Remembering Cory: Grilled cheese and songs with Josh

MANILA, Philippines - She vanquished a dictator in the polls and stared down seven coup attempts during her presidency.

But former President Corazon Aquino, who succumbed to colon cancer two years ago today at the age of 76, was also a loving mother, a whiz in the kitchen and doting lola who would spend Sunday afternoons playing Monopoly and dice with her grandchildren as they snacked on grilled cheese sandwiches she prepared herself. A self-confessed non-singer, Cory would also patiently sing songs, especially the tune “Where is Love?” from the musical Oliver with grandson Joshua because he so loved the song.

A Mass to celebrate Cory’s life will be offered today at the Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Parañaque.

Her only son President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III says “memories of Mom’s food and her humor” always bring a smile to his face. After his mother stepped down from the presidency, he lived in pad attached to her house on Times St. in Quezon City, so he really got to enjoy her company and savor her specialties like Swedish meatballs and fresh corned beef.

Cory was also a prayerful woman with unquestioning faith in God and a devotion to the Virgin Mary. The President’s youngest sister Kris says that whenever her sons Joshua and James Jr. see her praying the rosary, they say, “Mama is praying like Lola.”

Kris says that whenever Joshua sings “Where is Love” with his aunt Ballsy Cruz, the family poignantly remembers “Mom patiently singing so many songs with Josh.”

Like his “Tito Noy,” Justin Benigno “Jiggy” Cruz says memories of his Lola Cory’s humor and cooking would bring a smile to his face, especially when she would call him “Justin Benign.” Jiggy, firstborn of Ballsy and Eldon Cruz and Cory’s first grandchild, also fondly remembers “when Lola would surprise her apos with her grilled cheese sandwiches for Sunday merienda.” He also remembers enjoying her stories of her life with his Lolo Ninoy (the late Sen. Benigno S. Aquino Jr.).

Miguel Abellada, firstborn of Cory’s second child Pinky and her husband Manolo Abellada, for his part, says, “A lot of memories of Lola Cory make me smile. Whenever I wouldn’t make it to Sunday lunch, she’d always save the food she knew I liked — such as sukiyaki, callos, Swedish meatballs and steak — so my mom could bring it home to me.”

“She was also a very supportive lola who gave me a prize whenever I got line of 9s in my report card and whenever I scored points in my basketball games,” Miguel continues. “And Sunday afternoons were spent with us grandchildren playing Monopoly, dice or computer games with her. We all miss her!”

 ‘I want to go home’

In the weeks before her death, Cory had one express wish: to go home.

“She was telling Noynoy (then senator), I wanna go home. I just wanna go home’,” Ballsy Cruz, the President’s eldest sister, recounted in an earlier interview with the STAR. Asked whether “home” meant the family home on Times St., or Ballsy’s own home, where Cory lived in the months prior to her confinement in June 2009 at the Makati Medical Center, Ballsy said they weren’t always sure. One of their spiritual advisers Bishop Socrates Villegas told them that “home” to the deeply spiritual Cory could have meant, “home to the Father.”

When they were told that the end was near for Cory and that she may be just valiantly holding on for the sake of her children, the youngest Aquino sibling Kris volunteered to assure her mother that the family would be okay even after she was gone.

“That night, I think Kris was trying to say, ‘Mom we’re really all okay, we’ll help one another. All of us will help one another. Even if you’re no longer here, we will make things easier for each other.’ And then it was as if Mom was calling Dad, ‘O, Ninoy’!” Ballsy recounted.

In one of her last interviews with the STAR in 2009, Mrs. Aquino said she never questioned God about her cancer and never considered her illness the greatest trial of her life, “because it involved only me.”

Selfless even in the midst of her own pain, she said her greatest trial was Ninoy’s seven years and seven months in prison, which she said prepared her for the pain of his death. She shrugged off her own pain, saying, “Everybody has to experience suffering.”

She said she also reminded her children Ballsy, Pinky, Sen. Noynoy Aquino, Viel and Kris, that despite everything, “We are luckier than most.”

In 2004, while in the pink of health, she wrote a “Prayer for a Happy Death.”

“When the final moment does come,” she wrote, “let not my loved ones grieve for long.”

“Let them know that they made possible whatever good I offered to the world.”

Cops to secure cemetery

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) will deploy uni- formed policemen today at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City for the second death anniversary of former President Corazon Aquino.

NCRPO chief Director Alan Purisima said the policemen will secure and maintain order at the cemetery as President Aquino, his family and well-wishers are scheduled to pay

their respects. The NCRPO chief refused to say the

exact number of policemen to be deployed in the Manila Memorial Park but said they would enough to prevent any violence from taking place.

Earlier, Malacanang claimed the Presi- dent would like to have a simple celebration of his mother’s death anniversary.

“We would determine whether there’s a need for the deployment of additional police once Malacañang informs me that the Presi- dent is going to pay his departed mother a visit,” said Purisima in an interview. – With Non Alquitran