To write or not to write, that’s the
question I’d been dealing with after I got off from over two decades of blood,
sweat, and tears in the corporate world. It’s not as existential a question as
Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” since I love writing. But, where would I write?
The answer: my blog.
Those were my first lines in my ATABAY article “What’s
In A Name?” I launched five months ago. After my 15th article “The
Interview Question That Almost Denied Our US Visa Applications,” I ran out of
compelling personal stories to share with my readers and wondered what I would
write about next.
I surfed the internet and found a sample list of hot topics
of 2022 popular blogs: food, travel, health and fitness, lifestyle, fashion and
beauty, photography, personal, do-it-yourself craft, parenting, music. I am at
home with only two: personal and parenting. Sad to say, for personal, as I
said, I ran out of stories, and I‘m also no celebrity; for parenting, I lost
touch of it decades ago.
My daughter Jan Kristy advised me to go into showbiz
tidbits. I sighed. I stressed what matters to me -- my articles are read (liked
or disliked) – for they are the finished product of a laborious thinking
process. Ultimately, I decided to take the political route because of the
looming presidential election, and subsequently published my 16th
article: “My Two Cents Worth of View: PH 2022 Election Dynamics.”
In today’s 41st article, I’ll be weighing up Kris
Aquino -- not to be a magnet for showbiz chatterers – but looking on her with a
fresh perspective wearing a pair of spiritual eyeglasses.
I don’t know Kris personally. Not a showbiz devotee, I
know a bit of her only through the pages of books I read like “Impossible
Dream: The Marcoses, The Aquinos, And The Unfinished Revolution” by Sandra
Burton as excerpted below:
Kris as a Kiddie Messenger of Hope
“In January 1973, in an attempt to rally public
opinion outside the Philippines to the plight of the Filipino people, Ninoy
[Aquino] began smuggling letters from his [prison] cell to members of the
foreign press.
“'There was a mirror on the wall in the visitors’
house,' explains daughter Ballsy [Aquino]. 'He [Ninoy] would go to the bathroom
and leave it there. When we would arrive, we would pretend that Kris [the
youngest Aquino child] needed to go, and I would take her in and get it.'
“They would insert the thin, folded sheets of paper
inside candy wrappers, in the space between the vacuum bottle and the shell of
thermos jugs full of juice, or between the layers of gauze in their sanitary
napkins.
“One of the letters which Ballsy carried out in a pocketful
of wrapped candies in February 1973 was headlined in the Bangkok Post a few
days later. Its brutal analysis of the [Marcos] regime was widely quoted elsewhere
in the world press. Not long afterward a military officer appeared at the door
of the Aquino’s ranch-style home on Times Street in Quezon City, and handed
Cory [Aquino] Ninoy’s prison clothes, watch, glasses, and wedding ring, saying
only, ‘He won’t need these anymore.’
“For the next forty-one days, no one would tell her
where her husband was or whether he was dead or alive.”
Kris as a Seven-Year-Old Activist
“[T]he campaign logo of Lakas ng Bayan, Laban (Fight)
for short, was a pair of chained fists. Ninoy’s surrogate campaigners were Cory
and seven-year-old Kris, whose slogan ‘Help
My Daddy Come Home’ was so effective that the military, in a perverse attempt
to counter it, distributes anonymous handbills depicting a child whose father
could never come home, because he had been killed by Ninoy.”
Kris
as a Twelve-Year-Old Aquino “Jedi”: Heir to Ninoy’s Guts
“The mass began
with a reading by the youngest of Ninoy’s children.
“'I am twelve years old and now I will say goodbye to
my Dad,' was the way American-educated Kris began. Only a baby when her father
was incarcerated, she had passed through much of her childhood seeing him but
once or twice a week in prison. More than the others, who had known him earlier
as a widely admired free man, she had therefore prized the family’s three 'super happy years in Boston,' highlighted by such new experiences as gathering
autumn leaves, shoveling snow, and seeing Return of the Jedi with her father.
Referring to Ninoy’s observation that she was the child who most took after him
in her desire to be 'surrounded by many people,' she concluded, 'He likes guts.
Thanks for all the happiness you have given me.'”
Kris as a Thirteen-Year-Old Trend-Setter
“Not knowing what would appeal, I [Author Burton] had
protectively booked tables at the best French and Chinese restaurants along the
waterfront. Without telling her [Cory] about the reservations, I suggested two
possibilities, then deferred to thirteen-year-old Kris, who was with us. 'Steak
and baked potato,' was her unequivocal choice. 'She has become such an
American,' groaned Cory about the tastes her youngest daughter had developed
during her formative years in exile in Boston…
“Kris made fun of her extravagance, and Cory retorted with a list of the brand- name clothing and accessories for which her style-conscious daughter had begged all day. It was a typical mother-daughter conversation, in which both seemed to revel.”
Today, Kris is faced with a personal crisis on her
present health condition that has been bannered recently: “Kris Aquino ‘far
from OK’.” But her words have been unflinching: “For me, weakness could never
be an option… I will never surrender.” What would God say about such “weakness”?
Apostle Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” answers that question.
“I asked the Lord three times about this [thorn in the
flesh]. But He said to me:
“‘My grace is enough for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness.’
“So then, I will boast most gladly about my weakness,
so that the power of Christ may reside in me. Therefore I am content with
weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for
the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
Weighing up spiritually such “weakness” – as God’s
power made perfect – Kris, in her damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t “Queen
of All Media” status, ought not to care about what others are saying. One-on-one,
she is now dealing with God whose words – from the Bible -- are the only ones
that must matter in her thoughts, words, and deeds, by way of her discernment.
Finally, Kris as a Politician
“Kris was the one in whom Ninoy’s political genes were
the most apparent. Her nurturing in and around her father’s prison cell had
reinforced whatever natural gifts she had inherited. Sensing that her mother
was now drifting inexorably into politics, Kris saw no reason why she shouldn’t
shoot for the top. 'I would like Mom to be president, so we could live in
Malacanang,' she said. Cory reacted in mock horror to her proposal, which she
had heard before.
“She [Cory] had a ready answer, which, interestingly
enough, did not exclude the presidency, but merely the venue. She would stay in
her own house and use the palace only for protocol functions. ‘That’s what
Ninoy always said he would do, and that’s what would I do,’ she said. Kris
reacted negatively, accusing her mother of being hopelessly old-fashioned. They
sparred good-naturedly for a few moments, but Cory concluded the hypothetical
discussion on a serious note: ‘I really think Filipinos are ready for someone
who would show restraint.'”
Kris, you’re on the right side of history to endorse VP Leni. May God’s power be made perfect in your weakness!
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