In a 24-page decision, Judge Elizabeth Yu-Guray of the Las Piñas City Regional Trial Court Branch 202 sentenced Phillip to four to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay Christina the $100,000 she had raised to bankroll the business.

Phillip’s brother, Ramon, was acquitted because of insufficiency of evidence.

Throughout the promulgation, which lasted about an hour-and-a-half on April 21, Phillip held on tightly to his wife’s hand.

Before the hearing started, he could be heard humming religious songs to himself and reading passages from the Bible that he had brought with him.

When the judge ordered him to stand, Phillip tucked the Bible under his right arm. It slipped and fell to the floor a few minutes into the clerk of court’s reading of the decision.

Phillip and his wife remained composed throughout the session, but both seemed to be holding back tears after the verdict was announced.

“There were a lot of errors. I never admitted that I received $100,000 from her [Christina]. But I am happy that my brother was acquitted,” Phillip told reporters later on.

“I don’t feel angry at all. We all go through life’s storms. All I know is that the Lord is with me always. This is not yet finished. I lift this all up to God,” he said.

In her complaint, Christina accused Phillip and his brother of prodding her to invest in a remittance company in 2001. At the time she said she was in a relationship with Phillip.

He allegedly promised Christina that he would take care of marketing and promoting the company’s services, using his popularity among the Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

However, Christina was to find out later that the money she had given Phillip in May 2002 to start the business was used for other purposes.

Phillip allegedly confessed to her that he used the money to pay obligations and loans which Phillip had incurred when he ran for vice mayor of Mandaluyong City in the 2001 elections.

Phillip’s lawyer, Roberto Abad, said they would file a motion for reconsideration, saying they would take the appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if the verdict is not reversed at the Court of Appeals.

The actor remains free while the appeals process goes on and until the court decision is finally resolved.

Christina, who came to the hearing with her three daughters, cried upon hearing the decision. She told reporters that she was happy with the judge’s decision because it proved that she was telling the truth.

“My past flashed before my eyes: How I loved him, how I trusted him and how he tricked us...,” she said. “When I arrived at the court, I was ready to face whatever the judge’s decision was. I feel no regret that he will be jailed. All I can say is he deserves it.”

Her lawyer, Rizal Balbin, is certain that the verdict will be upheld. “He was already convicted, it will be difficult to reverse the decision. We have presented solid evidence for his conviction,” the lawyer said.

Last week’s decision concerned only one of the three cases of estafa that Christina brought against the Salvador brothers.

In an earlier case brought before the Las Piñas court, Christina claimed that she was deceived by the brothers into investing P1.2 million for a jeepney operation business that Ramon was to have managed. The case was dismissed in June 2005 and is now on appeal.

In another case, Christina demanded payment of P15 million that Phillip allegedly borrowed from her in 2003. The case is still ongoing at the Makati court.

Martin’s gf expecting

Concert king Martin Nievera will be a father again soon, with girlfriend Katrina Ojeda pregnant, reports Ricky Lo in his Fanfare column.

Ricky’s Las Vegas DPA relayed the story as a rejoinder to Ricky’s recent item that says Martin and Katrina have reconciled after almost three years of separation, reportedly caused by Cutie del Mar (who is actually just Martin’s good friend, insisted those close to Martin).

Katrina and Martin keep separate homes in Las Vegas, where Martin did a successful concert series last year.

Martin has two children with ex-wife Pops Fernandez — Ram, 16, and Robin, 19.

Chat Silayan dies

Actress and TV host Chat Silayan — 1980 Miss Universe third runner-up — died Sunday night after a two-year bout with colon cancer. She was 46.

Only family and close friends had known she was sick.

“Chat kept her illness a secret to avoid a media circus,” Rene Salud, her fashion designer, friend and mentor, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “Also, she didn’t want the public to see her in such a state.”

Rene said even he didn’t know Chat had fallen ill until a year after the cancer was diagnosed. “It came to me as a great shock,” he said. “I wished I could do something to help her.”

Ma. Rosario Silayan died past 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, where she was confined for over two months, according to her mother Antonietta Rivera.

The daughter of the late actor Vic Silayan, Chat is survived by her husband Mike Bailon and children Victor Anthony, 17 (from her relationship with an Italian director); and Timothy, 12, and Michaela, 11 (with Mike). Her remains lie in a sealed white casket at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City. Interment is set for Saturday at the Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Parañaque City.

“Chat died in her sleep,” her mother said. “She didn’t seem to be in pain. Mike had told me the night before that Chat wanted to see me. When I arrived the next day at 4:30 p.m., she was asleep. I thought of waking her up but changed my mind because I decided it was better for her to rest. Now I wish I did wake her up — at least she’d have known that I was around.”

Chat’s friend, singer Kuh Ledesma, saw another picture.

“I know for a fact that she suffered a lot because of the cancer,” Kuh recalled. “But she was very courageous because she was certain that she would go to heaven.”

The last time she saw Chat, the singer said, was six months ago. “At the time, I had heard she was already in a bad way, but there she was at the mall with her family. I think they were going to see a movie.”

Antonietta said her daughter had started feeling pains in the abdomen and lower back two years ago, but that the actress, a health buff, had brushed off those symptoms, saying they were probably just the result of a rigid exercise regimen.

Finally, Antonietta recounted, Chat was alarmed when she passed blood in her urine and stool. She went for a checkup then, the mother said.

