'Cory is beautiful'

(The following essay was written by Mrs. Lourdes "Ma'am Gee" Gamutan, an
English and Literature professor at the Holy Cross of Davao College.)



Cory!

by Ma'am Gee

She held my hand in a warm clasp. I looked into her kind, lit-up face. While it was not yet my turn for her attention, I sized her up. Creamy skin. The kind that speaks of Chinese genes. Open, smiling face. The one that welcomes you without built-in reservation. Simple. Sans make up. In a person who hold number one authority in this land, it's a pleasant absurdity. There is no inclination to arrogance or meanness or claims to power in her aura. This is a wife of a hero. She herself a heroine to democracy in this corner of the earth.

Cory is beautiful in the real sense of the word.

She was there in Digos to grace the blessing of the Science building and I was there among the teacher trainors of Math, Science, and English in Region XI. It was 1987.

Coup d'etat after coup d'etat marred her turbulent leadership. The national coffers were empty. Congress and the Senate were defunct entities. Press freedom and freedom of expression were dead. These she resurrected and gave new life.

Malacañang was looted and desecrated by citizens who hated the regime of greed. The climax of the EDSA Revolution was an angry mob climbing up the steel gates. The palace was vandalized starting with the "Malakas and Maganda" giant mural done by a British artist commissioned by Ferdie and Imelda.

While the two were winging their way to Guam, I read in the new Philippine Daily Inquirer that Imelda was singing in the plane her favorite song, "New York! New York!"

Who wouldn't be singing such jazz? The plane was loaded with crates of money bills---the airport personnel in Guam had a bad time counting. (Hey! Our people's money!)

She did not do anything especially fantastic in her incumbency. She was groping in her uninitiated foray into politics. She was a terrific wife, mother, friend, but completely a neophyte in the arena of power to run a nation. She was accused of cowardice by the late Louis Beltran in the Gringo Honasan-led coup d'etat. True to her conviction, she sued him for her honor's sake. She won.

Looking back now, she was a gift God gave to the Filipinos. Gentle yet unwavering. Prayerful. Rich in faith. Consistent throughout her life. Her style of courage can be lost among the over-enthusiastic, but within her four-year leadership, she convened the best minds of our country to produce the 1987 Constitution.

The surface gentleness had a backbone of unadulterated courage to keep democracy breathing and burning.

Will there be another female President who paints as gifts to precious friends, cooks for them, speakers French, has a one man love for eternity and with the whole world adoring?