Story by Jose Mari Ugarte

If Rene Knecht had hit rock bottom, like so many people said he had, you couldn’t tell by the way he first spoke to me—with the sophisticated and slightly effeminate Spanglish drawl of an old money mestizo gentleman. And, as in any ice-breaking, cross-generational confrontation between two Spaniards in Manila, he attempted to make a connection by asking me who my parents were. Of course, he knew them well, and launched into the ensuing four-hour conversation by telling me how sweet the santols were in my grandparents’ old house in San Juan, and how my maternal grandfather was a samurai baron from Japan. "You know when the Spaniards first came to the Philippines," he announced with the velvety voice of a wise old hipster, "they called it islas ladronas . . . because in most countries it’s the men who keep a harem--but here it was the women. . . .And this woman was the querida of Oma, the Japanese commander. She had four Nescafe jars full of solitaryo diamonds given to her by women who didn't want their sons, husbands, or boyfriends killed by the Japs. . . ." Our talk meandered like a babbling brook from one story to another, and each one was either quirky, strange, amusing, or sad--none were dull--and, as I listened, I began to clearly understand what people I had spoken to meant when they repeatedly said, "You should do a story on Rene Knecht. He's had a very interesting life, a genuinely weird riches to rags cautionary tale involving guns, broads, drugs, gold, and all the other props that set the stage for a primetime drama about a glamorous life gone awry."

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