Yellow fever rising

It is a virtual sweatshop, where people are crammed like sardines. On this hot summer day, not even the valiant air-conditioner brings in the cool air to a roomful of purpose-driven women. On one long table, women are repacking bars of soap. In another corner of the room, they are bundling and unbundling T-shirts and stickers, careful not to throw away the rubber bands as they will be recycled for the next batch of merchandise. Some of them work 12 hours a day, but are not paid for their labor.

But the ladies packing and repacking the soap with their bejeweled fingers are smiling, and especially today, are in high spirits. They don’t — never did — mind the heat and the long hours. They are never hungry because people bring them food and water. They have one goal — to help their candidate and his team win. At the end of the day, what they bring home are not wages but, “A sense of fulfillment.”

They are the women of the Yellow Ribbon Movement and they leave the comforts of their homes, their air-conditioned SUVs, their lunches at the Polo Club and their annual summer sojourns abroad to pack soap bars and sell T-shirts to help the campaign of Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. The oldest volunteer must be at least 80, the youngest is 11 years old.

Their headquarters, and also that of Noynoy’s media team, are on the second floor of Parc House along EDSA. Parc House is owned by Lita Lilles and her sons Robert and Tony, relatives of former Agrarian Reform Secretary Philip “Popoy” Juico. They have allowed use of much of their building for Noynoy’s campaign bureau “at very friendly terms,” says Popoy.

The building’s location is meaningful to the group — it is right across the People Power Monument on EDSA. The ladies just have to look across the street for inspiration.

“We are exuberant today,” banker Elvira Ong-Chan smiles at me. It is the first time I see the well-coiffed Tita Elvira without lipstick, as she is busy as a bee today. She pauses from her “duties” to tell me, “Noynoy’s lead has widened to 19 points!”

Fellow Cory vet Teena Sarino says, “but no matter the surveys we also work like we’re running scared.”

‘Prayerful’ group

The Yellow Ribbon ladies are bound together by Margarita “Margie” Juico, who organized the group at the start of the campaign. She was the late President Cory Aquino’s Appointments Secretary before and after her presidency. When Margie eulogized Cory at the Manila Cathedral last August, she promised her former boss she would always be there for her children.

Margie recalls how, once, during a day she felt discouraged, she and some fellow volunteers went to Chili’s restaurant in Greenhills. She was looking for a sign from God to spur her further in Noynoy’s campaign and when she looked at the wall, the first thing that caught her eye was the sign, “El Presidente Margarita.” It was of course the name of a tequila-based cocktail, but to Margie, it spoke a thousand words.

With Margie in the movement are about 50 women, some of them are Cory’s friends and are spouses of her Cabinet men. They are the so called “Cory vets.” Then there are the walk-ins and a few men, like Fr. Joy Tajonera, M.M, a Filipino priest based in Taiwan. He took a leave from his parish to provide spiritual guidance to the Yellow Ribbon ladies. He even wears a yellow collar as he ministers to his flock.

“What keeps us together is our belief in Noynoy and our faith in God,” says volunteer Rocky Delgado Garcia.

“One thing we also have in common is we are all prayerful,” agrees Margie. They hear Mass in the building and pray 2,000 Hail Marys every Thursday. Since May 1, there have been daily Masses being celebrated at Parc.

The ladies’ sweatshop is also a war room of sorts, where the ladies plan their daily sorties. It is also the showroom of Noynoy campaign collaterals and memorabilia — from watches to sunglasses, yellow ribbon pins and stickers, beltbags, T-shirts, jackets. Profit from the sales of the collaterals goes back to the campaign. A Noynoy fan walking into Parc is like a child stepping into Toys ‘R Us. You wouldn’t know what to grab first.

Also on the second floor are the offices of Noynoy’s other campaign staffers and media team headed by Maria Montelibano. The methodical Maria headed President Aquino’s broadcast team in the ’80s and was asked by Noynoy to be his media guru and workhorse at the start of his campaign.

“In a span of three months, I have seen Noynoy’s transformation from a reluctant candidate to someone truly presidential,” says Maria. She says she wasn’t given a big budget, but she managed because, “I was given the best brand to sell.”

“This is destiny,” she believes, gesturing at the buzz going on around her, the TV monitors, the press releases. She has code named the Noynoy media campaign as “Project Emmanuel (God is with us).”

The volunteers at Parc refuse to be complacent because of the surveys, but you could tell that like yellow ribbons tied on tree trunks, their hearts are fluttering these days — amid winds of hope and change.

* * *

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])