How do you live a “normal” life and cope with the expectations people have of you if you happen to have modern-day heroes as grandparents, and the president of the country as your uncle? Here are 10 things you should know about Jiggy and Jonty Aquino Cruz.
1. They swear they never got special treatment in school, but they did find it awkward when classmates would look at them whenever Ninoy or Cory’s name would be mentioned.
“In History class, we had a project na presidents. I was told, ‘Jiggy, bawal ka sa Aquinos, bawal ka sa Marcos.’ Or other times naman, classmates would rely on me if it’s an Aquino or a Marcos thing, kasi dapat alam ko na. But come on, hindi ko naman alam lahat about history,” the older Cruz brother recalls. Jonty shares a different story. “In Grade 5, when we took up (the) EDSA (Revolution), yung goal ko i-perfect yung quiz. I got the quiz back, minus one ako. I couldn’t believe it. I should know this. Nakipag-debate ako sa teacher ko and I reasoned out bakit dapat payagan yung answer ko. Good thing I had a book as proof, so naging perfect yung quiz,” he shares with a smile.
Jonty recalls having a professor in college who was not a fan of his uncle Noynoy Aquino, who was then campaigning. “He kept on referring to my tito for negative things. So after class, I didn’t say who I was, but I asked him, ‘What do you have against Noynoy and the Aquinos?’ And I asked who he was going to vote for. He’s not a registered voter pala. Nag-goodbye na lang ako.”
Both Jiggy and Jonty went to Ateneo de Manila from prep all the way to college. Jiggy says his history grades averaged around 90, and Jonty says his averaged around 85.
2. The moment they were born, they had Presidential Security Guards, three each. When P-Noy became President, they were again assigned PSGs, but now, one each.
Jiggy was only months old when the late Cory Aquino became President, and Jonty was born three years after. “We grew up staying in Arlegui, I remember a lot of men would accompany us to school,” Jiggy says. “I don’t remember much, but I remember some stuff like the rooms we stayed in,” Jonty shares. They did get the chance to play on the street as kids, right in front of Arlegui. “I do remember going down a really big basement. Naglalatag sila ng mattresses, and I asked, ‘Why are we sleeping here?’ It was a coup attempt, yun pala people were trying to kill us,” Jiggy recalls.
When asked if there were things they didn’t get to enjoy as kids because of who they were, they both said: “More now.” “When our tito became President, we told our parents, ‘Kuya and I don’t need guards, all we do is buy comics and watch movies.’ We don’t go to clubs or anything,” Jonty shares. “Sana wala kaming guard, but technically we’re the first family so we have to be assigned guards for his peace of mind,” Jiggy says. Jiggy has earned the trust of his PSG, so much so that they give him distance when he is out with his girlfriend. Jonty, currently single, is in a different situation. “I went on a date last week. I told them, ‘O, pwede na kayo umuwi,’ and they said, ‘Hindi, samahan ka namin,’ Then I just told them, ‘Okay, can you be two restaurants away?’”
3. On Cory as a lola: “Super bait talaga, she never got mad at us.”
Jiggy: Every Christmastime, our lola would ask all the apos for all the names of our teachers. She’d actually write them Christmas cards, parang our lola’s way of helping us. “Be good to my apos. Wag mo bagsak apo ko?” (Laughs)
Jonty: Her favorite story to tell was an incident that transpired in a hotel room in Cebu. I was playing with matches and medyo nasunog ko yung isang cushion. I turned it over para hindi mahalata. My lola asked, “What’s that smell?” I would be coy and say, “I don’t know, Lola. Baka it came from there.” She said, “Parang wala naman.” I told her, “No, Lola. Turn it over I think may nangyari.” I ended up explaining what I did without saying I did it. She didn’t get mad, naaliw lang siya.
Jiggy: Every important thing in school, graduation, other events, she was always there for me. She’d always bring me to different events when she was president, kapag may mga visitors of all nationalities, she’d always make me feel na, “Jiggy, dependable ka.” She can be really funny at times. We were in a Walmart, just the two of us. Then there was this Asian woman who told her, “You look like Cory Aquino.” “Oh, really?” she said. Lola then turned to me, smiled and said: “Tumahimik ka, tumahimik ka.”
Jonty: Gusto ko yung humility niya, whoever she was, she never made people feel it. She doesn’t go to churches with shades on, she doesn’t stay in front, simple lang talaga.
Jiggy: When she was president, there was this button in her car, it looked like that button in Voltes V. Eh pag bata ka, if you’re not allowed to touch it, the more you want to touch it. She’d always tell me and my cousin Miguel, “Don’t touch that.” It was a panic button. Pero nung last day niya she told us, “Okay guys, knock yourselves out.” Buong Arlegui daw super ingay, no one knew how to turn it off!”
4. They both never got the chance to meet their lolo Ninoy because they were born years after he had passed. Jiggy wishes he was there to witness the days in Boston, while Jonty wishes he could’ve seen his lolo deliver his speeches live.
Jiggy and Jonty are columnists for the Philippine STAR’s Lifestyle section every Friday. As a tribute on their lolo’s death anniversary this year, they wrote a tear-jerking piece titled “To the Man We Never Met.” Here is an excerpt:
There are so many things we wanted to ask you.
So many things we wish you could’ve taught us.
How did you make the greatest woman ever fall in love with you?
What are the secrets to getting the woman of your dreams? ...
What was it like raising such wonderful children?
How did you manage to raise such an amazing daughter in Ballsy? Seriously, she’s the best.
When asked which parts of Ninoy’s life they would have liked to witness most, Jonty says: “I saw the footage, there was this political debate and he was brought in. He just took control of it. He handled it so well, nasagot niya lahat. Wow. Sana I saw this live so I could actually cheer.” (You can actually search for it on YouTube, “Ninoy Aquino’s Face The Nation”)
Jiggy chooses the Boston days: “My dad said that in Boston, he would be driving with the windows rolled down, and singing at the top of his lungs to Imelda Papin’s Kung Liligaya Ka. Super ingay daw. Funny.
When asked what they think about the Marcoses, Jiggy says: “We’re civil. It’s hard, the stories we grew up with. Nobody wanted to be friends with my mom or her siblings kaya super close sila. Growing up in the martial law years, everyone wanted to be away from them, even at Mass. There was one particular wedding I can’t forget, my lola was saying she was in the corner table with the yayas of the ringbearers. She was told, ‘O, Cory, bakit ka nandyan, kawawa ka naman.’”
Jonty shares: “I think we got a normal childhood because my mom kind of didn’t. I can’t really debate on martial law because I wasn’t there, but yun nga, the difficulties they gave our parents. The things she wasn’t able to do, that she gave us. That’s why we appreciate everything.
5. When asked to describe how President Noynoy is as an uncle, Jiggy says “strict,” Jonty says “relaxed.”
Growing up, para siyang fatherly figure, since wala siyang kids. Pag may ginagawa kaming kalokohan, siya yung magdi-discipline sa amin. Or like before, sa mall, gusto niya, we all stick together. Ayaw niya yung maghihiwalay. “No one gets lost, everyone should be by my side,” Jiggy recalls. “He’s relaxed naman. Funny din siya,” Jonty, who has P-Noy as a ninong, reveals. “He loves telling jokes na alam mo yung mga matatagal nang joke? It’s the joke na midway, mawawala ka na? Then when he gives the punchline, you don’t know yun na pala yun,” he laughs.
When the President gets criticized, Jiggy admits it irritates him but he does his best to ignore it. Jonty says, “I want to say ‘ignore,’ but I don’t. I try, but if ever, I just make witty comments. Like on Twitter, I read ‘P-Noy urged to be more like Santa.’ I just posted, “Wow, ‘urged’?” If they comment, I can give my opinion, too.”
6. Sunday family day with the Aquinos consists of a long lunch, TV, basketball and sometimes political or showbiz chismis.
“When my lola was still alive, we’d go to Times St. at around 12, lunch ‘til around 3, tapos kwentuhan, then the kids would go to the rooms to play games. Kapag may PBA game we’d all go to her room and watch,” Jiggy shares. “Alaska kami nung ‘90s! Johnny A! When Tito James came on board, Purefoods na kami. At that time, if there was a PBA game and The Buzz, she would switch back and forth during commercials,” Jonty says. The conversations among the cousins usually consist of jokes to each other, but now that they are older, the adults and children are together at one table. What do they talk about? “Politics, relatives, regular stuff, sometimes showbiz,” Jiggy says. “We get it from the source talaga, eh. Tita Kris! Politics naman, Tito Noy,” Jonty says.