Her daughter had insisted that discussions about her illness be kept to a minimum, Antonietta added.

“Michael was her faithful companion throughout this battle,” she said. “Even while we accepted that death came to everyone sooner or later, we were all hoping for a miracle for Chat.”

Within an hour of Antonietta’s passing, her friend and fellow Bb. Pilipinas winner Desiree Verdadero (also Miss Universe third runner-up) had sent text messages breaking the news to all interested parties, including the media.

Rene himself said he found out about Chat’s passing from 1979 Binibining Pilipinas Universe Dang Cecilio.

“Chat and I started our [separate] careers together,” Rene said. “If it were not for her, Dang, Melanie (Marquez) and the other girls [I helped dress up as beauty queens], I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

“I will always remember Chat as the one who made the serpentina famous [again].”

Chat had worn Rene’s creation, a light blue serpentina (tightfitting terno that flares dramatically at the knees) for the 1980 Miss Universe competition in Seoul, South Korea.

Now for this, her final exit, Chat is wearing another Rene creation — an ecru gown made from piña fabric, with an embroidered collar and long sleeves with ruffles.

He explained: “Chat was always a big lover of Filipiniana. I am at once glad and sad that her last outfit was something I had made.”

Rene was also a registered nutritionist-dietitian with a degree from the Philippine Women’s University. She passed the board exams in 1979.

In the movies, she was last seen in Star Cinema’s “My First Romance” (2003). Until recently, she co-hosted with Dulce and Peter Kairuz the weekly show “700 Club Asia,” which reports and dramatizes modern “miracles.”

Her other films included “Kung Ako Na Lang Sana” (2003), “Esperanza: The Movie” (1999), “Ipaglaban Mo: The Movie Part 2” (1997) and “Dyesebel” (1990).

Along with other Born Again Christians like Kuh and Coney Reyes, Chat had taken an active part in the presidential campaign of Bro. Eddie Villanueva — founding director of the Jesus is Lord Church Worldwide — in 2004.

Chat became an overnight star when she won as Bb. Pilipinas-Universe in 1980, the same year she represented the country in the Miss Universe Pageant in South Korea, finishing third runner-up to Miss USA Shawn Weatherly. It was a memorable gift for Chat who was celebrating her 20th birthday that day (July 8), when pageant host Bob Barker asked the audience to sing happy birthday to Chat. She became an instant favorite when she thanked the crowd in Korean.”

N.Y. Pinay’s life in TV drama

The life story of Filipina Sally Jimenez of Rye, N.Y. will be featured on the May 9 edition of ABS-CBN’s newest drama-documentary “Nagmamahal Kapamilya,” aired over The Filipino Channel.

The story on Sally, a 44-year-old native of San Pablo City, Laguna, was inspired by the feature story published in the Filipino Reporter. The show focuses on Sally’s sacrifices and sufferings when she came to the United States as a tourist and overstayed to give her three children back home a decent life, and eventually bring them to the U.S.

While her husband was dying of kidney cancer in the Philippines in 2002, she was stuck in Rye and couldn’t go home with her application to legalize her status pending.

On Nov. 6 of that year, Sally’s husband Danny died after he bade his wife a weak goodbye on the phone and she couldn’t do anything but cry on the other line.

“I was so helpless then that I felt like I was losing my mind,” says Sally, who works as a personal assistant to a wealthy real estate investor, in an interview with the Reporter. “He begged me not to come home whatever happens to him. He said the future of our children should come first.”

In January 2005, Sally was granted her green card and immediately booked a February flight to Manila — her first visit after 10 long years. Upon arrival, she headed straight to the grave of her husband in San Pablo City in the arms of her children.

Portraying Sally is actress Alma Moreno.

“Nagmamahal, Kapamilya,” hosted by Bernadette Sembrano, is the first on-the-air community interactive hub that will connect Filipinos in any part of the globe. It presents a mix of reality romance, drama, lessons and inspirations that Filipinos will find useful as they contemplate their decisions to seek for better lives outside the motherland.

Filipino film classics at Perlas ng Silangan

Unico Entertainment and Perlas ng Silangan Restaurant will screen old Filipino film classics every Monday at the restaurant’s giant screen, through a month-long series called “Dinner Na, Sine Pa.” All movies will start at 7:30 p.m.

The buffet-and-movie combo, which costs only $10, is a brainchild of Perlas owner Nel Castellvi and Unico’s Vincent Nebrida to spread the good word on Philippine cinema, while enjoying the best in Filipino cuisine.

• May 1 — Lino Brocka’s “Ina, Kapatid, Anak,” featuring Lolita Rodriguez and Charito Solis.

• May 8 — Ishmael Bernal’s “Manila By Night,” with Bernardo Bernardo and Alma Moreno.

• May 15 — “Tawag ng Tanghalan,” starring Lupito and Patsy, with Susan Roces, Amalia Fuentes, Romeo Vasquez and Jose Mari.

• May 22 — “Jack en Jill,” with Dolphy, Lolita and Rogelio de la Rosa.

• May 29 — “Kurdapya,” featuring Gloria Romero, Ramon Revilla and Ric Rodrigo.

For more information, call (718) 779-2991 or (646) 435-9431 or e-mail vincemagi@hotmail.com 

Perlas ng Silangan is located at 69-09 Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside, Queens, N.Y.