A sentimental journey

SAN FRANCISCO — It has been a long time since I visited this fabled city. The last time I did was in 1972 when my family and I stopped for a while to visit a sister-in-law on our way to New York where my late husband, Ambassador Alberto A. Pedrosa, was sent by his then bosses, the Lopezes of Meralco, to take up a new post.

Little did I know then that San Francisco would be more than a stopover. My young family and I were unaware that this city would be the fitting golden gateway to an exciting life of adventure. But who was to know what the future had in store for us?

 Despite its beauty and the many sights to see we did not linger because we were looking forward to the longer journey that would bring us to New York. London, where we would spend the next 20 years in exile, was as yet unknown. What was known was that I had written a book, “The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos” a secret life she tried to hide when she became the First Lady. It answered the puzzle about her uncommon acquisitiveness. Less known was the exile would be the convenient excuse for the Lopezes to cast aside my husband in the heat of a corporate struggle.

Meralco’s assignment to its New York office was our destination. Well, the assignment did not last very long. With the declaration of martial law, the short assignment dragged on and on through travails and sacrifices that changed my family’s and my life forever.

 So I have returned to the city — the stop-over that never was – that I had so casually ignored it seems l have not been here at all. As I went around the city it seemed I was visiting it for the “first time.”

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My journey actually began in Los Angeles where we got off a Philippine Airlines direct flight from Manila. The trip had been planned many months ago in time for the wedding of my sister-in-law, Cecile Consunji’s son Ramon. (Cecile is a great grandniece of Jose Rizal. I enjoy teasing her that being married to my brother, Antonio Navarro, that makes me also relative of Jose Rizal through an in-law!) I wavered about taking this trip but when the details of the itinerary were firmed up, there was no backing out.

In Los Angeles we visited the J. Paul Getty Museum currently exhibiting the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci. This is a must visit for those who want to see how art, politics and architecture are melded into a unified theme of culture for all classes, whether rich or poor. The multibillionaire capitalist J. Paul Getty built the museum and its lovely gardens to spread art and culture to the masses.  

On the day we visited we saw families in the picnic grounds. They lingered and imbibed art and culture so carefully selected and bought by big money. I had long talks with Tim Groseclose, husband of my niece Vicky de Guzman and a professor of politics at UCLA who told me that President GMA’s decision to run for a seat in Congress was not strange or unique. Look up American history to find out how and why President John Quincy Adams became a Congressman and stayed in that role for 17 years as an ardent campaigner against slavery.

I had a choice of flying to San Francisco but opted for a five hour car trip taking Highway 5. It was a breeze and I spent most of my time sleeping through a jet lag. As we neared the city, I woke up to a paradoxical sight of thousands of cows grazing on what must have been acres of land on my right (All Angus, by the way, my nephew Alex tells me) and hundreds of windmills on the hills looming on my left. What could bring out the environmental problem so graphically: the cows that release methane contributing to global warming and the windmills that save it by producing power through a sustainable resource? The cows belonged to Harris Ranch that I was told it is the largest in the West Coast. Keep the windows closed my companions warned so the odor is kept out. Sometimes called “Cowschiwitz it supplies the meat for hamburgers of the In-N-Out Chain and groceries nationwide.

You can’t come to San Francisco without visiting Napa Valley, my hosts suggested as we prepared for a day out the next morning. As it happened it rained all day but it did not spoil our visit because we chose the Sterling Vineyards. It has a cable car (sometimes also referred to as an aerial tram ride) that brought us across the hill to the tasting areas. From that vantage the rain and the hills under mist surrounding the vineyards gave an air of mystery and adventure. One of the most spectacular in Napa Valley says the New York Times of Sterling.

 We were given a tour to see how the wines were produced and then escorted to tables to taste the various Sterling wines in the Tasting Rooms. The selection included Pinot Gris, Pinot Gris Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Malvasia Bianca, Muscat Canelli, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Malvasia Bianca the waiter told us is best for Asian food.

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There were many other things to see and do in this city I had once so casually ignored even before I had made acquaintance with it. But it is not too late to make amends. I’ve come full circle once again to come back where I began the journey to a long exile because of a book on Imelda Marcos.

While enjoying the city’s sights and sounds, I received word from co-trustees of the Board of the Cultural Center of the Philippines that they have nominated and voted me in as Chairman. Strange that the news had come at a time when I was remembering what brought me into exile several decades ago. I am grateful for their vote and hope to carry on the work in the best way I can.

 As I had written earlier, there is poetic justice in my appointment to the board. I have not wished for it nor asked for it. The CCP was a leading project of the former First Lady Imelda Marcos who was furious when I wrote her “Untold Story”. It is an irony that I should be elected chairman of the CCP as I celebrated my exile for 20 years passing through the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco.