A daughter’s plea

Although she’s now attuned to the American way of life, having lived in United States for more than 10 years straight – Kaye Torres still can’t shake off some Filipino habits. Every time friends visit her in her White Plains home, for instance, they bring her rice cakes because they know that Kaye likes native kakanin.

Last weekend’s commemoration of All Saints’ Day was another Filipino tradition that she wouldn’t miss for the world. Unfortunately, she found herself still in the US around this time last week because she had trouble booking a flight back to Philippines. But to her relief, she was still able to make it in time for All Souls’ Day.

Kaye Torres, accompanied by cousin Jacsie, arrived in Manila last Nov. 2 at 5:15 a.m., just an hour after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo flew in from San Francisco. Kaye and Jacsie, however, were able to leave the airport only at around past 7 because the people at home who were supposed to pick them up thought she was coming in at 6 a.m. From the airport, she and her cousin went home to White Plains to say hello to their grandmother, Inocencia Acueza, and, yes, to catch a little sleep after that long flight from LA.

At half past two in the afternoon, Kaye and her grandmother left for Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina to visit Nida Blanca’s final resting place. The day before – All Saints’ Day – it was Nida’s loyal cousin, Elena de la Paz, who kept vigil by the actress’ tomb in Loyola. Some of Ms. Blanca’s former in-laws – the Torreses – also went there to pay their respects to the actress.

Actually, it would seem like half of the nation went to visit Nida Blanca’s tomb last weekend. And they were not only curious onlookers because they really brought with them candles and even floral arrangements. Kaye, from her end, brought a wreath of white orchids.

In the early afternoon of Saturday, when Kaye went to Loyola, there was a heavy downpour that even brought in pockets of floods in some parts of Metro Manila. The crowd that gathered around Nida Blanca’s resting place, however, didn’t budge and went on with the vigil.

Kaye, although visibly tired, accommodated everyone who went to visit her mother’s grave last Saturday. Aside from acknowledging the endless visitors, she also had to face media – including Startalk, which had a live interview with her at the Loyola Memorial Park. Kaye admits she doesn’t shy away from media anymore – unlike before.

When she arrived from the United States last year to bury her mother, Kaye didn’t grant any interview – save for those she did with Susan Enriquez of GMA-7. She kept quiet because she thought that talking to media and revealing details to the press might affect the progress of her mother’s murder case.

But with her mother’s case still unsolved after almost a year, Kaye is no longer keeping quiet. She has lost considerable weight and is very upset about the fact that there has not been a major breakthrough in her mother’s case for months now.

During this last trip to the US, she decided to finally give up her job in LA – as chief accountant of a prestigious firm there so that she can give a hundred per cent of herself to her mother’s case. However, she has to fly back to the West Coast again soon because there are still other matters she has to attend to regarding her life, which – needless to say – was turned upside down with the brutal slaying last year of her mother.

On Thursday, Nov. 7, Kaye will lead the ceremonies to commerate Nida’s first death anniversary. She will be at the Loyola Memorial Park the whole day – starting at 7 a.m. (Masses for the repose of the soul of Nida Blanca will be said several times during the day).

Yes, it’s been a year since the beloved actress was found dead at the sixth floor parking lot of the Atlanta Center Building in Greenhills. But given the judicial system in this country, Kaye Torres doesn’t discount the possibility that her mother’s bloody death would just go the way of other unsolved cases here in the Philippines. And her patience is starting to ebb – very much like the wax candles that were lit at the tomb of her mother on All Souls’ Day.