Remembering Tita Cory
Humility is an intrinsic characteristic of an effective leader. In this department, the late former President Cory Aquino, whose fifth death anniversary was observed on Aug. 1, did not run short.
Her abundant supply of humility was witnessed by STAR president and CEO Miguel Belmonte when Tita Cory, his godmother when he got married to Milette in 1987, told him a year or two before her death: “I thank your mother (Betty Go-Belmonte) for getting me to be your ninang.”
That line stuck with Belmonte and became one of his unforgettable conversations with The Woman in Yellow.
Aside from her humility, Belmonte says, “The traits I admire in her are her love of the country and her willingness to sacrifice because of that love.”
Mrs. Aquino, in fact, wrote an exclusive article for The STAR titled “Thoughts and hopes on 23rd anniversary of EDSA People Power” that came out on Feb. 25, 2009. It was the first time the country’s Icon of Democracy had penned her own account of the 1986 EDSA Revolution, dismissing conflicting reports about the truth behind the bloodless revolt.
She submitted her four-page article, signed and printed on yellow bond paper, through STAR section editor and PeopleAsia editor-in-chief Joanne Rae Ramirez who later gave it to Belmonte.
“Tell Miguel I am writing this for him,” Ramirez remembers Cory telling her.
After the story was printed, Belmonte secured the original article of his ninang from the news desk, had it framed and displayed in his office, beside his table.
The framed manuscript, for the meantime, will be part of History and Her Story, a roving photo exhibit that celebrates the life and works of Cory Aquino, which will be launched tomorrow at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City. The exhibit in Glorietta will run until Aug. 10. History and Her Story will then be brought to Alabang Town Center Activity Center on Aug. 11 to 17; TriNoma Cinema Lobby on Aug. 18 to 24; Greenbelt Gallery on Sept. 1 to 7; and Fairview Terraces Activity Center on Sept. 8 to 14.
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Tita Cory’s simplicity is also as ubiquitous as the color yellow she is associated with.
“She was a very simple woman. Her simplicity was seen in the way she dressed, in the way she put her own makeup. The only time she allowed others to put makeup on her was when she had TV interviews. Otherwise, she did her own,” says STAR chief photographer Val Rodriguez.
Val considers it a very “blessed time” to be able to serve Cory Aquino in the entirety of her presidency as her close-in photographer. During that period, he also lived in Malacañang, very near the Arlegui House where Mrs. Aquino resided at the time.
Their connection started when Val, as a photographer for the Associated Press, covered Cory Aquino’s presidential campaign. In the middle of one of the sorties in January 1986, the ever thoughtful Woman in Yellow asked Val: “Kumain ka na ba?” Val answered, “Not yet, Ma’am.” “O, ito muna ang kainin mo,” Cory, who was on stage, told Val as she reached for the pocket of her dress, drawing seven pieces of candied sampaloc.
After the peaceful People Power revolt, Val got a call from Cory’s social secretary Ching Escaler, who relayed the message that the President was requesting him to be the official and personal photographer for her US Congress Address in 1986. Val, of course, said “Yes!” right away, even if he had not yet sought permission from his AP bureau chief. The next thing he knew, he already had a red passport.
“I will never forget that moment when, because of Ma’am Cory, I was given a special spot inside the US Congress and White House. Also very memorable for me is when we visited the Vatican and met with Pope John Paul II,” Val says.
Val, because he was privileged enough to see President Aquino every day, also saw the very human side of Tita Cory.
“She was caring and doting as a grandmother. Siya ang nagpapalit ng lampin ng mga apo niya. Sinusuklayan nya ang mga ito. At pinapakain,” Val remembers.
“I miss her the most during Christmas because that was around that time when she would give me a jar of pâté,” Val adds.
“Ma’am Cory’s humilty and kindness is incomparable. Nag-iisa yata siyang ganyan sa mundo. Her children are also very kind to me,” Val says.
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“Iyan ang suki kong photographer,” Manny Marcelo, also a seasoned STAR lensman, remembers the usual opening line of Mrs. Aquino every time they would see each other in a coverage.
