It was like shooting for the moon.
True, I had been introduced to her and I’d run into her on several occasions, but to ask permission to invade her privacy, to my mind, was completely another matter. With trepidation, I decided there was no harm in trying. To my great surprise and delight, she said yes. And we are honored with this rare opportunity.
Every house carries a certain aura and this one, where Pacing La’O Manglapus and her youngest son Francis and his children reside. Fact is, the house overflows with character.
Simplicity starts at the front gate and runs all the way to the foyer. Clearly, the residents here are not obsessed with decoration. There are pieces of priceless art hanging on plain white walls or proudly sit on top of pedestals and tables.
At the foyer is a duo of early works of Anita Magsaysay-Ho, complemented by a trio of later works by the same artist. Save for a rattan sofa that awaits visitors, the foyer is monastic and bare. Below the trio of Magsaysay-Ho’s women stands a simple lectern where an old tome written in Latin lies open for visitors to read. One portion of the living room displays a somber work of the late Vicente Manansala titled "Christus." As the name suggests, it is a rendition of Jesus Christ agonizing on the cross. Attending this important oeuvre are some framed photographs accompanied by a couple of alabaster busts.
The cushy upholstered sofas in the sitting room are clad in black mohair. Subtle touches of color are provided by exotic Indian throw pillows in vivid earth colors, accentuated by glistening tiny mirror bits interspersed with ethnic embroidery. In the living room, what reigns supreme is a myriad of catalogued books the late senator read and collected in his lifetime. In a library fashion, the volumes are neatly filed in simply constructed bookshelves. I did a quick look-see and spotted, among the huge inventory, books from his Ateneo student days.
The other end of the living room-cum-library is inhabited by a sleek ebony baby grand piano where the very musical senator played jazz and, some say, even light classics. The piano is complemented on one side by an heirloom – an intricately carved six-panel coromandel screen. Vying for attention is this Chinese wooden sofa fully encrusted with mother of pearls. Both pieces were once part of the La’O estate.
The dining room is another tribute to simplicity. Informality is the theme here. A simple wrought iron round table is made slightly formal by draping a white embroidered linen around it. Straight-back chairs that feature fine filigree ironwork carry more embroidered linen via the loose cushions tied to the seats.
On the afternoon of our shoot, the table was minimally set using Mikasa bone china with a very quiet pattern – fine leaves and vines in the color of coral. Finely embroidered handkerchief linen made up the lap napkins that were delicately folded. Simple crystal stemware and even simpler heirloom sterling silver flatware completed the austere setting.
Two public rooms on the ground floor are devoted to the perpetuation of the memory of the good senator. The room across the foyer was used by the late senator as his private office where, at times, he entertained visitors. To this day, his paraphernalia and personal effects remain as they were on the day he passed away in 1999. Even his worn black leather attaché still rests on one of the sturdy guest chairs. A delicate pastel portrait by Maridel Coching Rodrigues and an oil portrait of Manglapus add charm to the room.
The second room is the mini-museum. All the important citations, memorabilia, trophies and even model ships and things dear to Manglapus are neatly arranged in glass cases. Carina, the young daughter of Francis, knows every item in the museum. Occasionally, she acts as guide and gives tours in the museum.
Scrapbooks, framed or mounted photographs, abound in the Manglapus haven. The good widow is quite sentimental about these clippings chronicling her life with the late senator. She’s extra proud to show me their wedding picture, which made it to the society page of one Washington D.C. newspaper. In a simple but elegant wedding gown, bought off-the-rack, the youthful Pacita La’O was married to the dashing Raul Manglapus amid simple ceremonies with only immediate members of the family in attendance, plus a few close friends.
The traces and footprints left behind by the illustrious senator are humbly, yet proudly, encapsulated in a modest house in a village. Instead of pomp and circumstance, what the compleat senator, writer, occasional musician, envoy, statesman and personal idol to most Filipinos left behind was a deep sense of history. He remained untainted to the very end, prompting a former pastor, Monsignor Gerry Santos, to break all rules and allow his remains to lay in state at the Saint James, the Greater Church to the consternation of some uncaring non-nationalistic parishioners.