An Evening with Noynoy                                                    

By  Candy Cruz      

At a small birthday dinner, I had the privilege of meeting Senator Benigno 

Aquino lll,an opportunity I had with President ERAP and Senator  Manny    

Villar in the past. But this was something different. We sat and chatted  

from 930pm to 230am. It's  rare for me to stay up this late, but strange  

enough, he kept me wide-eyed til the wee hours. And anyone who can keep my 

body clock from fading after 10pm must be interesting enough, to say the  

least. From that day, privately, Noynoy Aquino has surprisingly shot down  

my lifelong apathy towards this country and spawned a brand new excitement 

in me for its future.                                                      

Noynoy was little in my consciousness before this very informal meeting,  

shortly after both his Mother's death and accepting the challenge to ran  

for president. The little consciousness I have of politicians, and in this 

case Noynoy, was that of being the son of the late President Corazon      

Aquino, whom my Dad,the late Ambassador JV Cruz, mercilessly villified,or  

so it was said. That certainly was no secret. Rightfully or wrongfully so, 

and that is a matter of opinion, it was a good half a century ago and      

nobody wants to consciously live in a time warp. I was a Marcosian and not 

a Coryista and that’s history.                                            

So let's not rewind to Cory, that was a good half a century ago, but fast  

forward to Noynoy.  Whatever he said that night made bloody good sense to  

me. He left me absolutely gobsmacked. His words spewed out palpably from  

his head and his heart, rather unlike the laid back man he appeared to be. 

He was incredibly well informed and he talked about everything.. .country, 

the constitution, his kind of politics, travel, which he admitted he      

enjoyed but did not have the lust for. He talked about books, quoting from 

authors from the top of his head.

He spoke animatedly about the attempted assassination on his life,        

ducking, diving, bleeding. pointing to where the bullets were still lodged 

in his neck and in his leg,inoperable. I am surprised that up to this day, 

he could have very well defended the insults from people who perceive him  

to be abnormal and I am quite sure he is being judged on the basis of his  

gait and the slight immobility of his neck. That’s way beneath him. And    

his depth.               

I will not go into details about his political platform because whatever  

he said then, in the confines of that little room, he is saying to this    

day. He's been extremely consistent, to say the least. His words were      

intelligent, one may say not as intelligent as Marcos or GMA, but need I  

say more? You decide. And just to make a slight diversion, it is          

documented that Hitler's Nazis at Nuremberg had IQs in the genius range.  

But intelligence, being relative, probably has no relevance to IQ.        

So what is wrong with an above average intelligence, which a lot of world  

leaders possess, to no detriment but much benefit to their people? How    

many of them are and were really brilliant or at a cut off point for      

genius?  He did not feel the need to  blow his own horn about the three    

bills he co-authored that were passed into law or several others of which  

he was principal author, all substantial. But as anyone knows,to get      

anything  through Congress depends on one’s political affiliation versus  

the majority. But I am not going to get into the mechanics of politics.    

Senator Aquino didn't find time to filter anything in his head just to    

make sure he got things right. The words flowed spontaneously without      

restraint. It was clear as daylight that this man has the gall, intellect  

and stubborness of his Dad, and the humility, spirituality and            

thoughtfulness of his Mom, as a person. That is an explosive combination.  

A good head and a big heart. During dinner, I watched him take all of 3    

bites as he rattled on like a good raconteur. Although he smoked, he      

didn't drink as much as a glass of wine.                                  

There was no hint of any personality deficit. Yes, some character flaws    

can deny leaders from reaching their highest potential but that refers    

more to overconfidence, greed,pride, alcoholism, none of which he          

exhibited. It seemed like he knew what he wanted and that his thoughts    

were definite. Sad to say, the culture of this country being what it is,  

there is a stigma attached to anything remotely connected to the word      

psychiatrist. Call it ignorance, if you want. Granted that he ever saw a  

psychiatrist in his younger years, I bet that this was a result of the 8  

years imprisonment of his father,  and the threat on his father’s life,    

which proved to be real. And after which the responsibility laid on his    

shoulders to look after his family. What head on young shoulders will not  

feel any anxiety about something so serious and with good reason. That    

would be abnormal. That is what an acute psychiatric illness is all about. 

Something akin to a bout of flu. My brother has a chronic psychiatric      

illness and that is dead serious.              

What surprised me most was his incredible sense of humour. He was          

brilliant at mimicry and impersonation and that included his sisters.      

But,what got me in stitches was his impersonation of Josh,son of his      

sister Kris. He had a "wicked" sense of humour as the Brits would say,    

playfully malicious and mischievous. Not the conservative and sometimes    

bitter or cruel brand  that some Filipinos own. His stories were          

hilarious, and it was evident how fond he was of Josh. He spoke of him    

like a surrogate father would. He hardly touched on the subject of his Mom 

or Dad. He was his own man with his own opinions. He struck me as          

unaffected. Nothing seemed to faze him. Except one thing, I felt.          

Before we broke up at 230am, some of the company I was in, all of          

five,asked him to sign a photo of him. When I grabbed mine,I asked that he 

please address it to my mother-in-law. I told him she was not well,that    

she had cancer, and that I hoped it might make her smile a little. Taking  

his pen, his hand froze for a second and as he nudged his glasses further  

into place,he asked, almost solemnly,how he should address her. I told him 

how,and for one brief moment,he became pensive before he wrote to address  

her dearly. He was thoughtful as he added a short message "Prayers for    

your recovery," signed Noynoy Aquino. As I watched him,I felt we were both 

on the same wavelength. He had just lost his Mom to cancer and I had lost  

both my parents to cancer. We knew about the disease and the suffering it  

brought. It’s called compassion.             

Noynoy made no negative comment about anyone, politician or otherwise,    

including the Marcoses. He didn't single them out, and only spoke of      

overhauling the justice system and that he would see to it that there was  

closure to all pending cases,  whatever their numbers and whoever they    

were. He did not compare himself to any politician. Switching from fluent  

tagalog to fluent english was a piece of cake for him.  He didn't swagger  

in or swagger out. Before he came into the fray, I had only voted once in  

my life and stayed away from this country for almost forty odd years.      

After this, I decided to re-register because I was out of COMELEC’S        

radar. As election nears, I still can't seem to kick off the impact he    

left on me.              

I hope I'm right.