But this time, we let five months pass without even an exchange of hellos on the phone. I knew she was busy on the campaign trail and I didn’t want to bother her. For one thing, her voice would always be hoarse from the campaigning and I didn’t want her to talk unnecessarily by chatting with me on the phone. I’d rather that she saved her voice for the campaign. Texting?
It’s the one activity I hate doing. Besides, I’m not even sure if Loren has finally learned how to text. (For all of her intelligence, she sometimes has difficulty adjusting to life’s modern conveniences.) However, I’d watch her progress on TV and in the papers and at times, through Marichu Maceda, who joins the KNP campaign sorties.
Since this is the campaign season–an open season to throw mud at each other–I heard nasty things said about Loren. But there was no need for me to clarify with her some of those horrible accusations hurled at her because I know the woman well enough and I never believed those ugly talks about her.
In fact, for our first conversation in five months, we chose to discuss the most trivial things about the campaign trail–how her skin has turned 10 tones darker and how she gets to sleep from three to four hours a days.
But in spite of the lack of sleep and the constant physical activities, Loren surprisingly even gained five pounds since she and Presidential bet Fernando Poe, Jr., started campaigning last Feb. 10. It’s the non-stop eating that’s the culprit for the weight gain. And this she blames on FPJ.
So it’s true what FPJ’s past leading ladies and other co-stars have been telling the press–that when you work with the King, you’re always pampered and well-fed. Ask Sharon Cuneta who has so many tales about how FPJ would send for food every so often during lulls in shooting.
Loren had the same wonderful gastronomic experience with Mr. Poe, who would send for special buco pie when they are in Southern Tagalog region or when he hears about some homemade ice cream being churned out in any place outside the metropolis.
But then, Loren herself is guilty of satisfying her own cravings during these campaign sorties. One time in Batangas, her motorcade was passing in front of a neighborhood bakery when she saw pan de coco neatly lined in the panaderia’s glass shelf. They just had to make a U-turn for a bite of pan de coco.
Food is definitely one of the pleasures she enjoyed tremendously during the campaign season. At least, this makes up for the other inconveniences she experienced during this period. "But I’m a very flexible person," she insists. Campaigning especially in the far-flung areas, of course, is tough–particularly in places that have the crudest bathrooms or, in most cases, do not even have a bathroom at all. Many times, toilets for her are just soil on the ground. But she never complained. No, it wasn’t just during this campaign season that she learned to adjust the barest of necessities. She had good training during those years as a broadcast journalist–first for the award-winning Pep Talk and, later for more serious and comprehensive The Inside Story. Besides, do you think she had time to look for a good toilet when she went up the mountains to negotiate with the NPAs for the release of those hostages? When she embraced this bid for the second highest position in the land, Loren was physically and emotionally prepared — especially for the strenuous campaign in the provinces.
The most difficult part during the three-month campaign season was being away from her kids, Lanz and Lean. Since February, she’d be able too come home only once or at more twice a week.
But there are other wonderful discoveries for her during the campaign trail. One is getting to know better Fernando Poe, Jr. "This I will say to anyone," she stresses. "He is one of the kindest, genuinely sincere and selfless persons I’ve met in my whole life."
Hopping from province to province has also opened her eyes all the more to the sad plight of most Filipinos. "Although I’ve been touched by the warm reception of our fellow Filipinos, I’ve also seen the hunger and anger of most of them and they are all clamoring for change," Loren states.
Of course, she promises changes (surely for the better) if she and FPJ make it. "We are confident, hopeful and optimistic that victory will be us as we have felt the love and support of the people from Day One. Nothing in this world should be able to subvert the people’s true judgment and will," she says, turning very serious for the first time in our conversation.
After May 10, Loren promises herself 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep. And whatever the outcome of the elections may be, she will continue doing some of her favorite activities: Planting trees, donating books to the public schools, giving away free medicines to municipal health centers and continuing with her livelihood program for women.
With a schedule that tight, she may as well savor those 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep.