A slice of history in Jovy Salonga’s rest house

MANILA, Philippines - The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.— Bob Marley

Some people who lose elections are noble and exceedingly qualified, like the incorruptible 93-year-old ex-Senate President Jovito “Jovy” R. Salonga, who lost the 1992 presidential election. Other good leaders who lost in the elections this year are senatorial bets Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros Baraquel, Jun Magsaysay, Teddy Casiño and the Harvard-educated Camarines Sur gubernatorial candidate Atty. Joel Cadiz.

It was recently the 442nd anniversary of the founding of Laguna province by the Spanish colonizers. Coincidentally, on July 22, I purchased the historic, beautiful yet simple tropical country house in Pansol, Laguna of Senator Jovy Salonga and his late wife Lydia Busuego Salonga.

In 1991, I had invited Lydia B. Salonga — UP magna cum laude graduate — to be a wedding godmother of my younger sister Marilou. Just before he got sick, Jovy Salonga said he was writing a book about his late wife.

I plan to restore this 1,027-sqm. property with two high-ceilinged bungalows, many trees an oblong-shaped swimming pool in the middle and gardens bounded by three streets as a place for physical and spiritual wellness, seminars and celebrations. It has been unused for a number of years and I want the place to also honor the great Jovy Salonga.

Due to Pansol being located on the slopes of the ancient dormant volcano of Mount Makiling, the swimming pool here has natural mineral-rich hot spring waters with therapeutic or medicinal effects. Weekly visits there helped Senator Salonga recover from the Aug. 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing which had originally confined him to the wheelchair.

After acquiring the Salonga country house, I had learned more about this statesman, World War II hero and social reformer. Son of a poor pastor father and a market vendor mother, Salonga worked his way through high school and UP. He resisted the Japanese military occupation, was arrested and tortured in front of his father in 1942.

As a legislator, he was a fiscalizer and championed many pro-people bills. He also eloquently defended the Philippines’ legitimate territorial claim to North Borneo (Sabah).

Salonga survived the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing after going into a coma for one week and with a hundred pieces of shrapnel in his body, one of which was just a millimeter from his heart’s aorta. He was also detained by the martial law government, and survived political exile. All through his life’s crises, he never gave up.

Salonga became the No. 1 bar topnotcher of 1944; he got scholarships for masters and doctorate courses at Harvard University and Yale University where he excelled. He was a congressman, later winning three times as senatorial election topnotcher.

He lost the Senate presidency in late 1991 and the support of businessmen for his 1992 presidential run after he led the Senate to reject the RP-US Bases Treaty. He believed an independent foreign policy would be best for the Philippines’ national interest, sharing the convictions of others like Lorenzo Tañada, Raul Manglapus and Jose Diokno.

The following excerpts are from pages 242-243 of Jovy Salonga’s 2001 book A Journey of Struggle and Hope, which mentions his country rest house:

‘Plaza Miranda reunion in Pansol’

Meanwhile, on or around August 21 of every year (usually the closest Sunday to that date), Lydia and I would invite to our little place in Pansol, Calamba, Laguna the doctors who had taken care of me after the Plaza Miranda bombing. Along with Kuya Badong (Dr. Salvador Busuego), my heart doctor, and with the help of our dear friend Tony Anton, we built our country residence in Pansol in 1974.

We listened to the advice of my rehabilitation doctor, Dr. Antonio Periquet, who said that wading and swimming in a warm spring pool would be good for my damaged nerves. After the construction, we made it a point to invite some of our friends to enjoy the waters of Pansol during weekends. My doctors apparently enjoyed the yearly event, exchanging reminiscences and listening to the love songs of well-known artists, before and after the anniversary luncheon

Inevitably, our little country hideout became the meeting place of a few friends from the democratic opposition. A little later, several US Embassy officials, who wanted to know the stand of the Opposition on a number of crucial issues, would visit us there.  Bob Wenzel, Charlie Salmon, and much later, John Maisto and his Filipino wife Nini Gaston used to visit us in Pansol, take lunch, exchange views, and play pool at the residence of my neighbors, Tony and Pomping Anton.  As I found out later, top martial law authorities viewed our weekend meetings there with deep suspicion.

On page 360, under the heading “Arrival and homecoming,” which describes the return of Senator Salonga and his wife Lydia to the Philippines in 1985 after several years of exile in the US, he writes:

We motored to our country home in Pansol, Calamba, which we had missed for so long… Lydia and I returned to our rest house, which had been waiting for us since we left in March 1981. It was good to swim again in our little warm spring pool, something I had been dreaming of when we were in California.

On page 426 of the same book, under the heading “The December 1989 coup”:

In our desire to know what actually happened, what could be the underlying causes of the coup, and what we in the Senate could do, we held a low-key Reflection Session of the senators at my little country home in Pansol, Calamba, Laguna. Present were Dr. Jose Abueva, president of the University of the Philippines, Secretary of National Defense Fidel V. Ramos, De La Salle vice president Wilfrido Villacorta, and UP vice president Belinda Aquino.

Senator Salonga’s daughter recounts history of Pansol rest house

Former Senate President Jovy Salonga’s youngest daughter USA-based Victoria Regina “Rina” Salonga Mitchell recounted to me:

“The circumstances that led him to build it — after surviving the Plaza Miranda bombing, his body was left with thousands of small pieces of shrapnel imbedded in it, and one of his doctors recommended swimming in warm water to make him more comfortable. At the time, his friend Rafael Anton, an immigrant from Spain who he met through the Lopez family, had developed the Miramonte subdivision, which had the hot springs.

“I remember the enjoyment my mother had in decorating the houses, which were designed with entertaining in mind and have large entertaining spaces and high ceilings, which allow breezes to blow through.

“My father enjoyed not only quiet time there (when he could get away from the city and all his activities to read and reflect), but he also enjoyed entertaining there. Among those who came were Presidents Aquino, Ramos and Estrada.

“When he was Senate President in the 1980s and early 1990s, he held what came to be known as the ‘Pansol Reflection Sessions,’ which were attended by many politicians, generals, intellectuals, and ambassadors from around the world.  We even have pictures of them in the pool with JRS!

“Because of the remarkable history of the property, I had hoped that I could hold on to it, but because I live abroad, it is simply too difficult for me to manage it from so far away. But I am happy that you share our appreciation for its special historical significance.”

Jovy Salonga was a spiritual man of deep religious faith. Before the turnover of the Pansol rest house to me, I saw the desk at his bedroom had Christian books, devotional booklets, prayers, his I.D. from a reunion of former World War II prisoners of the Japanese Kempeitai, and drafts of homilies he had delivered in churches nationwide through the years.

Among the things on the desk by his bedside was a framed colored image of Jesus Christ kneeling in prayer, and beside it is a framed poem entitled “Don’t Quit”:

Why do we honor people only when they’re gone, or when they’re at their zenith of power? Although Salonga succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease three years ago, similar to that of the late US President Ronald Reagan, and suffered a stroke early last year, I have visited his Pasig home; he has a very strong heart and an amazing will to live.

I admire Jovy Salonga as an exceptionally humble, honest, compassionate, gutsy, hardworking, intellectually gifted, prayerful and wise leader.

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