Cory’s daughter thanks friends for not forsaking them

After days of strong winds and driving rain, it was bright and sunny during Tuesday’s commemoration of former President Cory Aquino’s eighth death anniversary. When she was still President and flying to the different provinces to visit her constituents and the skies would clear up just as her helicopter would touch down, people would say, “Ay, Cory weather!”

Politically, it isn’t “Cory weather,” so to speak, prevailing these days. But to those who trooped to the simple tombs of Ninoy and Cory Aquino at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City to honor her memory, it was indeed Cory weather.

This was not lost on her eldest daughter Ballsy Aquino Cruz who thanked the modest-sized group that came to hear the anniversary Mass concelebrated by Fr. Manoling Francisco SJ, Fr. Manny Domingo and Fr. Joy Tajonera, who flew all the way from Taiwan for the Mass.

“Noong mga panahon na mabango ang aming pangalan, at ngayong hindi na masyado, nandito pa rin kayo (During times when the Aquino name was really sweet-smelling, and now that it isn’t very much so, you are still here). You braved the traffic to be here with us,” Ballsy said appreciatively.     

Cory and Ninoy’s children were all present last Aug. 1, including former President Noynoy Aquino, Pinky Aquino Abellada, Viel Aquino Dee and Kris Aquino. Also present were their spouses Eldon Cruz, Manolo Abellada and Dodo Dee as well as Ninoy and Cory’s grandchildren Jiggy Cruz, Miguel Abellada, Joshua Aquino and Bimby Aquino Yap.  Sen. Bam Aquino, Ninoy’s nephew, was also present.     

Conspicuously missing was Cory’s spiritual adviser Fr. Catalino Arevalo, SJ, who would celebrate all the anniversary Masses for Ninoy and Cory after their deaths. According to Fr. Manoling, Fr. Arevalo wasn’t in the best of health last Tuesday.

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Ballsy said the recent cases filed against her brother Noynoy were challenges that the family is able to cope with. They had been through much more, and they always pray to their parents for help from up there.

As Noynoy recently told The STAR, he was deluged with messages of support and “Hindi ka nag-iisa” on the day the Ombudsman ordered the filing of cases against him over Mamasapano.

In his homily, Father Manoling said that like St. Alphonsus Liguori, whose feast it was last Aug. 1,  Cory’s faith was a journey — from her student days, her marriage, Ninoy’s incarceration, their three years in exile, Ninoy’s assassination, her own presidency, her illness…

“Her life was a journey of serving and surrendering, she was always true to her faith and convictions. Faith is moral and existential, and till her days at the Makati Medical Center, she surrendered to her faith.”

Father Manoling asked for prayers for Cory’s only son, who is now undergoing “a difficult phase.”

“Despite having offered his life to the people in serving the nation, he is constantly vilified by others.”

Father Manoling said, “Faith is holding on to God’s promises whether one is appreciated or denounced.”         

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For the first time since his self-imposed one year of silence ended on June 30, Noynoy addressed the press who “ambushed” him after the Mass. He was asked what he did with the drug problem during his term and he said it wasn’t true he didn’t attend to the problem. In fact, he pointed out, in 2015, it was down to 1.3 million drug users and he was perplexed why the figure suddenly rose to 1.8 million in 2016.

“I was once asked, why didn’t you attend to the drug menace during your term? I told them, ‘We attended to it, but we also attended to numerous pressing concerns as well — schools, climate change, the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings, raising the standard of living of the Filipino.’ I recently tried to recreate how a day went like during my presidency, and the truth is, every 30 minutes we had to address different topics because they wouldn’t have been brought up to my level if they could have been addressed by people under me. And they all needed to be solved yesterday. I’m not in the habit of raising my own bench but every day that the Lord had made, truly, I had to tackle from five to 10 problems that needed to be resolved yesterday.”

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It has been eight years since Cory passed away, but her journey of faith and conviction against all odds goes on in those whose lives she has touched. Presidents, including Cory and her son, come and go, but their legacies remain. At the end of the day, love of country is color-blind.  

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