny Cruz, to win him over to his side.

“That’s what he said to my father before.

“He visited my father that time at the Mandarin Hotel because my father was playing there, ‘no, my father’s band.’

“And my father actually told him, ‘Cesar, because I really don’t like you. Because if you’re a womanizer, I’m a womanizer too,’ he said.

“And, she said to my father, ‘Eh, sir, I’m sorry if your child is the one who will make a way for me to change.’

“So, isn’t that right, that girls really think, ‘Maybe I’m the one who can change him.’”

She sees now that it was that mindset (she was the girl to change him) and her view of her parents as “role models” (her parents stayed married until her father died in 2003) that made her stay with Cesar through 13 years of marital blues, a number of them turbulent.

“My mom and dad really became my peg,” Sunshine says.

“They married at an early age. My mom, Papa was also her first boyfriend.

“She was a caring wife and mom to my children. So that was my peg–that I gave up showbiz, and my only plan was to take care of my family.

“Though it was hard for me because, of course, my mom pampered me, eh…I can’t even make a bed. I can’t even cook an egg.

“So that’s what, like, I was thinking that when you get married, it’ll be a fairytale, and we’ll live happily ever after.

“You’ll have children, and we’ll be happy. That’s what I thought back then.”

HONEYMOON NIGHTMARE

It did not take long, Sunshine says, for her to discover that married life was not what she had imagined or hoped it would be.

“It hurts to admit, but it was just the honeymoon,” she says in tones tinged with hurt, “he threw our wedding ring away, when we went on a Caribbean cruise.” As early as then, she says, Cesar began taking issue with “all my movies.”

Sunshine had gone the sexy-actress route in her career, and on their honeymoon, she recalls bitterly, Cesar wanted her to admit to him that the sex scenes in her films had been for real.

That is, that she had sex with her leading men–and not just with one, but with all of them.

She was frightened and shocked by all this, but she fought back.

“During our honeymoon, I said, ‘Even if you skin me, even if you throw me into the sea, I won’t admit anything! Because, it’s not true!’”

She rues the memory of it, “I said, that was a time to be happy, honeymoon, enjoying. What is it, really?”

To this day, Sunshine says, she does not understand how Cesar, an actor himself, could get so fixated on the sexy movies she had starred in.

The actress became Cesar’s leading lady in Bullet, released in theaters in 1999, the same year she starred in Ekis: Walang Tatakas, Ibinigay Ko Ang Lahat, and Ang Kabit ni Mrs. Montero.

“Actually, we met when I was in Viva Films,” Sunshine narrates. “When I was in Viva Films, that was the time I changed my image from Regal [Films].

“I was living Viva, I was sexy.”

When Cesar met her, she had just stepped into her twenties.

“So, it’s just unfair for me. He was my first boyfriend! So what is there to prove?”

She eventually discovered, she says, that the man she married didn’t just have a temper–he was a troubled man.

“So, he threw away our wedding ring… Maybe, he was like that more times than he was calm.

“And I was thinking, maybe, it was just his upbringing, his upbringing.

“Maybe he had a temper. That’s what I was thinking–he had a temper.

“‘Then, other people always told me, ‘Maybe you just have to prove your worth as a person.’ It’s always like that.

“That’s what I did. I was devastated, I was married–what did I do?”

LEAVING TROUBLED PARADISE

Throughout their 13 years together, Sunshine tried to keep her marital woes from the public.

But this did not mean she did nothing; in 2007, she rebelled in a big way for the first time.

In December of that year, PEP.ph reported that Sunshine had left their Quezon City home on Christmas Day. She had brought her daughters with her.

This happened, according to the PEP.ph report of December 29, 2007, after a fiery argument with Cesar, whom she suspected of having an affair with Brazilian model Mariana del Rio, then 16 years old.

Cesar reportedly tried getting out of that issue by turning the tables on her. To her face, he said she was nothing more than a “porn star.”

Devastated, Sunshine left the household.

She then sent this text message to worried friends: “All I want is a little respect.”

Following the walkout, Cesar went out of his way to refute talk that his wife had left the marriage, describing what happened as simply a “marital spat.”

The report also had him accusing persons in his wife’s circle of feeding her with messages that “poisoned her mind.”

Sunshine confirms to PEP.ph, during the recent September 18 baring of the heart, that she did walk out on Cesar–and not just once, but many times.

“I admit that I have walked out many times.

“I will run to my mother, to my parents, with all my belongings. I have balikbayan boxes available, okay?”

What made Sunshine return?

“He will pick me up at home, he will talk to my parents.

“That’s because, really,” Sunshine says, “as long as I can, as long as I can, I can really do it.”WARNING SIGNS

Were there no signs things could go wrong when they were still at the courtship stage? That was, after all, two years?

“Many, many signs,” Sunshine admits, “but because, I felt like, at that time–like Romeo and Juliet, you and me against the world–that’s how it was.

“So, I felt like, he’s my sidekick, he’s the only one who understands me.”

Still, she says, at one point she actually called off the wedding.

“There was a sign, before we got married,” she begins. “He said something to me, it kind of surprised me. It was the first time I heard it.

“Because, with my family, it’s not about bragging, I’ve never heard my dad say anything about my mom, I’ve never seen him beaten or pulled or anything like that…

“I was in Cebu, he said something to me on the phone.”

She made her move.

“I was calling off the wedding. I called Tita Norma Japitana [Cesar’s former manager], and I said, ‘The wedding is off! I don’t want it, I don’t want it!’

“Because he said something to me–it’s not pretty.”

Even today Sunshine will not repeat the words she says she heard from Cesar. Shaking her head, she says, “Just the pig, the pig. It’s not pretty, it’s not really nice.”

“I called off the wedding,” she continues. “That was the time he packed up his taping, he must have been shooting.

“He flew to Cebu, and knelt down and begged me.

“I was shocked. But, imagine, he packed up his shooting? I think he paid more or less PHP100K for the damage he did–and he flew and apologized to me.”

But once they were married, Sunshine says, she found herself in a dark, chaotic home.

By her telling, “I would leave, then come back, like that. It’s like, because, he says I’m just a bold star, no one will take me…

“If you’ve seen me before, haven’t I always just been down?

“I feel ashamed of myself, because my own wife looks at me like that–what more is it for other people?

“That’s what I think.”

Sunshine adds that Cesar was also against her pursuing a college degree.

“I have so many dreams, I want, you know, of course, if she’s your wife, she should be your all-out support, after all. After all, I’m no longer in showbiz.

“Yun nga, nag-culinary pa ako, e. I had to pay for my own tuition fee–walang support.

“I wanted to go back to school because I was just a high-school graduate, e. That’s why I made my dream come true. He didn’t want it.” Sunshine now holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree from Arellano University.

Sunshine says she stayed in the marriage because she was truly in love with the man she married.

I really fell in love with him. It’s really something that I will never deny.”

CESAR’S SISTER

However, also throughout her marriage to Cesar, another thing Sunshine could not understand is why Cesar’s sister, Maria Mercedes “Ched” Manhilot Cantu, was constantly bad-mouthing her.

By Sunshine’s account, it got so bad that, in June 2008, she went to court and sued Ched with two counts of libel.

Her lawyer Bonifacio Alentajan cited “bad accusations against Sunshine, defamation, and other obscene descriptions.”

In the PEP.ph article published June 4, 2008, Sunshine mentioned that “hate e-mails” were being “sent to writers and TV stations.”

One of the bad stories circulated about Sunshine was that she was having an affair.

Another rumor, circulated on Friendster, was that Sunshine’s youngest, Chesca, was not Cesar’s daughter.

This rumor resurfaced in July 2016, prompting Angelina, eldest daughter of Sunshine and Cesar, to tweet, “TO THE PEOPLE ACCUSING THAT CHESCA ISNT THE REAL DAUGHTER OF MY DAD, ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS!!?! What happened to those cases?

“He was indicted,” Sunshine says about Ched. “San Juan, that’s in San Juan, eh.

“‘Then, he [Cesar] was asking me to withdraw the case. Of course, I didn’t want to withdraw the case! Because even my youngest son, they are spreading the word that he is my son to others!

“They spread that time on Friendster, together with the eldest of Cesar, Angela.

“I resisted, because I was really being bullied.”

Retaliating, Cesar’s sister, who is based in Italy, had a phone interview with the defunct showbiz talk show The Buzz.

Ched said, “Is that true? Well, if it’s not true, why would she react? I don’t even remember mentioning her in FS [Friendster].

“Now, if someone comes out and says she’s reacting, it’s not my problem anymore. It’s her problem.

“Well, if that applies to her, she’s the one who knows, right? We have a saying, when someone gets hurt, ‘when someone gets hit or gets hit by someone else, they’re going to get hurt.’”