Mrs. Aquino would always see Manny at the Aquino mausoleum in Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City every commemoration of the death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino. Once, Manny was late for his coverage at the cemetery. He saw Mrs. Aquino about to leave as she boarded her van. “Sorry, Ma’am, I’m late. Can I please take your picture?” Manny told Tita Cory. “Sure,” she said with a smile. “Anong gusto mong pose ko? Katulad ng dati?” Mrs. Aquino, who started fixing the candles and flowers that adorned the tomb of her husband, asked Manny who was already clicking away. In less than two minutes, the pictorial was over.
“Hindi siya maselan. Lagi niyang sinasabi sa akin: ‘O, ikaw na ang bahalang mamili kung ano ang maganda kong picture’,” Manny remembers. “‘Ingat ka,’ iyan ang lagi niyang bilin sa akin after our pictorial.”
When she passed away, it was Manny’s photograph of Cory Aquino — with a beautiful smile, wearing yellow, of course, and pearls — that was used mainly by different organizations in their tarpaulins that expressed their sympathies. It is said to be one of Mrs. Aquino’s favorite photographs of her. It is also the same image that appears in the new P500-bill. It is the same photograph that appears on the cover of the latest special issue of PeopleAsia magazine.
“That particular photograph, which I took in 2008 at the Cojuangco Building (in Makati) while Ma’am Joanne (Ramirez) was interviewing her for The STAR, has done miracles for me. It was actually a series of photographs and every time PeopleAsia uses any from the series, I feel blessed,” Manny says.
He explains: “I always get surprised when Ma’am Joanne hands me a check. Ginamit daw ng PeopleAsia ang picture ko of Cory. Mangiyak-ngiyak ako kasi nagkakataon na talagang may pangangailangan ako kapag inaabutan ako ni Ma’am Joanne ng cheke. At dahil iyon sa mga pictures ko ni Mrs. Aquino. Siguro iyon yung physical link ko sa dating Pangulo. Iyon yung milagro niya sa akin.”
“Kapag nasa Parañaque area ako, may assignment man o wala, hindi pwedeng hindi ako dadaan sa puntod ni Ma’am. Magdarasal ako. Magpapasalamat. Matulungin siya kahit wala na siya,” says Manny who has made it his vow to light a candle at the Aquino mausoleum in Manila Memorial Park every Oct. 31, the eve of All Saints’ Day, ever since Mrs. Aquino passed away.
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Jun de Leon is another photographer who was able to capture the graciousness of Cory Aquino — with the shutter of his mind and the lens of his heart.
In 2001, while on an assignment at the Aquino residence on Times Street to shoot Tita Cory and her youngest daughter Kris for the cover of PeopleAsia, Jun was drawn to a room that was slightly open. From his vantage point, the legendary photographer saw the room bursting with colors. The room was actually the studio of Mrs. Aquino, where many days and nights she painted away after her term as President.
“Kris, can I shoot there,” Jun remembers asking the celebrity daughter of the former President. “Kris answered me: ‘In your dreams’,” he adds. Jun was told it was a very private room and no one was allowed to enter that room.
Jun, still itching to have his subject photographed in that room, turned to Joanne but the magazine editor, in Jun’s recollection, simply told him, “It’s okay, Jun. Let’s just respect her.”
But Jun de Leon was truly drawn by the energy of the room that he himself mustered enough courage to ask Cory: “Ma’am, can I shoot you in that room?” Mrs. Aquino answered: “To a fellow artist, yes!”
“It was an unforgettable experience for me. Especially when Mrs. Aquino said, ‘Let me change first,’ after saying yes to my request. She changed into a duster. Not a mumu, not a kaftan. But a duster, her outfit when she paints,” Jun recalls.
Inside Cory’s studio, the Icon of Democracy introduced Jun to her colorful world. “It was full of life, full of colors. And she was a fine lady,” Jun says.
As a token of her gratitude to Jun for a shooting day that went very well, she gave him a fan that bore her painting. “May I sign it for you?” she asked Jun.
The signed fan, Jun says, is hidden somewhere in his house. His adulation for the “fine lady” in yellow is also kept in his heart.
(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)
