Joe & Gina de Venecia: A Love Story
Tomorrow, Feb. 14, is Valentine’s Day and the day after is Pangasinan Rep. Gina de Venecia’s birthday.
Life is bittersweet, indeed, as Gina lost the love of her life, her husband of 40 years, former Speaker Joe de Venecia Jr., on the 10th day of the month of hearts.
Theirs was a second chance at love that made them first in each other’s lives.
Marrying JDV was a turning point in Gina Vera Perez’s life as it was a pivot in his. Their marriage broadened her world, changed the direction of her sails and gave her a new purpose. Joe was destined to be five-time Speaker of the House of Representatives, the longest serving in the post-Marcos era.
Gina, with her charm, intuitiveness, and heart for the poor, was Joe’s secret weapon in Congress and among his constituents in Pangasinan.
Gina gave birth to their firstborn Christopher on Oct. 27, 1986.
Second child Kristina Casimira or “KC” was born on April 6, 1988.
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Joe and Gina met when they were beginning new chapters in their lives.
Gina was having lunch with Chito Antonio at the Japanese restaurant of the Hotel Nikko Manila Garden (now Dusit Thani) when they chanced upon the debonaire businessman. Chito, who built Joe’s residence by the sea in his hometown of Dagupan City, introduced him to Gina.
Though they were in separate tables, Joe gallantly paid for Chito and Gina’s lunch.
Both previously married, Joe (who had four children—Sandra, Leslie, Vivian and Joey—with his first wife Vicky Perez) and Gina were unattached when they met. Joe asked her if Chito was her boyfriend.
When she said he wasn’t, Joe asked Chito, “Where are you going after lunch?” Chito said he and Gina were going to watch a movie. “We wanted to see a Tagalog movie but the theater was so full, so we ended watching Flashdance, Gina recalls. “And Joe asked if he could tag along with us.” But since Joe had just arrived from the Middle East and was jetlagged, he ended up snoozing during the Jennifer Beals starrer —but his eyes were wide open to the realization that he was interested, very interested, in Gina
After the movie, the trio went to Via Mare for early cocktails.
After that, he started courting the Sampaguita Pictures heiress.
“I think what attracted him to me was my candor and my lack of pretense. The first movie house we went to was jampacked and we had to leave. We had to transfer to another theater. Paglabas namin, wala yung awto niya (His car wasn’t there when we stepped out). I said, let’s take the cab. ‘You’re gonna take the cab?’ he was shocked. “Yeah, why not?’ I answered.
“Tapos, sabi niya ‘Grabe itong babaeng ito, hindi maarte.’ Doon na siya siguro nagka-interes sa akin. (He might have been attracted to my authenticity.)
Gina sensed the loneliness in Joe.
“I felt like, hey, nobody’s taking care of this man. So I wanted to take care of him, since he was taking care of so many people, like the thousands of workers of his public international company, Landoil. Sabi ko, kawawa naman ito, aalagaan ko (I thought, poor guy, I want to take care of him.)
At first, her close friends discouraged her from marrying Joe.
“I am going to turn around the life of this man. He’s a good man, maybe all he needs is a lucky charm,” she said.
It was the Jesuit priest Father Pastor Adorable who suggested that Joe and Gina get married, “because we’re good for each other.”
Joe and Gina tied the knot in civil rites in 1986 in the US. Then eventually, they got married in Church after they got their annulments from the Roman Catholic Matrimonial Tribunal, followed by another civil wedding in the Philippines.
Gina remembers the pre-nuptial agreement they sealed. It had difficult pre-conditions, all non-negotiable.
She told him, “Joe, we’re going to enter into this marriage, we’re going to have a real marriage. We’re going to always be there for each other, and you’re not going to make major decisions without me. We’re going to have a genuine marriage by sharing happiness, loneliness, the good times and the difficult.”
The astute businessman readily agreed to the terms stipulated by his beloved. There was no fine print.
And the rest is history.
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Until his death last Tuesday at the age of 89, Joe and Gina were the poster couple for joyful marriages where each spouse brought out the best in the other. They had supported each other through life’s hurricanes, especially through the devastating death of their daughter KC in a fire in 2004. They were the proudest parents when their son Christopher took on the torch passed by his father from 2016 to 2025.
During one of her birthday celebrations, Gina said Joe, “is the wind beneath my wings; the eagle who taught this little sparrow to fly.”
Tita Gina, please take comfort in the knowledge that Tito Joe and KC are now holding hands in heaven, proudly watching you and Christopher soar, the angels’ wings beneath your own.