Where did this “rift” come from?

In the same interview, Ched revealed, “The rift really started when he threw my mother out of their house. She [Sunshine] wasn’t happy to see my mother around.”

She also mentioned an “fight” in 2003 that was supposed to have happened between Sunshine and Angela, Cesar’s eldest daughter by his first wife, the late Marilyn Polinga.

Sunshine was supposed to have thrown Angela out of her room.

In all this, Sunshine could not understand Cesar’s almost cavalier attitude. He was hands-off for a long time.

In the PEP article published June 4, 2008, Sunshine said, “Too much…and what hurts is the fact that Cesar is not protecting his family from his sister at all. I need to do something before they totally crush me.”

At the time, Sunshine and Cesar were in a “cool-off” stage. Shine had declared that she needed “time to heal and a little space” from the alleged affair of Cesar with the Brazilian model.

BUBOY & SHINE BLOW HOT AND COLD

On June 7, 2008, Cesar released his official statement through the now-defunct GMA talk show Startalk. It reads:

“All ugly things said against my wife are not true, same with my sister Chedi. They both don’t deserve to be treated that way just because of grudges, personal differences. Woe to those who have nothing to do with it, especially their children.

“They are both mature and adult citizens of this world. Shine and Ched must have known their own responsibilities to themselves–family, country, and God.

“From day one, I told them to stop destroying one another by saying harsh things. It can still be resolved. It’s sad they declined.

“I love them with all my heart. Nothing can change.”

Then, in a sentence apparently addressed to his wife, the actor said: “I pray that you soon realize you are destroying our family and your kids are part of it.”

On June 10, 2008, Sunshine marched to the San Juan Prosecutor’s Office to file libel complaints against Ched.

Based on her PEP.ph interview published June 11, 2008, Shine intimated that the decision was hers alone.

But Sunshine was still trying to protect her husband, “To be honest, I cannot blame Cesar. Of course, he is his brother.

“It’s not that he didn’t defend me, he said that it’s not true.

“So, I understand him…I understand him.”

In marching to court, the actress was accompanied by her mother, whom Shine praised in the same interview: “Kahit hindi siya makabangon, siyasap na samahan ako.”

But, truth to tell, Sunshine had become unmoored.

She admitted in that interview, “I have been crying… Why? It seems like at this time that I need someone to lean on, there is none.

“I’m not blaming Cesar. It is not my fight against Cesar, so I am trying to understand him.

“At alam naman niya yun, it’s just that, I need him. I need him right now.”

Nearly two weeks later, or on June 20, 2008, Cesar rang up PEP.ph to defend his wife.

In the phone interview, Cesar said, “I just want to correct the wrongs being said, especially about the rumor that Shine kicked my mother out of Scout Rallos.

“There’s no truth to that, there’s no such thing.

“Do you know how much my mother loves Shine? That when we fight, Shine complains to her, and my mother doesn’t listen to my explanation?

“She [mother] gets angry with me when Shine and I fight, and I’m the one she hits and beats.

“I know that Shine would never treat my mother like that, to the point that he would even kick her out.

“I won’t let that happen either. So, that’s not true.”

Talking about the room that Angela, his eldest child, was supposed to have been driven out of, Cesar said: “Angela’s room is not gone in Scout Rallos. Nothing is moving.”

But Cesar made it clear in the same phone interview to PEP.ph that he never approved of his wife filing libel complaints against his sister.

“But, who lost there?” the actor asked rhetorically. “Of course, we did. Because Ched is not in the Philippines to deal with that case, right?

“But it’s all up to my wife, what’s her approach to that matter.“It seems like Ched is just making fun of us. Shine lost there because he was the one affected.

“But, I know, I should be with my wife. My situation is difficult, and I hope people understand that this is a family thing.”

Looking back, Sunshine says in the September 18, 2018 PEP.ph interview, Cesar never really took her side in any of this.

“I don’t want to be blamed,” she recalls him telling her. “It’s just mine, I said, ‘Okay, I won’t be blamed–but protect the family!

“We’re your family now, you started a family–why didn’t you even say stop me, stop us?’”

Sunshine says Cesar simply could not defend her and their daughter against his sister.

“He just couldn’t defend the family when it came to his relatives.

“It was always more important, more important to him, his siblings, his family.”

In the end, she withdrew the cases against Ched.

Explaining why, Shine says, “What he [Cesar] did, I just went back to him, eh. This is when I ran away for one year. I ran away from him, eh, ‘then he was trying to seduce me.

