P-Noy's turn

It was way past noon when I got a text message from a number that was not in my phonebook list. As it turned out, the sender of the message was Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma. He asked if we could join former Cabinet officials of the late President Cory Aquino in a short program he hastily organized to commemorate her 78th birth anniversary last Tuesday.

It was not part of any previously scheduled official activities for that day of President Aquino. Fortunately, Coloma told me later, the only son of the late President agreed to squeeze in to his tight schedule the program held at the Palace Guesthouse .

It was a reunion of sorts what Coloma described as the “then and now” Aquino Cabinet officials. Coloma further categorized them as “Cory vets,” or veterans because they are the most loyal “yellow” followers of the late President. Some of them are also serving in the Cabinet of her son and Coloma is one of them.

Being among the original members of the Malacañang Press Corps, STAR executive editor Ana Marie Pamintuan and I were invited to this reunion of former Palace officials. We were branded as the “brat pack” because we were the young crop of reporters who covered the Palace when the late President Cory was swept into office at the end of the February 1986 People Power Revolution.

Despite the short notice, nine former Cory Cabinet officials shared their fondest memories of the late President. The theme of their testimonials was “President Cory’s Legacy of Decency in Public Service.”

The Palace program was aired live over government-run radio and TV networks, so I won’t dwell anymore on the testimonials of the Cory vets who all acknowledged the rare opportunities given them by Mrs. Aquino to serve the country. But I would like to share with you the never-heard testimonials I got from two Palace employees.

Zenaida Flores and Dr. Rolando Deduyo are no “Cory vets” but they were among career executives whom Mrs. Aquino kept in their posts at the Palace when she took over from the martial law regime of deposed President Ferdinand Marcos. Flores has been working at the Palace press working area for the past 38 years. Deduyo, on the other hand, worked at the Malacanang Clinic for 39 years until he retired when the free clinic was among the Palace offices abolished by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

They told me their fondest memory of Mrs. Aquino was that she was the “only President who never missed the flag-raising rites” held at the Palace grounds every Monday morning. During her watch, Mrs. Aquino observed her regular working hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. But every Monday, she reports to work much earlier just to lead the 7 a.m. flag-raising rites.

Mrs. Aquino made it her tradition and work ethic of starting the week by raising the country’s symbol of democracy, the two chorused. However, Deduyo said, Mrs. Aquino apparently noted the low attendance of Palace employees every flag-raising day. To entice greater attendance, he recalled, the former President even hosted raffle draws at the end of the flag-raising ceremonies. Mrs. Aquino handed out toasters, microwave ovens, and other home and office appliances as prizes for three winners every week, he said. Anyone whose name was picked from the raffle draw but was not present, would automatically forfeit the prize and the President would cheerfully pick another winner, Deduyo chirped.

But the raffle prizes still did not bring in more attendance to the Palace flag-raising rites, Deduyo said. Later on, he said, Mrs. Aquino issued a memorandum order requiring attendance at every Monday flag-raising rites by all Palace officials down to the rank-and-file.

The Monday flag-raising rites at the Palace started by the late President Cory eventually became a tradition observed in all government offices.

Two decades after his late mother’s rule, P-Noy joined her former Cabinet officials last Tuesday to remember her legacy in governance. The 50-year old Chief Executive came down from his Guesthouse office clad in his signature Cory yellow T-shirt and black pants. He stopped at my side to shake hands and was about to proceed to sit at the front row when he apparently remembered something he wanted to tell me. And the first thing he told me was about lotto.

Initially, I was at a loss when the President was explaining to me the reason for his asking why most of the lotto winners noticeably come from Luzon. Then I remembered a column item I wrote late last year when I quoted him asking this question after the biggest lotto jackpot was won by a lone bettor from a Subic Bay Freeport lotto outlet. The President cited to me figures — which I hope I remembered right — that there were 33 lotto jackpot winners recorded in Luzon while there were three in Southern Luzon and only two in Visayas.

That matter settled, the President joined the program and sat quietly and listened intently to the testimonials that were highlighted by slide presentation of his late mother, with matching soft music as background. While seated, the cigarette-puffing President was coughing every now and then, that prompted a Palace aide to give him a glass of water.

His coughing got worse as he was giving his response to the testimonials. He blamed his bad cough on the “changing weather” and being made by former Radio-TV Malacañang chief Maria Montelibano to pose in a photo shoot in front of his bachelor’s pad at the Bahay Pangarap located beside the Pasig River.

The 50-year old President admitted he could not be faulted if he becomes emotional when it comes to his mother. He recalled his most vivid memories of his mother while she was leading the country’s fledgling democracy as the first female President of the Philippines.

While he described himself as a mere “observer” during the administration of his mother, P-Noy beamed with pride at the fact he got the best on-the-job training for the presidency. 

Taking his turn now at the Palace, P-Noy vowed to spend wisely his “political capital” and make sure its fruits would trickle down to the greatest number of Filipinos.