“Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust. Tonight I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do, myself: as though it could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you.”
No. I have not read the book “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger. But I saw the movie last night with Renz. For a non-convert, and seeing the name Brad Pitt as the executive producer, I knew there’s something to look forward to its seemingly intimidating sci-fi like theme. It turned out that this chrono-genetic disorder was explained in simple terms better than my muddled understanding of POS systems. The movie presented Henry and Clare’s life in a neat sequence of two individual timelines merging in the end. (Huh? He he.) It left an impression on me the way Benjamin Button did – how the love of a man does transcend time and space and how a woman keeps all those little secrets in her heart. I think writing down the chronology of their dates would also help understand the entire sequence better.
I will buy that book. I’m ready to fall in love and cry.
My only memory of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino was his black portrait on yellow shirts I saw the neighbors wore immediately after his assassination. That was more than 25 years ago when I was still an eight-year-old kid and weight losss supplements have not yet been invented.
During the height of public protests against the excesses of the Marcos regime and its participation to Ninoy’s assassination, former Senator Jovito Salonga quoted that Ninoy was “the greatest president we never had”. But with his death, no matter how unjust and brutal it was, Ninoy had accomplished more than what he could have done serving the country as its chief executive.
Benigno Servillano Aquino was born to a family of hacienderos in Concepcion, Tarlac. His grandfather, Servillano Aquino, was a general in the revolutionary army of Emilio Aguinaldo while his father, Benigno Aquino, Sr. (1894-1947) was a prominent official in the World War II government of José P. Laurel. His mother was Doña Aurora Aquino-Aquino, his father’s third cousin. His father died while Ninoy was in his teens. Aquino was educated in St. Joseph’s College, San Beda College, Ateneo de Manila, and De La Salle College.
- He was the youngest war correspondent to cover the Korean War for the newspaper The Manila Times at age 17.
- At 18, Ninoy received a Philippine Legion of Honor award from President Elpidio Quirino.
- At 21, he became an adviser to then defense secretary Ramon Magsaysay.
- He was 21 when he was appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay to act as personal emissary to Luis Taruc, leader of the Hukbalahap rebel group. After four months of negotiations, he was credited for Taruc’s unconditional surrender.
- He became mayor of Concepcion in 1955 at the age of 22. He married Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco on the same year.
- He was the youngest vice-governor at age 27.
- At 29, he became the governor of Tarlac.
- At 34, he was the youngest elected senator in 1967.
- On August 21, 1983, he was assassinated at age 50. Exactly 12 years after the 1971 Plaza Miranda Bombing.
The race of 2010 presidentiable is on. Senator Manny Villar has gained a mile so far by working on his image with his “Akala Mo” video. No, this is not a commercial on equestrian apparel but a political video. My friend, Mayan, appeared on this video and lent her voice in the radio version. Villar helped expand her business in Bicol with a grant under his Sipag and Tiyaga program. Now you know why.
Of course, we all knew that apart from him helping OFW’s, ordinary people and small business owners is the motivation to get on the race and elbow his way to the Palace. We knew Villar as a self-made rags-to-riches man, but the businessman I spoke to from Las Pinas thought otherwise. But if you’d ask me to choose between my earlier bet Mar Roxas and him, I might go for Villar. I do not like Korina Sanchez to be this country’s First Lady after I saw her in two occasions that made me think if she was made of Tupperware or Rubbermaid. Go ask her TV crew. They have monster stories to tell. Of course, not all people knew that.