“I was the young in-love again hoping for the best, I went back to him.

“When I went back to him, I will never forget that moment.

He told me, ‘If you don’t withdraw the case, get out now, I don’t care about you and our children, get out!’

“At that time, I was so ashamed of my parents. Where am I going? To my mother’s? So, I just drew it.”

THE LAST STRAW

How did she finally decide enough was enough?

“What really–when my son was gone. It was my son who told me to talk to Dad, because we saw a picture of him with a girl.”

The girl was Krista Miller, who became Cesar’s leading lady in his movie The Turning Cradle: The Untold Story of Alfredo Lim.

According to a PEP.ph report published January 18, 2013, Krista reportedly sent provocative messages and selfies to Cesar via Facetime, and was herself receiving personal gifts from the actor.

Sunshine says these are what her children saw.

She confronted Krista on Instagram.

This happened in January 2013. Shortly after, Sunshine left Cesar for good.

Her leaving the family home did not end their fights. On the contrary, their fights escalated into full-blown court battles.

As big an issue as infidelity was, this was apparently not the only problem in a marriage that started with such a promise.

Sunshine says she suffered multiple abuse at her husband’s hands–and that the abuse was not just verbal, it was also physical.

To comply with a gag order from the court, however, she would not say more than that.

What PEP.ph and other publications had previously reported is that, on March 8, 2013, Sunshine filed a complaint with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Cesar for allegedly violating Republic Act 9262 (Anti-Violence against Women and their Children) and R.A. 7610 (Anti-Child Abuse Act).

There, she cited three incidents of physical abuse: one in July 2009, a second in January 2013, and a third in May 2013.

On August 13, 2013, the actress filed another complaint, this time alleging rape on May 12, 2013, Mother’s Day.

To the press, Sunshine offered no details of her complaint.

Atty. Alentajan, her lawyer, was more forthright. He told the press that Sunshine suffered all manner of abuse from Cesar.

“Everything–psychological, emotional, financial,” he was quoted as saying then.

When PEP.ph and other media reported about Sunshine’s rape complaint at the time, the story was that Cesar had barged into her residence and attacked her. Cesar Montano’s legal counsel, Joel Ferrer, countered this in his interview with Unang Hirit on August 14, 2013: “On Mother’s Day, when she was raped, Shine texted Cesar, inviting them to dinner with the children.

“The family had dinner. After dinner, they enjoyed themselves, there was no fighting, Cesar slept at Shine’s house, and the next day when he went home, Cesar left.

“After that, they exchanged more texts, sweet nothings, so Cesar was surprised.”

Sunshine stood by her story. Today, the case of rape filed by Sunshine Cruz Montano against Cesar D. Montano remains docketed at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, where it awaits judgment.

One year and four months after the rape complaint against Cesar, on February 2, 2015, he was charged with another violation. This time against his minor daughters, under Republic Act 9262 (Anti-Violence against Women and their Children) and R.A. 7610 (Anti-Child Abuse Act).

On a February 22, 2015 PEP.ph article, Bonifacio Alentajan, Sunshine’s lawyer, was quoted as saying, “Again, because he did something obscene in the presence of his three daughters.”

“The children complained, so Sunshine decided to have it go to a judge, because he can no longer solve their problems,” Atty. Alentajan said.

According to news reports, the incident allegedly took place on November 16, 2014, when the three girls spent a night at their father’s home at the Tivoli Royale Subdivision in Quezon City.

Cesar’s legal counsel, Joel Ferrer, countered this charge in a February 19, 2015 interview with PEP.ph. He said this was about property and money.

“It’s just about the issue on property relations,” Atty. Ferrer said, “and the kids are just being used.”

He explained, “It seemed that the complaint is with regard to an incident inside Cesar’s room in their house, where the children were there.

“What they are complaining about is that Cesar, according to him, was masturbating while the daughters were watching TV.

“Cesar categorically denied about this, it is very impossible for Cesar to do that to his children.”

To this day, all the VAWC cases that Sunshine filed against Cesar remain in the courts.

Sunshine admits to being overwhelmed by her legal battle.

She is not used to being in court, she says. On top of that, her regular counsel, Alentajan, fell ill, requiring the transfer of Sunshine’s cases to Atty. Filmer Abrajano.

The lawyer is expensive, imagine changing lawyers. Of course, there is an acceptance fee again.”

