It’s not a lonely battle for Loren

She’s spent close to P10 million to pursue her poll protest ("I have the empirical evidence to show Fernando Poe Jr. won the presidency and I, the vice presidency, in the May 2004 elections.") and she knows the courts may not decide on the matter before 2010 (the year her term, if she had been proclaimed, would have ended) but former Sen. Loren Legarda has no regrets whatsoever.

"I’m realistic," she told the Bulong Pulungan lunch forum at the Hotel Philippine Plaza last Tuesday, "but I just want it on record in the annals of history that I pursued the truth, even at great cost."

She spends about P400,000 a month for the food allowances of the revisors that attend to her protest, and she’s dug deep into her pockets for the fight she is not willing to give up. But the moral support of many and the – surprise – financial support of a donor (who she declined to name) who forked over P3.8 million for her protest last Valentine’s Day, are making her crusade less lonely.

"Just the other day," she recounted, "when I loaded up for gas and presented my credit card, the pump attendant said, ‘Ay, Ma’am, ituloy n’yo po ang laban n’yo’."

"Why, even Commission on Elections Commissioner Resurreccion Borra has admitted there was cheating in the 2004 elections," said Loren, as if telling the forum, "I told you so."

She isn’t asking for a recount of all 33 million votes cast (according to the Comelec tally, which she is contesting, she lost by about 800,000 votes to Vice President Noli de Castro) just those in Cebu and specific areas in Mindanao. She knows that if Charter Change (which she, of course, opposes) succeeds and a parliamentary system of government is put in place, she’s not going to sit as VP, even if she wins her case. But she is undeterred because she wants to make her case, not just win it.

Does she regret not running for senator, which would have been a breeze for her?

"I would have regretted it more had I not run with FPJ, the most beloved Filipino alive when he asked me to be his running mate. It was an honor. I would always have wondered what it would have been like to run with him."

Did she ever think, at least once after FPJ died in December 2004, that had the counting turn out in their favor, she would now be president?

"Yes, I have," she admits. "Not just once."

And what operative words would she have used? She "could have," "should have," "would have" been president?

"I would have become president," she answers. "But things happen for a reason. I have more time now for my sons. Maybe they needed me more than the country needed Loren Legarda."

A Buffet of a Book

For a lot of families, food is the glue that binds. Savoring food is a pleasurable experience (unless you’re anorexic!). Consequently the taste and smell of certain foods bring back happy memories. I, for one, "taste" Christmas whenever I have apple pie the way my mom Sonia bakes it (she got the recipe from her mother-in-law Mary Loudon Mayor). You see, my mom would bake it for Noche Buena and New Year’s Eve even in those days when apples were very, very expensive (because of an alleged apple cartel during the Marcos years). It was a real treat, and it also came with the sweet taste of family history ("Your grandma used to bake this.").

When we were in high school at the Assumption Convent, my sisters and I also picked up a scrumptious apple pie recipe from our cooking teacher, our beloved Mrs. Del Carrion. So even in these days of McDonalds, the home-baked apple pie holds a cherished spot in our family buffets. Give me mom’s apple pie and a cup of freshly brewed coffee anytime and I don’t think I will ever want or need Prozac in my life.

Thus, I immediately enjoyed the book Potluck Hidalgo Bonding: a Family Heritage Cookbook – a buffet of a book. Edited by Jaime C. Laya (a Hidalgo by marriage) and Laida Lim, the book is a collection of family stories from the vast Hidalgo family (which include a lot of historical figures) woven in with the favorite foods that family members have shared with each other. The book is a virtual potluck – with recipes coming in from Boston, Bahrain, London, Madrid, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia – for the Hidalgos from five generations are dispersed all over the world, much like other Pinoy clans.

The book features recipes from the Hidalgo siblings – Rafael, Augusto, Clemente, Ursula, Pilar (in whose Vito Cruz house the book launching took place), Nieves, Concepcion and Nicanor – their children, grandchildren and in-laws.

Laida Lim (granddaughter of Pilar), during the book’s launching at the Hidalgo-Lim ancestral home (where then Maj. Vicente Lim and his brother-in-law Rep. Claudio Sandoval drafted the bill creating the Philippine Army), recalled: "Every last Wednesday of the month last year, we gathered in true Hidalgo fashion, bearing our tocas or contributions for those working lunches. The representatives of each house tweaked and tested the family’s most favorite comfort foods, pried from secretive retainers and cooks to record these culinary traditions for the delectation of generations to come."

Like my mom’s apple pie, the recipes featured in Potluck (like humba, chicken piccata, empanada de atun, Paeng’s gising gising, vegetable lasagna, Christmas refrigerator cake, among others), are recipes that "nurture the body and the spirit as well."

Copies of book are available in National Bookstore and Powerbooks.

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