Cory: ‘It’s really been great’

"My mother," says Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noy-Noy" Aquino, "is content and at peace with herself and her life."

At last Friday’s launching of Inspiration and Images, a book of her selected speeches and paintings, Cory looked exactly as her only son pictured her to be, her fair share of worries and concerns notwithstanding.

"I’m really enjoying my private life now," she confided during the book launching at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati, which was attended by all her children – Ballsy, Pinky, Noy-Noy, Viel and Kris. "I can live my life the way I want it."

She also seemed very happy that people are more appreciative of her now.

"Before, when I was President, it seemed I could not do anything right. But once you leave the presidency, people are kinder. At least, they’re kinder to me. It’s really been great," Cory said, thanking everyone who made it so for her.

Published by the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation and the SGV Foundation, Inspiration and Images is a trove of Cory’s post-presidency speeches and paintings.

Each speech is preceded by a brief backgrounder, which sounds like an entry in a personal diary. Until she publishes her autobiography, which she is completing in longhand, these notes may be the closest one can get to Cory’s own expression of her thoughts and feelings.

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In Inspirations..., Cory shares Ninoy’s very last love letter to her, which he wrote on Aug. 21, 1983, in his room at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, a few hours before boarding the plane that would take him to his death at the Manila International Airport.

The last three paragraphs of the letter went: "I realize I’ve been very stingy with my praise and appreciation for all your efforts – but though unsaid – you know that as far as I’m concerned you are the best. That’s why we’ve lasted this long. There will only be one thing in the world I will never accept – that you love me more than I love you – because my love though unarticulated for you will never be equaled.

"If all goes well I should be back in my cell before sundown. Should I be detained do not rush to get home. Take your time and enjoy a side trip to Europe with the girls.

"I’ll try to call you tonight if the authorities will allow me. Otherwise just remember me in your dreams."

Cory said she first read that letter on Aug. 24, 1983 at the Narita Airport in Tokyo. She and her children were on their way to Manila to bury Ninoy and Noy Brizuela, whom Ninoy entrusted the letter to, turned over the letter to her there. There was also a letter to each of his five children.

"Once we got back to Manila I would read and re-read Ninoy’s last letter, specially when I was alone and feeling so sad," recalled the former President, who shared the contents of that letter during Ninoy’s 15th death anniversary Mass at the EDSA Shrine.

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Also featured in the book is a photograph of Cory’s very first painting (she doesn’t sell her paintings, but gives them to friends and benefactors of the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation). She gave the painting to her eldest grandchild Justin Benigno "Jiggy" Cruz on his 12th birthday in 1997. To Jiggy, she wrote: "Happy Birthday! My first painting goes to you, my first grandchild. Thank you for being such a good boy, making us so proud of you. God Bless you all the days of your life! Love, Lola Cory."

It is easy to see why Cory Aquino will never lack for inspiration.

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(For inquiries, call the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation, tel. no. 8183911)