The people's President: from Noynoy to P-Noy

The candidate the members of the Bulong Pulungan press forum interviewed in January this year was more reserved, more introspective, shy. Noynoy Aquino had announced his bid for the presidency just three months before — prior to that, he thought he would be campaigning for someone else!

Thrust into the presidential campaign by the hands of destiny, Noynoy eventually claimed his destiny by hard work and a commitment to transform the nation. In the process he was also transformed.

The President that faced the Bulong Pulungan press group last Tuesday at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza was confident, more knowledgeable, more open, and yes, definitely more charming.

There was a point when, I swear, STAR columnist Domini Torrevillas seemed so mesmerized she couldn’t ask her question. When she finally found her voice, she asked, as her husband looked on amusedly, “Are you looking at me Mr. President?”

You see, the President looks straight into your eyes when he listens to your question and when he replies to it. And, like a student in class, he respectfully stands up from his seat whenever he has to answer a question, as if it was his return at recitation at the Ateneo high school. He stood up for all six of us, including for the only male “interrogator” Donnie Ramirez, who wanted to tell him, “You don’t have to get up from your seat to answer my question, Sir.”

The Bulong Pulungan press forum, the first media group to give him an award, cited P-Noy’s unrelenting fight against corruption, a symbol of hope for the youth and the future generation who look up to the presidency as a seat of public service, not power.

Even before he entered the ballroom for the forum, the President was already mobbed by matrons waiting for him at the lobby of the Sofitel. And he stopped for them. If you can get past his security, you can be almost sure President Aquino will not turn down a request for a photo opportunity. In the ballroom, guests from the Inner Wheel Club were given a chance to have photos with him, and some got a bit too enthusiastic our emcee, former Press Undersecretary Deedee Siytangco, had to bark, “No kissing please!”

Responding to a question from Jullie Yap Daza about the “hair-raising things” that he has had to endure because his cordon isn’t one of steel, the President said he takes strength in the “warmth” the people show him. That particular Tuesday at the Sofitel, he did not display any hint of annoyance at the picture-taking (others had their photos taken four times!) and the mobbing. “I take it in stride. I see in the people’s faces the support I need to transform this country.”

The worst that has happened to him, he recalled, was when a fan almost tore off the buttons on his shirt and he had to plead and say, “May pupuntahan pa ho ako mamaya.” The fan, mercifully, let go.

He really means it when he tells people, “Kayo ang lakas ko.”

When asked by Chay Santiago of Mod what qualities in a woman would make him give up the Presidency for her, he said matter of factly: “The Presidency is not mine to give up.”

“The Presidency is mot mine to give up, in the sense that I was propelled by the people to the position. I could not face those who poured in their talents and courage just to bring about change if it would only lead to something personal. I made a promise to them and I cannot fail them.”

So, no, unlike King Edward VIII, P-Noy is not going to choose love over duty — that is, if he had to choose.

There are bad days, he admits, days when he tells himself, “Five-and-a-half years na lang.” (To which a friend countered, “Five-and-a-half years pa.”)

But those are the exceptions because he gets a lot of good news, too — seeing school buildings rise, seeing children in school and off the streets. Or when his Budget Secretary reported to him recently that the surplus for the month of November amounted to a whopping P483 million.

He says the good news make the hard work, the sacrifices, even the “lack of opportunity for a lovelife,” all “worthwhile.”

Not that he is giving up on the opportunities for a love life, he just doesn’t want to talk about it.

* * *

The President was in a sentimental mood during the Bulong Pulungan Christmas party because the night before, he hosted a Christmas party for the Malacañang staff and the kasambahay (househelp), a yearly tradition of his late mother former President Corazon Aquino.

“This is the second Christmas without her, and I cannot help but be emotional and have ‘senti (sentimental) moments’,” he told the forum. (The President once told me he missed his mother’s cooking a lot.)

He remembered the times he would hear his father sing Impossible Dream in prison, thinking he had the best voice in the world — till he started hearing other versions of the song.

The President, in reply to a question by Sandee Masigan, said music is a “vital” part of his life and a good song is a surefire way of making him “smile before I step out of my bedroom.”

Family friends say the President and his youngest sister Kris are the most voracious readers in the family. Asked what books made an indelible mark on his life, the President immediately answered, Les Miserables. He cannot read as many books as he wants nowadays, because five briefing folders that are three inches thick are his must-reads every day.

The President believes hard work is the best way to achieve one’s dreams and does not normally bet on the lotto or other games of chance, especially when the prize money hits astronomical heights. But when I asked him what he would do if he won P700 million, he said he would share his winnings with such institutions as the PGH. He quipped that he would like to share all his prize money, and with all the balato (tokens) he had to give away, “I might end up even in debt if I won.” No, the President is not barred from betting on the lotto.

* * *

What gives him a good night’s sleep at the end of the day, even if he says he is still part of the SMP (Samahang Malamig ang Pasko)? “The knowledge that I have done all I could with the opportunity I have to change the country. At the end of the day I want to be able to leave the country a lot better than when I found it (as President).”

After the forum, the President had to inch his way out of the ballroom. More photos, more hands to shake. An autograph or two. The wife of an old friend of his late father cuts through the security cordon and requests for a minute or two to bring up a concern. She feels her husband has not been treated fairly by some people.

The President stops and doesn’t wave her off. Busy as he is, he gives her his undivided attention for 15 minutes. She is in tears.

The President then walks to his car, smiles and waves goodbye to those who have lined up to see him.

The woman wipes away her tears.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])