Who Is Enrico 'Recom' Echiverri? And What the Hell Does He Have to Do With the Barretto Drama?

Once again, the Barrettos have made headlines, and the drama surrounding the family refuses to die down. No one is sure how the feud started, because really, who can catch up at this point? (And who has the time?) But it’s clear that Filipinos love their tea, and the family is serving tea in barrels.

In the middle of the fiasco are a handful of men who’ve found themselves in the crossfire of the Barretto sisters’ World War 3. One of them is former Caloocan City Mayor Atty. Enrico “Recom” Echiverri.

Who is Echiverri?

Despite his long career in politics, the former mayor is now more popularly known as the alleged partner of Marjorie Barretto. But before he gained that title, Echiverri was, and still is, a prominent politician in the city of Caloocan.

A graduate of San Beda University and Ateneo de Manila University, Echiverri served as a Congressman representing Caloocan in the lower house from 1998 to 2004. During his time in Congress, he was part of an alliance of congressmen and congresswoman who moved to oust former President Joseph Estrada.

After six years in Congress, he served as the mayor of Caloocan for nine years from 2004 to 2013. It was during this time that he became affiliated with the Barretto family as Majorie Barretto sat as a city councilor from 2007 to 2013.

His time as mayor was riddled with cases of graft and corruption. 

In 2017, Echiverri was charged with a series of graft cases over various publicly funded government projects between 2010 and 2013 that he approved without public bidding, as mandated by the Government Procurement Reform Act. The funds were released for projects worth millions of pesos that included street repair, light installation, drainage, and building construction.

In the same year, Echiverri was arrested over his multiple graft charges, but eventually posted bail. At one point, Echiverri faced 57 cases of graft filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman, however, a number of those cases have been withdrawn or ended in an acquittal. All the cases filed against the former mayor involve millions of pesos in public funds.

The family connection

Echiverri’s connection to the family came to light back in 2008, when Echiverri’s rumored partner declined to comment on their situation. In 2018, Marjorie introduced the public to her daughter Erich, who was then six years old. Echiverri was spotted at Erich's seventh birthday party held earlier this year.

In a social media post. Gretchen Barretto claimed that Marjorie’s boyfriend was Echiverri, whom she described as “powerful in a bad way.” Gretchen deliberately referred to her sister as Marjorie Baldivia Echiverri, despite the fact that Echiverri is, in fact, married.

That was a whirlwind to understand, and that’s only a fraction of the sisters’ feud. No wonder the public has become gripped by their fight. This is the quality content missing in teleseryes.

Honestly, the drama of this family puts the Kardashians to shame.