Despite the mounting costs and the anxiety that the court cases were bringing her way, Sunshine says she prepared for each hearing. “It was too heavy, you had to go to the hearing every month.”

Worse, she says, “When I took the witness stand, it really seemed embarrassing, that you had to dig up your experiences with him again.

“‘Then, people will hear. You have to go into detail, ‘What did he say to you? What did he do to you?’”

Almost as comic relief, Sunshine recounts the stress of dressing up right for the court hearings.

“When I go there, I have a uniform, black pants, flats, and a white shirt.

“For all my hearings, if you see, I wear those. That’s my uniform as long as there’s a hearing.

“That’s just what I’m used to. It’s just like that, like when you wake up in the morning, ‘Oh, hearing. Oh, white,’ you need a collar.”

At one point, she admits with a laugh, her lawyer made mention of her court uniform.

“Yes, actually the lawyer advised me to dress up for a change.

“Well, we didn’t get to that point, so thank you, it didn’t last long.

“Maybe the black pants, flats, and white-collared shirt were my lucky charm.”

CHILD SUPPORT

The issue on finances has been tortuous for Sunshine.

She thanks the heavens that, since their separation, she has been blessed with work.

“I can do it,” she says. “I’m not asking for anything, for too much.

“In fact, it’s just a small chunk of what he gives the children monthly–and it has been going on for so long, and I’m just letting it go.

“We have three children—and it’s his responsibility, as a father, isn’t it?

“Yes, I lost, but it doesn’t mean he’s going to lose my children too.”

Sunshine says that the amount Cesar must now give his family–including for the girls’ tuition fees and payment for their service vehicles to and from school–have all been mandated by the judge.

The daughters communicate with their father through his secretary. Or, sometimes, the personal assistant for Shine’s family communicates with Buboy’s secretary.

And, between Cesar and Sunshine, everything is done through the courts.

SUNSHINE IS FREE; CESAR ISSUES STATEMENT

On September 18, 2018, Sunshine finally got what she wanted: her freedom. She had every reason to celebrate the day.

Smiling, she recalls how the day began for her, “I was fixing the room, I just woke up.

“Manang was shocked, her heart jumped! As in, a long cry when I saw the text. My heart, like that [pressing hand up and down her chest].

“I was just drinking coffee, I was really shaking, ‘then thank you when I thanked my lawyer.”

The first to know were her daughters.

“I messaged them, they were so happy. We have a group [chat], like. ‘OMG. Congrats, Mommy, I’m happy for you.’

“They know how hard it is. She says about her ex-husband: “If there’s anything I’m grateful for—I’ve become stronger, I’ve become braver, I’ve learned to fight, I couldn’t do that before! And, of course, he gave me three children.”

A DATE WITH MACKY

After the PEP shoot, Sunshine dressed up for a dinner date with Macky Mathay.

“You should go to Spiral, the traffic is bad, so maybe go to Melo’s,” Sunshine says. Spiral is in Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Pasay City, Melo’s Steakhouse is in Alabang, Muntinlupa, and Sunshine’s place is in Paranaque.

Sunshine’s eyes, however, reveal that the restaurant doesn’t really matter.

The annulment, she says, was the closure she needed from Cesar.

She stated, “Not just for me, but, I think we both deserve freedom–as in honest-to-goodness freedom from each other.”

PEP.ph reached out to Cesar and his camp for their reaction.

Text messages have been sent to Cesar’s manager, Shirley Pizarro, who has not responded as of September 28, 2018.

PEP.ph lead correspondent Arniel Serato sent a message to Ched via Facebook on September 28, and to Cesar via texts on September 28 and October 5, but did not receive any reply.

Arniel also sent messages to Cesar’s lawyer, Joel Ferrer, whose text reply was: “Sorry but am not the lawyer for Cesar anymore in that case.”

Arniel learned that Atty. Dexter Lacuanan is now handling Cesar’s cases. He sent messages on October 3 and 4 to the lawyer, who did not reply.

Through Facebook private messaging, PEP.ph got in touch with Dolly Anne Carvajal, one of Cesar’s close media friends, who initially said, “Sorry he’s not granting interviews.”

But her Philippine Daily Inquirer column of October 6, 2018, issued a brief statement from the actor.

“I believe God allows everything to happen for a purpose. “Marriage is one of the most expensive schools of highest learning in life. But more valuable than money is time.

“God didn’t let me get out of it without learning something. God is good, all glory to Him.