Why only Sen. Loren can make me go to Makati - STARBYTES by Butch Francisco

Given its one-way streets and eternally clogged arteries, I will use even the flimsiest of excuses not to go to Makati. But there is one person who can make me drive from my Quezon City home all the way to this premier city without me saying no... next time... I will think about it, etc. And this is Senator Loren Legarda.

It was Loren (she’ll kill me if I call her Senator) who initiated me to the ways of Makati. When we became friends in 1988 (it was Ricky Lo who brought us together), she began inviting me to visit her at the Legaspi Village penthouse suite she shares with her husband, former Batangas Governor Tony Leviste (this was before their kids were born).

But for me to take that trip to Makati, she always had to entice me with a good meal either at her house or in a restaurant – her treat (even then, she always had more money than me).

However, I really preferred staying at her house where there’s always food. (They also make good ice tea there.) Even when Loren was abroad, I would still visit her house to say hello to her late mother, Bessie Bautista Legarda, who made the Leviste Makati home her halfway house. (Bessie lived at the Bautista compound in Malabon where Loren also grew up.)

Eventually, I learned to memorize every nook and cranny of that house. I knew which part of the roof was leaking and I would notice if Loren added some new bric-a-brac in her étagére.

When I eventually joined ABS-CBN, I stopped coming to her house. If I wanted to chat with her, I’d just visit her at her dressing room and talk to her while makeup artist Norma Calubaquib worked on her face for her then nightly newscast, The World Tonight. When we wanted to talk longer, we’d have dinner somewhere in Tomas Morato – still her treat.

Then, I went to live and study abroad and Loren and I lost touch with each other. (My fault.) When I came back, she was already a senator.

Starting last year, we made it a point to get in touch regularly with each other again. Then, sometime ago, she asked me come visit her at her Makati house again. I looked at it as a sentimental journey back to Legaspi Village.

Almost a decade had passed since the last time I was at her house and there were changes everywhere. The bullet hole in the glass elevator – a souvenir from the 1989 coup d’ etat – was no longer there. In the living room, most of the pieces of furniture had been rearranged for a better flow of human traffic.

Only Loren didn’t change. Physically, she still looks the same. Not a day older. And even if I knew for a fact that she has the appetite of a stevedore, she doesn’t look a pound heavier.

Her personality didn’t change either. Even if she’s already a senator, she never acts like she is high and mighty – so different from the behavior of some senators I’ve personally encountered before.

There was one aspect of Loren’s personality that I didn’t quite notice before, but which is very evident now that she is in the Senate: Her boundless courage. I knew back then when she was still doing The Inside Story for ABS-CBN that she was fearless. But not to the point that she has to climb mountains many times over and risk her own life to facilitate the release of police and military officers held captive by the rebels. General Victor Obillo, Captain Eduardo Montealto, Major Roberto Bernal, Sgt. Alpio Lozada, Sgt. Wivino Demol and most recently, Col. Noel Buan were all reunited with their respective families – thanks to the help of Senator Legarda.

As a legislator, all her moves and decisions are highly applauded by the public. (Remember how she bumped heads with her husband over her stand on the Visiting Forces Agreement issue?)

There have been so many senators in the past (even counting those in the pre-martial law years) and a couple of new ones to be inducted as soon as the Comelec is done with its canvassing. But Loren Legarda will perhaps go down in history as the Darling of the Senate.

Below is an interview I recently had with Senator Legarda:

Butch: People have been praising you for your achievements as a Senator. How do you see to it that these praises do not go to your head?

Loren: My many trips to the provinces, to marginalized communities where poverty and illness confront me, keep me grounded – despite the many accolades I receive.

B: Among your achievements as a senator, what are you proudest of?

L: The first three years of my term as a legislator have been marked by milestones that are significant not only in my career but also in our history as a nation. I actively participated in the expeditious and safe releases of Gen. Victor Obillo and five other military and police officials from the hands of their CPP-NPA-NDF custodial forces. I am proud to have been one of the Magnificent Five who voted "No" against the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement in 1999. I also take pride in actively participating in the enactment of landmark measures such as the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 and the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act of 2001. And of course, it was my participation during the historic impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada that earned the respect and support of our fellowmen as I did my best to ferret out the truth for the sake of the Filipino people.

B: You always seem to make the right decision. How do you do this?

L: When faced with difficult situations where I have to make crucial decisions, I would always earnestly pray and seek God’s guidance and wisdom for I know that with His help, I could never go wrong. I consult people and assess the situation analytically and logically. I have a gut feel for what is right and wrong. In the end, it would always be a conscience call that I would have to make.

B: You’ve been up and down the mountains several times to work on the release of the NPA captives. Don’t you even realize that you’ve put your life in danger many times over?

L: Looking back, I do realize that my life has been put in danger many times before – such as walking into rebel camps when I covered the MNLF problem years back and going to the mountains where the CPP-NPA custodial forces released their captives. But when I was in the middle of all these, I never let the impending threats or even the situation build up fear in me. I always felt invincible in these dangerous situations and felt protected by our Lord.

B: Didn’t you even realize that you could have gotten molested there or perhaps along the way?

L: Come to think of it, that thought has not even crossed my mind. (To be concluded)