Cory thinks the two greatest trials she had to face as Ninoy Aquino’s wife were his hunger strike (his weight plummeted to 123 lbs.!) and his solitary confinement in Laur, Nueva Ecija in March 1973.
I asked her, "Was there a point when you told Ninoy, ‘I cannot take the suffering anymore’?"
"Never. Never," she replies without a second thought. "And I never complained to him na hirap na hirap na ako, tumigil ka na. No. Never. Perhaps, if I had problems, financial problems like the others, maybe that would have made me weaker. But then, my parents (the late Jose Cojuangco and Demetria Sumulong) were very supportive. They could always have said, ‘Cory tumigil na yang asawa mo, ha.’ But they did not although financially, we really went down."
Cory, who became Ninoy’s bride when she was only 21 (he was barely 22 himself), believes Ninoy’s imprisonment "was our greatest learning experience."
"I think the first lesson Ninoy’s imprisonment taught us was humility," she recalled during Ninoy’s fifth death anniversary. "Before martial law, it seemed to me there was no problem that Ninoy could not solve nor any challenge he could not overcome…"
And suddenly, he was so helpless. In Laur, Ninoy, "felt so alone, so abandoned by men, so helpless in his plight that he gave up all faith in human devices… and fell back on our Lord."
His becoming prayerful was what sustained Ninoy in the years that followed, Cory strongly believes.
"His worst really was in Laur. Parang he was ready to give up. But then, he was returned to Fort Bonifacio, and in time, he recovered. In his letter to Soc Rodrigo, he said that he had finally surrendered himself to the will of the Lord," Cory says.
In that sense, Cory and Ninoy were alike. They both found peace in God’s will.
"During Ninoy’s incarceration, I prayed often for God to help me accept his will. And when I lost Ninoy, I prayed even harder for God to give me and my children the strength for it."
On the flight back home to Manila from Boston, Cory told her children that their father’s body was badly bruised and bloodied. When they arrived in Times Street, she asked for a few moments alone with him. Relatives and other mourners who were in the living room where Ninoy’s body lay in state quietly left the room. Only Dr. Rolly Solis, the cardiologist who operated on Ninoy in 1980, stayed behind.
"I saw Ninoy’s bloodied and bruised body in the coffin and I was telling Ninoy, ‘Ninoy, tell me what I should do.’ When I kissed him, I promised him that I would continue with the struggle, never thinking then that I would become president. I kissed him on the cheek, and it was hard. I did not break down. I held his hand. And it was softer. When you’re dead, it’s really just your hair that would still remain as soft as it was. So I was touching Ninoy’s head, but I couldn’t even stay long because I saw all the people outside waiting to come in," Cory recalls. In her grief, she saw that Ninoy no longer just belonged to her and her children. By dying for his people, Ninoy now belonged to the Filipino people as well.
Before she left the room and gave the signal for the mourners to be allowed to file by Ninoy’s coffin anew, Cory made a vow. She promised Ninoy she would continue his mission, the cause he lived and died for.
Then she wiped away her tears.
"She was super supportive. Super bow kay Dad. She was masilbi. The type na maghihimay at magbabalat ng pagkain ni Dad. In everything she did, Mom let my dad know, ‘You’re above me’," Ballsy says with much admiration. "My mom is very smart, but in front of Dad, she let him have the limelight."
But Ninoy Aquino was a person one easily warmed up to, and loved. It wasn’t only Cory who felt his magic.
"All his in-laws loved him, too," reveals Ballsy. "His mother-in-law, my Lola Ma (Metring Cojuangco) loved him a lot."
According to Cory, Ninoy wasn’t demonstrative, but he was very thoughtful. Among his gifts to her, her favorite is her portrait by Amorsolo, which Ninoy gave to her on her 21st birthday.
"It cost him two months’ salary!" she remembers.
That Cory was the ideal wife was not lost on Ninoy. Ballsy recalls that while they were living in exile, Ninoy told Pinky and her: "If you become even just half as good as your mom when you become wives yourself, ang suwerte na ng magiging asawa ninyo!"
For his part, Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III once said his parents’ marriage "showed us what the vows ‘for better or for worse’ really means."
Twenty years after she tenderly held Ninoy’s bloodied face in the coffin that millions brought to its final resting place, Cory Aquino looks at me in the eye and with her face all aglow, says: "Yes. I kept my promise."
"I think that is why I have so far outlived Ninoy, to see to it that more of his dreams come true."
(You may e-mail me at peopleasia@qinet.net)