Pamana celebrates the lives of Ninoy & Cory

It is August again, and for many of us, that means time to honor the memory of the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, who was shot and killed on Aug.  21, 1983. Many young people may not know of him beyond the fact that he is the late father of Pres. Noynoy and of course, Kris Aquino, but as to what his achievements are and why he is considered a hero is a story that should be retold as many times as people need to hear it.

There have been numerous projects — from books to magazines to TV specials — depicting the life story of both Sen. Ninoy and his wife, former Pres. Corazon “Cory” Aquino. The latest is a “docu-musical,” an artistic format that combines the documentary method of storytelling with music. Titled Pamana, it is written by Rody Vera with music by Manoling Francisco, S.J. (well-known composer of liturgical songs such as Hindi Kita Malilimutan and Tanging Yaman) and Ryan Cayabyab, and presented by the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, Inc. (NCAF) in partnership with Indie.go Media and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).

The stories of Ninoy and Cory are told through the eyes of three generations of a typical Filipino family with differing points of view on the EDSA Revolution. (It is set to open on Aug. 21, the exact 30th anniversary of Ninoy’s death, at the Meralco Theater; all performances of Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. and Aug. 24 and 25 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. will also be at the Meralco Theater). The cast includes Malu de Guzman, Bodjie Pascua, Jett Pangan and Kakki Teodoro.

The musical is the brainchild of Francisco, who first thought of it after he returned from graduate studies in Boston in 2005. “I asked Tita Cory for permission to do a musical on her and Tito Ninoy’s life,” relates Fr. Manoling, “and she readily agreed. A few years later, after we had both viewed a musical on her and Tito Ninoy’s struggles and sacrifices, she asked me, ‘O, nasaan na ang musical ko?’ Since then, every time I would see her, she would follow up on the promised musical. ‘Darating din po,’ I assured her. Then Tita Cory passed away. I helped the NCAF stage tributes to Tita Cory the past couple of years, but by then had shelved the idea of doing the musical.”

There were a few brainstorming sessions with playwrights, but nothing came of those meetings because they could not agree on how to treat the iconic stories of Ninoy and Cory. Then when plans to commemorate the late senator’s 30th death anniversary — yes, it will be 30 years this year — were put into motion, Fr. Manoling realized that there was no better time than now to revive plans to create, then to stage, the musical. With Rapa Lopa at the helm of the planning committee, the NCAF team brainstormed various ways to pay tribute to Ninoy and remind the Filipino people, particularly the young, of his legacy. The tribute they had in mind eventually evolved into a full-blown musical.

So the musical was back on track. Rodolfo “Rody” Vera was commissioned to come up with a script. But he didn’t want to give it the usual treatment, where it would be centered on Ninoy and Cory. So he, Jun Reyes and Maribel Legarda (who would go on to direct the play) came up with an idea. “We realized that a more fitting tribute to our heroes does not need to be a retelling of their lives and achievements per se,” says Rody. “The importance of heroes can only be manifest through the lives of people that they have inspired.”

The musical, says Rody, does not only pay tribute to Ninoy and Cory themselves, but to the countrymen in whose memories they live on until today. “This is how we remember our heroes. Not just through monuments or declaring official holidays, but more importantly, in connecting with them in our daily struggles.”

The approach, says Maribel, is simple. “We tried to tell this story by weaving three major elements: Documentary footage, storytelling and music. We look back at the last 30 years through the eyes of three generations of a family, ordinary people who became part of those times. We recreate the presence of Ninoy and Cory through their images and sound bytes as they are immortalized through documentary footage projected on oversized screens. We created musical numbers woven through the storytelling to break the sparse staging. The performance is a movement from intimate to grand to solemn.”

I am sure that Sen. Ninoy and Tita Cory would be very happy over this project finally coming to life. It is a story that is both epic and human at the same time, and one that should be told for generations to come.