Photographs and Memories

MANILA, Philippines - She has a closetful of designer bags, but her favorite tote is a bag made of cloth, printed with a grainy picture of her with President Cory. “Mom!” I’d wail, “Ang taba mo sa picture na yan!” She’d just shrug and smile. My mom has always been a huge Cory fan. While most women treasure jewels and collect designer bags, Mom collected Cory memorabilia. I did not realize the extent of her collection until I was able to cajole her to let me take pictures for this feature.

Carefully stored in her “Cory Box” are original campaign paraphernalia like stickers, Cory Aquino and Doy Laurel’s messages on tape, yellow umbrellas printed with various headlines, an autographed copy of Cory Aquino’s affirmation of candidacy, even her Cory’s Crusaders ID.

Amongst her collection, my personal favorite is a Cory Aquino pen. The top features a flower bud that opens to reveal a seated figure of Cory Aquino. She had several of these pens, some of them rested on a pen stand in her office for many years.

After two decades, I finally got to open the yellow heart-shaped soap engraved with Ninoy’s and Cory’s names. It was an early gift when Cory was still President. There were eight soaps originally, but Mom shared some of them with my aunts who were also ardent Cory fans. The soaps were encased in plastic and I used to beg mom to let me open one. I wanted to hold it close to my nose and inhale the scent. Today, for photographic purposes, mom let me tear off the plastic casing, and they smell divine.

I turned 14 on August 21, 1983. The day Ninoy died I was celebrating my birthday playing duckpins at Club Filipino with my cousins; instead of the usual inane music in the background, the bowling lane was tuned in to an AM station. The radio announcer gave a detailed account of Sen. Benigno Aquino’s landing at the Manila International Airport. I could hear cheering and clapping, then shots were heard, jubilation suddenly turned into bewilderment. People around me started crying. Like a movie in slow motion, people seemed frozen to the spot. Eyes wide, unable to speak. I did not know what was happening and did not realize the impact of the senator’s assassination. My entry into puberty was also mom’s awakening. Raised in a clannish, conservative Chinese society, she says she only started to identify herself as truly Filipino because of Cory.

 I remember my mom coming home from rallies, her feet sore from walking, but her eyes would sparkle with fire. She says Cory inspired her.

The First Meeting

A year after the assassination, Mom came across a painting entitled “Pieces of Truth” by Alfonso Medilo, a finalist in Metrobank’s first painting exhibition. Painted like pieces of a tile puzzle, each tile represented scenes from the assassination and the missing tile questioned who was behind the brutal murder. Conferring with like-minded friends, they decided to chip in and give the painting to Ninoy’s widow, Cory Aquino.

“We arranged a meeting and presented her with the painting, it was wrapped in simple brown paper. Mrs. Aquino asked if she may see it, so we unwrapped it. She sat on a small stool and stared at the painting for a very long time. When she stood up she very casually talked to us about her family, as if we were old friends.” Mom says she was struck by Cory’s simplicity and warmth. The next day, Cory Aquino sent a hand-written letter thanking them for the “marvelous gift.” Turns out they met Cory Aquino a day before what would have been Cory and Ninoy’s 30th wedding anniversary.

In her letter she wrote that she would like to think that receiving that painting was also Ninoy’s way of sending her a loving message on their special day.

“Pieces of Truth” now hangs in the Aquino Museum in Tarlac.

Food and laughter

Cory sent her famous chicken liver paté in a yellow ceramic dish with Ninoy’s caricature that Christmas, accompanied by a note stating that she learned to make the paté in Boston. I think Mom and Cory’s friendship was sealed with burps. Mom often sent fruits, pancit and Chinese home-made lumpia. Cory often looked forward to the lumpia and finally asked our Manang Lisa to teach her kitchen staff to cook authentic Chinese lumpia. Manang relates that President Cory personally went to the kitchen to shake her hand and thank her for sharing her lumpia recipe.

Cory used to laugh out loud at her own joke; she said Mom has two presidents at her beck and call, her driver Ferdinand and Gloria, her personal assistant. They are avid Cory Aquino fans and have personally autographed photos with Cory. They relate that it was actually President Cory who initiated taking pictures, beckoning them to pose with her. As they did not have cameras with them, Cory’s staff took photos with their office camera, had the pictures developed, autographed and delivered.

A Visit to the Palace

Towards the end of her term, President Cory called and personally invited Mom to have lunch with her and Ballsy at the Palace. She served a simple, home-cooked meal brought over from their Arlegui residence, and presented her with an uncut sheet of P500 bills with a personal, hand-written note right in the middle.

The P500 bills have faded from sun exposure, but her hand-written message, written in black ink, became all the more striking.

A thoughtful friend

Mom always kept a respectful distance and seldom asked Cory to our private functions because she felt it would impose too much on her time. So, when my brother Conrad, sister Carla and sister-in-law Jocelyn and I planned a surprise party for Mom when she turned 70, we thought of inviting her most cherished friend.

I am so glad we invited her, because although Cory always treated Mom to lunch on Cory’s birthdays, Mom only “treats” Cory and her family by sending pancit and fruits to her office. That birthday was the only time they dined together. Her cancer was detected and announced eight months later.

Cory never missed greeting her on her birthdays. Last month, on her sickbed, Cory asked her daughter Ballsy to please text and greet Mom.

I am a Cory Fan

I was amused to find a yellow hand-painted fan printed with the words, “I am a Cory fan” — very tongue in cheek. In latter years Cory sent simple paper and plastic fans in bulk, meant to be distributed to friends and relatives.

She also sent boxes of note cards, gift tags and calendars with reproductions of her paintings for Mom’s use.

Tea and Sympathy

When I went to Cory’s wake, Ballsy turned to me and said, “Thank you for sharing your Mom.” I was taken aback. I could not find the words to tell her that Cory was what kept my mom going in her darkest hours. My dad suffered an aneurysm at the base of his head three and a half years ago and passed away in less than 24 hours. I do not know how Cory found out that Dad was in the ICU, she came with the rosary given to her by Sister Lucia of Fatima, and prayed the rosary with us at Dad’s death bed. Through the haze of her grief, I think Mom only found the strength to hold herself together because of her sheer respect for Cory. The first night of Dad’s wake, Cory, accompanied by Noynoy, came and sat with her for several hours, letting her pour out her grief. On the second night, she brought a reproduction of her painting “Gifts from the Rosary.” She sat with us for many nights, hearing Mass and patiently listened to the eulogies. We are forever indebted to Cory, not only because she restored our democracy; we are also indebted to her because she was there when Mom needed her most.