Noynoy's Sisters: 'Four voices, One story'

 The man in the Palace may be commander-in-chief, but he also happens to be a brother.

Now that his parents have passed on, the people who have known and loved President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III the longest (and I would say, the most) are his four sisters: Ballsy, Pinky, Viel and Kris.

And so the most genuine stories about Noynoy are those told by his sisters — the unimpeachable sources, so to speak. They see their brother at his strongest, and also at his most vulnerable.

This Christmas, Ballsy, Pinky, Viel and Kris decided to give their friends and all those who supported their brother’s campaign a gift from the heart: Noynoy’s Sisters, a coffee table book of their reminiscences of the campaign. To them, it wasn’t all about winning votes, though that was its primary purpose — it was all about understanding why to their father Ninoy the Filipino was worth dying for; and why to their mother Cory, being Filipino was a gift from God. In her foreword, Pinky Abellada expressed hope that the hardbound book, “give you some knowledge, entertain you, or again prove to you, that we are blessed to be Filipinos.”

(President Aquino once told me in an interview he was his sisters’ favorite brother — he, of course, being the only one. The book shows not his sisters’ influence over him, but his influence over them, even if they outnumber him.)

As Noynoy claimed his destiny after his mother’s death last year, his sisters witnessed his struggles, his enlightenment and his decisions. Very private people (with the exception of Kris), the Aquino sisters stepped out of their shell to help their brother fulfill the purpose that became clearer to him (and them) as the days went by. In the end, it wasn’t just Noynoy running for President, it was Noynoy running in hopes of leading the country toward the straight and narrow path.

The book, which was designed and edited by May Tobias-Papa, is thus dedicated, “To all those who so generously gave of themselves to Noy’s 2010 campaign.”

The idea for this book came to Pinky in mid-July. She had thought of photographing all the mementoes of the campaign (ballers, T-shirts, etc.) for posterity and putting them in a book. “I thought this book would be a perfect gift to give to our friends who have been so much a part of this campaign. Years, or even just months from now, most of these things will be replaced, and it may be close to impossible to gather all of the items.”

She discussed her idea with Ballsy (Cruz) and both of them thought it would be nice to put personal stories of the campaign as well. Viel (Dee) and Kris eventually agreed to it, too. They didn’t bother the President anymore, but they concede his was the biggest contribution to the book: “He ran and thus we have a story to tell.”

Ballsy (she calls Noy “Poging” and he calls her “Beautiful”) gives the inside story of the days leading to her brother’s announcement that he was going for the presidency. They had a strong feeling it was imminent when Noynoy told them Mar Roxas was giving up his bid. The sisters thus decided to ride in one van with Noy on their way to the wake of Ka Erdie Manalo with one goal: “To convince Noy not to run!” That was on Sept. 1, 2009.

“We all fought for air time! We all felt that since he wasn’t married and the four of us would be his closest relatives, we would once again be the targets for his critics,” Ballsy recalls.

But at the end of the day, when all of them could call it a day and rest, Ballsy found out that while his sisters were convincing him not to run, “he was now being urged by the party to be its presidential bet.”

She was stricken with guilt and sent Noy a text telling him how sorry she was for giving him more problems “instead of helping him find a solution.” Pinky and Kris felt the same way while Viel had a suggestion: for them to talk to campaign manager Butch Abad and enlighten him on their position.

But after listening to Butch, it was the sisters who were enlightened and, “it seemed inevitable now that Noy would have to run and only a miracle could stop him from running.”

The sisters then threw their full support behind their favorite brother.

* * *

Pinky writes about the “kind acts” that were showered their way, like petals from heaven. She cannot forget one priest who gave her an envelope during a trip to Palawan. She put the envelope inside her bag and opened it only hours later when she was already on the flight back to Manila. The letter read: “I made a choice. I am for you… Your dream is my dream.” Tucked inside was money. Pinky tried to return the money to the priest, who happened to be on the same flight, but he refused. In Manila, Pinky put the letter in her brother’s room. She would find out later Noy texted the priest back to thank him.

“One cannot describe the feeling that touches the deepest part of your heart when strangers will give you all that they have to help you,” writes Pinky. “You make it all worth it!”

She also recounts how yellow moths would flit into her surroundings whenever she was worried or anxious.

“With Mom, I remember there were times I saw yellow moths, and so right away I knew that she was with me whenever I saw yellow moths when she had already gone. During the actual campaign, I saw yellow moths four times, I think. Those where really trying times. Seeing those moths on those separate incidents, I felt reassured; it was as if Mom had found a gentle way to tell me not to worry because she would help us.”

That beautiful yellow moth is immortalized on the cover of the book.

* * *

Kris, who is used to 20-hour workdays, writes of her “killer schedule” during the campaign, and how the love and support of the people sustained her through it all.

“I think my sisters will share this feeling I have. At the peak of the dirty tactics campaign, and in the midst of the campaign exhaustion, we drew strength from our volunteers and all the people who made an effort to be with us to shake our hand, wave anything yellow, or just shout, ‘Noynoy’.”

* * *

Viel, the shyest Aquino and reportedly the last one who gave her “blessings” for her brother’s candidacy, writes about how a trip to the Cordilleras, where she saw a young boy wearing a Noy-Mar baller around his ankle, made her realize “that if Noy gets elected, I thought I would like to become a lobbyist for the rights of indigenous peoples.”

Viel has the last word in the book. In the chapter entitled “What we can do for your country,” Viel writes, “As siblings of the President, we feel that we have a bigger responsibility in helping him carry out his task. We don’t have to be part of government or do great things.”

She suggests some “doables” “for us, ordinary Filipinos,” and ends the chapter by saying, “if we can just make a determined effort to improve ourselves… then we can all take credit for making the Philippines the country that we want it to be. For our children’s sake, let’s not waste this chance.”

As the book’s editor May Tobias-Papa says, “Aside from being a collective memoir, Noynoy’s Sisters is a fascinating keepsake of our times, it is at once an album of campaign memorabilia as well as a visual chronicle of an extraordinary period in Philippine history.”

To me, Noynoy’s Sisters is like history told over coffee or hot chocolate — not from a blackboard in a classroom — during a breezy afternoon merienda. The stories flow like hot chocolate from a pot, and when you’re through with the book you’re not sure if you’ve just read a history book or simply listened to a friend tell you a personal, heartwarming story of how her brother got to the Presidency.

(For inquiries about the book, which is not commercially available, please call the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation at 812-0403 and 894-0507)