Cecile Guidote Alvarez

Her father was killed, while she was still in her mother’s womb. He was a guerillero in World War II, fighting the Japanese. Her mother brought her into this world by Caesarian section, with no anesthesia. Her Mommy always told her that her Daddy died so that she could be born free.

Now she has cancer of the breast. She was on chemo-therapy, but her body reacted against it. They took her off the chemo-therapy. Very soon she will fly to the United States, to New York City, to Sloan-Kettering. It is one of the finest hospitals in all the world. They will re-evaluate her physical condition and – hopefully – come out with a new battle plan for her, to fight the disease.

On Tuesday, July 1, about 350 of her friends – those whose lives she has touched – gave her a magnificent tribute at Saint Paul College, Quezon City. Cecile is a Paulinian, to the marrow of her bones. It was amazing how many luminaries she has discovered, trained, launched into the world of theater and art.

The tribute started at 6:00 p.m., with a Mass in the beautiful new chapel of SPCQC. It was followed by dinner in their big gymnasium, hosted by the beautiful, gracious girls who are studying HRM – Hotel and Restaurant Management. Then there was a kaleidoscopic presentation on the stage of their theater. This new theater is as good as anything on Broadway. The acoustic are out of this world.

The tribute featured top-flight stars, acting, singing, sharing their experiences with Cecile. It went on and on, carefully organized, religiously rehearsed, flowing freely, as smooth as silk. It lasted until midnight. And not one single solitary soul walked out. At midnight they were on their feet, cheering, shouting, applauding, in a standing ovation for Cecile.

Many of the performers – hardbitten veterans of theater – broke down when they were sharing. They wept. And the audience wept. Cecile herself wept. She did not only weep. She had to stop her response, to dry her tears. It was crystal clear that she had touched the soul of a little army of sensitive, artistic, talented people. She had changed their lives, and they were grateful.

What she did, in the response, at midnight, was unique. No one else would ever do it. Only Cecile. She took off her shoes, to show her bare feet, which were black for lack of circulation. Then she danced in her bare feet, and sang. Her song was a wild, dramatic, emotional cry from one of her thousand productions. Those who presented the tribute had worked on it, night after night, for more than a month. And Cecile appreciates this. It was a sign of love. A night of love. A two-way street.

In addition to her husband, Sonny; and in addition to her two children, Hexilon and Chilca; God has given three beautiful gifts to Cecile:

• Talent – she is a brilliant actress

• Courage —and a strong will

• A sensible, sympathic soul — she reaches out to others.

Her scholarship to the United States, for special studies in drama, came straight from her extraordinary talent as an actress. She was playing the mother of Helen Keller, in The Miracle Worker. Helen Keller was deaf, dumb, and blind. It was a very emotional role.

She had strong support: Vic Silayan as Captain Keller, her husband; Noel Trinidad as her son; Maribel Carciller as Annie Sullivan, the teacher of Helen – Maribel became a nun, a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Pilar Verzosa, who also became a nun, Good Shepherd, and is now the head of Pro-Life Philippines; Lily Gamboa, now Mrs. O’Boyle; and our present Secretary of Health, Manolet Dayrit, who was then only a little boy.

She was so impressive in that play that Ed Mattos, then the Cultural Attaché of the United States Embassy, decided to help develop the tremendous talent that she had. For instance, in one scene she was supposed to cry. In every rehearsal she shed real tears, streaming down her cheeks, sobbing. She was living the role of a good mother, in agony.

Everyone knew that she had courage, because she could not be stopped by any difficulty. She believed that where there is a will, there’s a way. But that courage surged to the fore during martial law. Her husband smuggled himself out of the country, in disguise, on a boat. Cecile went out right through the middle of the International Airport.

Her friends said: "Cecile! You are on the Watch List! They will arrest you. You’ll go to jail for the rest of your life!" But Cecile said, grimly: "I can out-act anybody in that airport!" And she did! She went right out on the tarmac, and into the plane, through the middle of all the military!

And all through her life she has been reaching out to people. She chose as her concentration, during her studies in the United States, the building of a national theater. When she returned to the Philippines, she founded PETA – the Philippine Educational Theater Association. It was her effort to build a national theater for her native land, her people.

She brought into theater, and into public awareness, the handicapped, the cultural minorities, the destitute poor. And she reached out to every soul that God sent to her. Joy Soler de Castro flew in from Singapore to be part of the tribute to her. Joy said: "She changed the course of my life. She convinced me that I had talent. She gave me courage. She taught me not to be afraid – not to be afraid of anything!"

Now Cecile is suffering. During her response at the tribute, she was obviously in pain. But suffering is a gift of God. When you have done everything right, and God loves you to death, he gives you pain like a gift. He gives you tears like jewels. That is what he did with the Virgin Mary, whom he loved. That is what he did to his own Son. Our Lord was crucified, to show us that pain has a place in the plans of God.

Cecile is a girl. She can never be a priest. She is an artist, a wife, a mother. But she has tried to consecrate her whole life to God – All her talent, all her productions, everything she does. She is not a priest. But her life is a beautiful example of the priesthood of the laity!