A Cory memory

Corazon Aquino passed away August 1, 2009. I was privileged to have worked for her as head of the Presidential Management Staff during her presidency. My wife, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, was the first person who interviewed President Cory when she came back to the Philippines after the assassination of her husband, Ninoy Aquino.

A month ago was P-Noy’s last day as President of the Republic of the Philippines. I thought it worthwhile to share with my readers an abridged version of an article that Neni wrote 24 years ago. The complete article is in the book The AQUINO LEGACY: An Enduring Narrative now available in bookstores.

Cory’s last day as president

There was something nostalgic and vaguely familiar about driving to Times Street in Quezon City at lunchtime on June 30, 1992. Yellow ribbons welcomed the homecoming of the neighborhood’s most prominent resident. And if passerbys wondered what the fuss was all about, the streamer on the gate from the women of Negros Occidental effusively thanking Pres. Cory for a job well done was a sure giveaway.

While media and the nation watched and wondered about President Ramos’s afternoon in Malacanang, old friends and loyal Cory supporters spent the afternoon with Citizen Cory at her family home.

What was originally meant to be a quiet and private lunch with her family turned out to be an impromptu mini-reunion of Cojuangco building habitués during the snap election season.

It was heartwarming to see individuals trooping to Times Street to express to the president in so many subtle ways how much she continues to be esteemed and valued. It was a display of affection more meaningful now that she, sans title, no longer has center stage. A delegation of 25 women from Negros Occidental had made prior arrangements with oldest daughter Ballsy that they wanted to be the first to greet President Cory when she returned to her home, just to thank her for helping improve their lives. That was all their visit was all about, so they had to be persuaded to join the Elar’s catered lunch for a hundred. Another group from Los Banos brought her a blooming orchid named after her, on a driftwood.

The gathering was also a chance to open her newly renovated home to well wishers. She was amused that many people, her hairdresser included, have been feeling sorry that all Cory was returning to was this unpretentious looking bungalow. The simple facade remained, but a pleasant transformation has occurred in the interior to befit a former president and to remedy the leaking roof and rusty pipes.

The receiving area that served Ninoy and his endless stream of walk in visitors has acquired an air of stateliness. Flowers from many well-wishers brightened up the place even more with its all white look and minimal Orientalia accents. When Ballsy told her mother that there was now enough space for entertaining a hundred guests, Citizen Cory, certainly not yet missing the receptions she has had to host, hoped out loud that she would not have to play host as often.

But she was a gracious host that afternoon, her exuberance and sense of relief at having been unburdened so evident. She was eager to talk, bubbling over with details having little to do now with affairs of state.

Was it a lonely ride home after the inaugural ceremony? What were her thoughts? Recapturing those moments made her temporarily pensive. But it was clear that she did not wish to indulge in reminiscing. She had a feeling of liberation from endless criticism was all Citizen Cory was willing to say, the only time a cloud crossed her face that afternoon. Besides, she related that in the car that had her, Kris and Col. Voltaire Gazmin, her attention was focused on Kris, who could not contain herself after her personal security bid her good-bye. She had to comfort Kris who had suddenly become sentimental. She herself was so touched at the final good-bye in a series of staggered farewells. This, she admitted made it easier for her. Her second daughter Pinky teased that from the way Kris was weeping, you would think it was a take from one of her movies.

The afternoon was not meant for any sadness, only joy and anticipation at all that the future held in promise for Citizen Cory. The boxes of memorabilia had to be sorted out and arranged for public viewing. There was the speaking engagement in Hongkong for a Zonta conference, a commitment she made in 1991. There was another international conference in Seville in September where the world’s women leaders, like Margaret Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto and President Aquino have been invited to speak on women and demo-cracy, a topic that she confidently said she could speak on extemporaneously. After that, an expo visit and a trip to other parts of Europe with Kris. While she had imposed a moratorium on speaking engagements, it was certain that this would be temporary and short lived. There was the writing of her memoirs to complete, and there were offers to translate these into other languages for serialization. The Benigno Aquino Foundation awaited her personal involvement again. And there were livelihood projects she wished to initiate, encouraged by the success of the collaboration with NGOs in her experience with the President’s Social Fund.

But for now, she was allowed a break, so she could indulge in grandmothering and the simple joys of again being “anonymous,” if that was at all possible. While her house was ready for her, her garden had not been started, he greening of which the plant lover in her was eager to effect.

The conversation went on to the former president’s fear as she waited to be picked up by the incoming president for the joint ride to Luneta, that her own car might not follow, leading her stranded there; President Ramos’s not quite stolen inaugural kiss because he had bade permission two weeks ago; the warm conversation she had with former vice president Doy Laurel at the grandstand, regarding each other’s plans; the quiet satisfaction that the day’s peaceful transition happened at all.

For friends who have had to stay at arm’s length during the Malacanang years, it may had been initially awkward to relate to her now, for how did one interact with someone who was still your head of state an hour ago? But because Citizen Cory signalled both tone and mood by being casual and breezy, it felt like postponed and disrupted relationships could resume once more.

The friends in attendance were given a collector’s item of a ball pen in blue, white, and Cory yellow, compliments of Virgie Ramos of Gift Gate, especially produced to mark a new chapter in Citizen Cory’s life. It need not have carried the “Cory Aquino” inscription because one cannot use it without a yellow bud opening to reveal a tiny, bespectacled and unmistakably Cory doll at the top. Purely coincidental that while the Cory rag doll was born as she began her political career, another doll variation should mark its end.

Yes, on that day, many other beginnings beckoned for Cory Aquino.

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