We Didn't Know How to Love Him

Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, better known as PNoy or Noynoy, passed away on June 24, a few hours after we sent out our issue last week (Wednesday here in the US). While we missed out on the immediacy of the sad and unexpected news (we put out a new issue only once a week), we have the advantage of being able to wade through the countless tributes on print, social media, on videos and podcasts, in churches and Zoom gatherings, on giant electronic billboards and the personal recollections of those who knew him or didn't, and those who worked with him or were the beneficiaries of his policies.

The Philippines' 11th president after 1946, the 5th since his mother assumed the post after the people toppled the Marcos regime in 1986, had consistently high popularity ratings throughout his presidency, despite his being criticized as aloof, stoic and emotionless. Yet the stories now being told by his staff, particularly the writers who collaborated with him in crafting his public statements (one of whom was told by PNoy himself to please wait until he's dead to write about him), paints a different picture -- that of a meticulous boss who made sure he got the facts straight and the grammar correct in public, and a typical loner who craved his silences and his music, alone. So unlike regular politicians who want the limelight even if they're so unfit for it.

PNoy's legacy as leader of the country from 2010 to 2016 has been cemented with his death at 61 years old. The decency and integrity that he was known for, along with his administration's achievements  -- I personally consider the passage of the Reproductive Health law, which had his unwavering support despite intense opposition from the Catholic Church, as his most sterling one -- are rightfully heralded and documented for posterity. That his critics continue to try to demean and defile his legacy with such ignorance and vulgarity only reminds us of how bereft we are of losing him. Ace journalist and journalism professor Sheila Coronel says it best: “There's now sort of a wave of nostalgia for a president who was honest, sincere, didn't curse and didn't kill, and who took governance seriously”.

For those of you who didn't know him or were not aware of his policies, here's a curated collection of links to stories about Noynoy Aquino, the president and the man:

In The Know (Special Edition)

The Impossible Dreamer
https://www.spot.ph//newsfeatures/the-latest-news-features/86591/benigno-noynoy-aquino-iii-tribute-a3256-20210626-lfrm4?ref=home_aside_popular

The unfinished legacy of Noynoy Aquino
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-unfinished-legacy-noynoy-aquino 

A Former Close-In Aide Shares His Experiences With President Noynoy Aquino: 'I Lost a Friend'
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/noynoy-close-in-aide-experience-a2650-20210625-lfrm?utm_source=facebook-esquire&utm_medium=ownshare&utm_campaign=20210625-fbnp-long-reads%2Ffeatures%2Fnoynoy-close-in-aide-experience-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR1-TAzUxhiek402MRQ1oHmXl8Qlt5dtED3brA0QF7RC-scHHZoQYS_HGoM

PNoy was My Boss: A delayed dispatch from an ex-Palace speechwriter
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/06/25/21/pnoy-was-my-boss-a-delayed-dispatch-from-a-palace-speechwriter?fbclid=IwAR37EML9A7Fsvha435dgo1EJKHcakHW_ucOhHV2bQ7bKOFxdgxKlZRq7ClY

The Story of the Aquino and Cojuangco Clans And The Struggles of the Philippine Nation
https://ph.asiatatler.com/society/family-matters-the-aquino-and-cojuangco-aquino-clans?fbclid=IwAR1cDGKZMZeFeqdnfIEjae0T0edbveLXE_mpVLb_3rd9CkCkcLU-I7H-eig

Mula sa taumbayan, maraming salamat, PNoy!
https://www.rappler.com/voices/editorials/thank-you-noynoy-aquino-from-the-filipino-people?fbclid=IwAR3iLCGN0HnCU-0bkiO2vM7LL6FdFyErD9C_GuT2Jvy_212Q9rrObArILDY

A lament for a president
https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/06/28/2108474/lament-president?fbclid=IwAR3tGIRLo9liSJeqkQwv2EpcAC58LgehaqhUeU0Iy29tL7UXEKJQxQT1XiQ

Our Stories This Week

"Grand Agers" Prove 80 Is The New 50 By Cherie M. Querol Moreno

Ma Tante Laura By Myles A. Garcia

Teng-Teng Panciteria By Rey E. de la Cruz

The Happy Home Cook: Pork Ampalaya (Bittermelon) By Chef Teng Rondina

Video of the Week: Remembering Noynoy Aquino

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Violence and Hope

People with guns kill people. This, in the wake of the mass shooting by one man in Las Vegas that killed 58 victims and injured 546, should no longer be debatable. While gun control is a long time coming from Washington, a grieving Filipino American mother is already doing her part in preventing gun violence. Journalist Pati Navalta Poblete (“My Story of Hope”), who lost her son, Robby, to gunmen in Vallejo, California, nudged herself out of her grief by writing again and, most importantly, setting up a foundation in her son’s name that buys back unwanted guns in her city to be used by artists in their art work. The foundation also sponsors vocational skills programs for young adults and ex-offenders to steer them away from a life of violence.

Armed violence has also disrupted the lives of thousands of residents of Marawi in the Philippines when local adherents of ISIS took over the city, triggering an ongoing battle with government forces that has killed about 700 combatants and civilians and reduced nearly everything to smoking hulks. PF correspondent Criselda Yabes visits the ruined city, peeking through sniper holes at the destruction that has brought its inhabitants, now all refugees, to despair (“In the Rubble of Marawi”).

On a cheerier note, PF correspondent Rene Astudillo writes that Filipino senior citizens are receiving the respect that they deserve in their sunset years, in “A Haven for the Elderly – the Philippines.”

To mark both Filipino American History Month and Domestic Violence Prevention Month, we hope you will Read Again “The War Brides” and “Behind the Charmer May Hide an Abuser” 

And as a fitting countrapunto to the theme of this edition’s lead articles, our “Happy Home Cook” Richgail Enriquez offers bloodless—yes--Vegan Dinuguan.

For this week's [In The Know] links:

Thurgood Marshall's Interracial Love: I Don't Care What People Think, I'm Marrying You
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/thurgood-marshalls-interracial-love-i-dont-care-what-people-think-im-marrying-you/2016/08/18/84f636be-54d5-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html?utm_term=.6e3e0231e085

The Best Island in the World Goes To...
https://www.facebook.com/CondeNastTraveler/videos/10155910653088982/?autoplay_reason=user_settings&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0

Confronting Anti-Blackness and White Supremacy in the Pilipin@ Community with Acts of Decolonization
https://www.hellapinay.com/blog/2017/9/10/confronting-white-supremacy

Baguio-Sagada-Banaue Itinerary: See The Cordillera Region in 6 Days
https://philihappy.com/baguio-sagada-banaue-itinerary/

For Video of the Week, AJ+ celebrates Fil-Am History Month by featuring the 3 ways Filipinos contributed to America.