When Maria Leonor “Leni” Gerona graduated in 1986 from the University of the Philippines, where she majored in Economics, President Corazon Aquino was the commencement speaker.
Twenty-nine years later, Cory’s only son President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is comparing his mother to Leni.
For one, both Cory and Leni lost their husbands in sudden, violent deaths, while they were both in the prime of their lives. Ninoy Aquino and Jesse Robredo were both public servants who put country before self. Cory and Leni chose to stay in the background as their husbands’ stars rose, but were called on to carry their torches, lest they flicker and die in oblivion.
“As for Leni, I cannot help but compare her to my mother,” President Noynoy Aquino said after Leni officially announced that she has agreed to be the running mate of Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas in the 2016 elections.
“They were both suddenly widowed. They were both previously seen as mere housewives, but were eventually called to lead. And like my mother, Leni had no ambitions to run. But her countrymen asked her to sacrifice to solidify our leadership in Camarines Sur. She was obliged to run, and, indeed, she served with principle,” the President added.
Cory also had a role — unbeknownst to even herself — in bringing Jesse and Leni together.
Shortly after graduation from UP Diliman, Leni returned to Naga. It was her dream to be a lawyer like her father Antonio Gerona, but she decided to postpone law studies for a year. She applied at the Bicol River Basin Development Program, which was headed by Jesse Robredo.
“They needed an economist in that office, so I applied. I was telling my mom I will just delay law school for a year. But at the time that I applied, the opening for the economist was filled up. I was told there was an opening, however, in the communications department, and they asked me to make an essay. So I wrote an essay about Cory Aquino and her role in the EDSA revolution. Jesse liked my essay so much that his assistant later on told me that since then, Jesse liked me already.”
Jesse and Leni were married at the Mary the Queen Church a year later and made Naga their home. Leni continued to look up to the housewife-turned-President.
“Idol na idol ko siya. When Cory was already President and Jess was already Mayor, every chance I could get, he would bring me to Malacañang so I could meet her. One time there was a turn-over, I already forgot what and Jess said, ‘Do you want to represent me? She’s going to be there.’ So I gladly represented him.”
During Noynoy Aquino’s senatorial campaign in 2007, Leni also met the People Power icon in several gatherings.
After Jesse’s death, Leni’s dignity, courage and nobility led many people to compare her to Cory Aquino. She was articulate and could hold a crowd spellbound when she took to the microphone, even if she was not speaking like a contestant in a declamation tilt. She spoke from the heart, sincerity clothing her. If she broke down, she would do so in private (she admitted she did, when her daughters Aika and Tricia arrived in Naga from Manila upon hearing that their beloved father’s plane was missing).
President Aquino recalled during his speech at Club Filipino last Monday, “I have said this before, and I must admit it once more: one of the hardest tasks I had to fulfill as President was facing Leni and her children when we were looking for Jesse. More than 24 hours had passed since Jesse’s plane crashed, and we were of the mindset that there were ‘less grounds for optimism.’ During those difficult times, we truly marveled at Leni’s resilience, and that of her children, and her family.”
Whenever she would be compared to Cory, even then, Leni would shyly say she feels “embarrassed” by the comparison. But she did concede that like Cory, she was always more comfortable behind the scenes when her husband was alive.
“Actually, I had been helping Jess all throughout the six elections he had. I managed the campaign, I managed the headquarters, I made arrangements but it was always him at the forefront, I was just in the background,” she recalled.
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And like Cory, who told herself she would not be able to look at herself in the mirror if she could have done something more for the country but didn’t, Leni stepped up to the plate. Days before, she undertook consultations and soul searching that took a physical toll on her. She looked exhausted.
But she made time to attend PeopleAsia magazine’s “Women of Style and Substance” awards night at the Marriott Grand Ballroom when told that she was going to be presenting an award to Sister Marivic Sta. Ana of the Laura Vicuña Foundation, a refuge for abused and hurting children. She had but one request: that she leave by 7:30 p.m. She had a bus to catch to Naga City and she didn’t want to keep the other passengers waiting — am sure if they were told that a congressman was joining the trip, they wouldn’t have found it strange that they were going to be delayed.
But such is Leni — who told me once that she prayed she would not get spoiled by the privileges of her position, that she would never be so used to them as to feel entitled to them.
Two weeks ago, Leni told me she would go “where my prayers lead me to.” Her prayers led her to Jesse.
Last Monday, she said: “Sa aming mga agam-agam, tinatanong po namin ng aking mga anak kung ano kaya ang gagawin ni Jesse kung siya ang nalalagay sa ganitong pagsubok. Alam po namin agad ang kasagutan. Kahit gaano kahirap, hindi niya tatalikuran ang kahit sinomang humihingi ng tulong, hindi matututulog hanggat hindi niya pa nagagawa ang kahit anumang magagawa niya para sa bayan. Magsasakripisyo, ibibigay ang lahat gaya ng pagbigay niya ng kanyang buhay noong siya ay naglilingkod pa para sa bayan. Kung nahaharap siya sa tanong na bayan o sarili, malinaw sa amin kung ano ang magiging kanyang kasagutan.”
And so a torch is passed to another woman in yellow. (You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez@yahoo.com.)