Who is the most ma-kwento? “If Tita Kris is there, she’s the one.” Who gives the most punchlines? “Tita Pinky.” Who always makes kontra? “It’s got to be our family doctor, Alex Ayco.”
7. Both Jiggy and Jonty applied for a job right after college, both had to present résumés, both started at a trainee/assistant position, both got promoted in a short span of time.
Jonty started as an editorial assistant for Esquire Philippines, where his workmates admitted to being uneasy ordering him to get them coffee or photocopy papers. “I felt it, but I don’t think I ever gave them a reason to be dyahe. Kahit ano I would get it, part of the job, eh,” Jonty says. He went from that to web editor to managing editor in less than a year. “I always told Erwin, my editor in chief, that I guess I got in because of the name. But he told me, ‘You write well.’”
“I was a truck salesman,” Jiggy says of his first job with Nestle Philippines. “Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela area, during the rainy season, baha, I’d go to sell my products. In the truck, nandun stocks mo, you sell to palengkes and sari-sari stores.” From that, he became a key account salesman, trainee, then assigned to field operations, and is now brand manager for Nescafe Dolce, in the span of five and a half years.
“Our parents really taught us about humility. For my dad, talagang hindi ka pwedeng mayabang,” Jiggy shares.
8. Jiggy versus Jonty:
When they started courting girls:
Jiggy: College.
Jonty: High school.
They share they’ve both gotten basted.
Biggest freebie received:
Jiggy: “Bank near the office, mahaba yung pila. The bank manager said siya na mag-aasikaso.”
Jonty: “Dad ko kilala yung pilot, next thing we know, we were upgraded to business class.”
Times caught by the MMDA:
Jiggy: “Once. I read that e-mail of what they can and cannot do, so when he knew I knew what I was talking about, he let me go.”
Jonty: “A lot, mga five times. Sometimes you really don’t see the signs, like it’s behind a tree. I really didn’t know. Napakiusapan naman.”
Things they usually fight about:
Jiggy: Little things, like clothes. Nauna ako, black na ako ha.
Jonty: We wrote an article today. In-edit ko. He said, “Bakit mo binago?” Or when watching a movie. “Tara na, aga aga pa?”
Jiggy: Tapos biglang traffic. “Sabi sayo alis tayo ng maaga, eh.”
Spending habits:
Jiggy: I think about it first.
Jonty: I’m more “buy now, regret later.”
9. Jiggy and Jonty in numbers:
2,000-plus: Total number of comic books they both own. “We’ve been collecting since 1996.”
3: Number of hours it takes them to write and edit their Philippine STAR column, “These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For” which appears Fridays in Young Star.
7: Number of days of their longest fight, not speaking to each other.
100 and 150: Grade of eyeglasses Jiggy wears, left and right.
350 and 750: Grade of eyeglasses Jonty wears, left and right.
10. They both love politics but will never run for office. “Kuya, the moment tumakbo ka, ako mismo magre-release ng smear campaign.”
“No,” Jiggy and Jonty say in unison when asked if they’ll ever enter politics. “I’ll do everything to make him not run,” Jonty says. “It’s worth it, I love it, but I’ll never join it.”
“The worst thing that could happen to us is probably if we do something, then the next day on the front pages, ‘Pamangkin or apo or Aquino, ganito or ganyan.’ Kung kami mismo nagbigay ng harm to the name, I think that would be the worst,” Jonty says. “We grew up knowing to protect the name. During the Ninoy and Cory book launch, a letter of my lolo to my Tito Noy was read. “Wala akong maiiwan sa inyo na kayamanan, it’s my name I leave with you, take care of it,” Jiggy shares.
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So, the grandkids of Filipino heroes do live their lives like ordinary citizens. They like movies and beautiful people, argue about being on time and what channel to watch, just like you and me. “Honesty, humility, integrity,” say Jiggy and Jonty about how they would want the Aquino name to be known. Virtues we would like to live by, too. Their charm lies in how charmingly and extraordinarily ordinary they are. As Esquire EIC Erwin Romulo describes them, “they have their lolo’s smarts and their lola’s heart.”
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E-mail me at askiamsuperbianca@yahoo.com or message me on Twitter @iamsuperbianca.