Memories and souvenirs

On Aug. 21 and Nov. 27 every year after Cory Aquino stepped down from the presidency, a big group of us would gather for Mass by the simple tomb of Ninoy Aquino at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque. Cory would always speak after the Mass, which was usually celebrated by her spiritual adviser Father Catalino Arevalo S.J. She would usually say that Ninoy died happy because he got his wish, which was to die for the Filipino people.

Cory would thank all of us who would hear Mass with her and her family. Always unassuming and self-effacing, she didn’t like bothering people, so she was really very happy when she would see people going out of their way to mark Ninoy’s birth and death anniversaries with the Aquino family at the Manila Memorial Park. She would thank her kumare Mely Rojas for sprucing up the tomb of Ninoy with beautiful yellow and white flower arrangements not just once, but thrice a year (including Nov. 1) since 1983.

I also remember her saying to us, “All of you have already filled up your quotas of love for me and Ninoy. When I die, you don’t have to come here anymore. You have been so kind to me and my family already. I cannot ask for more.”

P-Noy gets a kiss from nephew Joshua Aquino. Photo by willy perez

Her words echoed in my mind last Monday during a Mass by her tomb at the Manila Memorial Park to commemorate her second death anniversary. Since Mely Rojas has also passed away, her son PCSO GM Joy Rojas now takes care of the flower arrangements on Cory’s and Ninoy’s tombs.

On Cory’s first death anniversary last year, the Mass we all attended was at the La Salle Greenhills, where the first part of her wake was held. In a sense, last Monday was the first death anniversary Mass for Cory held by her final resting place.

It was hard to believe she was really gone. I almost half expected her to go to the microphone after the Mass to thank those who had come. But instead of Cory delivering the thank you after the Mass, celebrated by Father Arevalo, it was her son, President Noynoy Aquino, who went behind the mike. Like his mother, President Noynoy was very appreciative of those at the Mass and thanked them for being by his family’s side for many years now.

Cory used to give out fans with reproductions of her paintings on them during Ninoy’s death and birth anniversaries. Last Monday, Pangasinan Rep. Gina de Venecia was giving away bracelets of pearls and yellow stones. Christopher Carrion of the Spirit of EDSA Foundation was giving away the first day cover of stamps marking the 25th year of the EDSA revolution (Cory and Jaime Cardinal Sin’s photos were on the stamps). The Ninoy and Cory Foundation was distributing yellow umbrellas for those standing under the rain. And a Cory admirer, Raul Matias of Machiavelli, was giving away “Cory chocolates” — chocolate bars wrapped in yellow paper with the late President’s image on it. (The chocolates are commercially available in Machiavelli stores at Rustan’s and Shangri-La EDSA Plaza.)

Why are mementoes of Cory very popular and collectible — from dolls to chocolates, from fans to umbrellas, from watches to prayer books?

People collect memories and souvenirs of Cory because they still want to have a part of her, of the good she represented, of the ideals she stood for. It’s like having a memento of a milestone in history, and being able to take that remembrance with you. Monuments are tributes in stone. But to a multitude, admiration for Cory Aquino is more personal, perhaps even a little bit fanatic. People continue to pay tribute to her with warmth and affection, not just awe. The admiration is expressed not just by looking up at her monuments, but by having a part of her close to their hearts.

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A smile lights up Gina de Venecia’s face when she remembers Cory’s sincerity. “She would also brave everything to support a friend and wouldn’t abandon you even during your most trying times. When my husband Joe launched his biography, we were truly down because that was during the height of the ZTE scandal. Tita Cory left her sickbed, broke her hiatus from public appearances and attended Joe’s book launching as a show of support,” Gina recalls. “And she was a very grateful person. She would text me to express her appreciation for every pot of adobo or bag of Bangkok lanzones that I would send her.”

PCSO chairman Margie Juico, who was Cory’s appointments secretary before and after her presidency, also has very personal recollections of her former boss. Like Gina, she remembers Cory as someone who would stand by a friend when she thought the latter wasn’t being given a fair deal. She remembers how Cory once gave her (Margie’s) husband Popoy the silent treatment because “she thought he had an indiscretion when I had to leave for San Francisco because my mother Nena had a fall and needed hipbone surgery!”

It turns out the alleged “indiscretion” was baseless, “but Tita Cory showed her fierce loyalty to a friend” by her initial reaction.

“That would always make me smile and miss my defender,” shares Margie.

For her part, Cory’s former press undersecretary and spokesman Deedee Siytangco remembers Cory’s kindness the most. I remember that when Deedee’s husband Sonny died of cancer in 2005 in their home in Paco, Manila, Cory was among the first to rush to Deedee’s side — before the mortuary took away the remains of Sonny from his room, she was there to bid him farewell.

And now, Cory chocolate bars. Photo by shaira luna

“She would also take time to write personal notes to friends in an age when people don’t anymore. She remembered dates of birthdays and anniversaries,” Deedee adds.

To Ninoy’s niece Maria Montelibano, who was chief of the presidential broadcast staff during her presidency, Cory’s constant reminder for her to “behave” when she was overly critical of somebody is something she will never forget.

“When I would blurt out remarks, she would admonish me often, ‘Maria ang bunganga mo’!”

And to her daughter Ballsy, her personal secretary since 1983, and in whose home she spent the last year of her life prior to her hospital confinement, Cory was “my best friend, she was my soulmate, my mentor. She knew everything, she could fix any problem I had.”

In an interview earlier this year, Ballsy recalled that South African leader Nelson Mandela once told her she “picked the right mom.” “He couldn’t have said it any better because what a mother she was and she still is, even if she’s no longer here. I can still feel she’s just there helping all the five of us and even her grandchildren. Even my husband Eldon says ‘Thank you Mom, thank you Mom, I know it’s because of you!’ when, let’s say, something good happens. And I’m so grateful to her for having been my mom. Because with my dad many times, I talk about him as a hero because I think more than being my dad, he’s more of a hero to me because I just felt he could do anything. His courage, bravery, love of country. I remember my dad more on what he was as a Filipino more than as a father. But my mom was really mom. Her being President, her being ‘Ina ng Bayan’ was just secondary.”

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