Aquino Center reopens

My wife was at the invitational preview of the Aquino Center and Museum in Tarlac the day before EDSA@39 day and strongly feels she should let more people know about it. Here is the account of Neni Sta. Romana Cruz.

There was no ribbon cutting at this opening – a welcome, meaningful move. One knew for certain that the soft opening and private launch of the expanded and improved Aquino Center and Museum in Tarlac would be a departure from the usual. And, of course, how could it not be? The martyred hero Ninoy Aquino, the woman president in yellow Cory Aquino and the heir Noy Aquino deserved nothing less.

But there were yellow ribbons galore. In lieu of a ribbon cutting, one got a yellow ribbon to tie to a stand – a symbolic renewal of one’s commitment towards justice and democracy. Upon registering, one got either a Ninoy button (“The Filipino is worth dying for”) or a Cory button (“The Filipino is worth living for”) or a PNoy button (“The Filipino is worth fighting for”). It seemed to have been based on which Aquino one was associated with – it also turned out to be a clever way of clustering the guests for the tours for better crowd control.

Yet as one lingered and got emotional and sentimental reliving memories in each section of the museum, the groupings became blurred. Because one bumped into friends and familiar faces from other groups and much reminiscing took place. My own private tour was pleasantly disrupted by old friends like Mench Diokno, who I imagined was going through her father Ka Pepe’s detention along with Ninoy’s as we saw Ninoy’s recreated cell and the tally kept to record the days in detention. There was also PNoy’s Agrarian Reform secretary Gil de los Reyes, now dean of the Tañada-Diokno College of Law of De La Salle. Carlson Chan, a faithful friend of PNoy’s and the Aquinos from a friendship dating back to when President Cory visited Shanghai where the Chans’ successful Oishi brand flourished. Of course, Maria Vargas Montelibano, Jan Co Chua, Popoy and Margie Juico were around too.

My surprise encounter was with my top senatorial candidate, Kiko Pangilinan, whom I did not recognize to my utter embarrassment because he was neither in green nor in pink but in white.

The museum underwent major expansion to accommodate the memorabilia of three Aquinos whose legacy merits serious documentation. Viel Aquino Dee explained the layout to us as we began the tour. The exhibition always presents the “sangandaan,” the crossroads, the choices these three individuals faced. The visitor is presented with two doors, properly labelled with two opposing courses of action.

The Ninoy and Cory sections may be familiar to many of the viewers, but still it meant reliving the painful history of challenging times for our country’s democracy. All the travails and persecution of Ninoy – anything to deter this threat to the Marcos dictatorship. The letter to his family explaining why he chose not to participate in the military court, the noise barrage relived with that special table of pots and pans, inviting the viewer to pick up a pot and make some noise, the Marcial Bonifacio passport and other personal effects used on his last flight to Manila, the bloodied bush jacket that has been preserved for many years in the US after Aug. 21, 1983. How to view all that and not feel the anger towards the brazen killing?

The Cory section carried the broadsheet front page headlines of the “Cory lead close to 1M” during the snap election and the dictator fleeing the country. The PNoy section documented highlights of his presidency and his good governance, especially the victory of the West Philippine Sea case.

A special highlight to honor PNoy was the launch of PNoy: Filipino, a handsome book of rare photographs of PNoy spearheaded by his close-in photographer Gil Nartea and other Malacañang photographers. It was edited by longtime friend, lifestyle editor Thelma Sioson San Juan who knew too well how reluctant he was about this kind of exposure.

This museum developed under the leadership of an Aquino grandson, London School of Economics graduate and now UP professor Francis Joseph “Kiko” Dee, is an impressive feat, both on the professional and personal level. Much meticulous scholarship and research were involved in the difficult choice of what of a person’s life to highlight. One cannot but feel pride in a grandson that would carry on and preserve his ancestors’ dreams and heroism for the younger generation to remember and draw inspiration from. How his ancestors’ love of country has been instilled in Aquino-Dee, the newly appointed director of the Ninoy and Cory Foundation. He has taken on his new role with such passion and seriousness that he chose to forego a scholarship for further studies abroad because it would mean his being away for several years.

The Aquino Museum is a welcome resource for making recent Philippine history come alive. There is just so much to see and merits many subsequent leisurely visits.

It honors Ninoy, Cory and PNoy and the sacrifices they made towards a country’s quest for democracy, one that would be truly a home for everyone, where truth, justice and democracy reign. One cannot leave without thinking – just how much one family has given so much of themselves to the country.

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Email: elfrencruz@gmail.com