(A crowd gathered at Manila Memorial Park Saturday morning, June 24, 2023, to mark the second death anniversary of President Benigno S. Aquino III, with Mass celebrated by Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD.
Speaking for the family and about what his uncle has come to mean to Filipinos, Francis “Kiko” Dee delivered the remarks after the Mass to thank the gathering. In his homily Father Villanueva spoke about the leader, the man, indeed the Christian that PNoy represented in life—including an anecdote when he didn’t want to start dinner without waiting for his staff to come to the table, highlighting PNoy’s capacity “to recognize the needs of the people,” or “Marunong kumilala sa mga kapos (recognizing the need of the disadvantaged)”; or how often he would be asked, “Kamusta ang iyong love life (how is your love life)” and his “double love life”—Coca Cola and chicharon.
Below, the remarks of Kiko Dee and video clips from the Mass.)
Good morning and thank you to everyone gathered here in loving memory of our Tito Noy on his second death anniversary. Thank you to Fr. Flavie for agreeing to celebrate today’s Mass within one hour of receiving our invitation, and to Amor Castillo, Ms. A, for leading the NCAF team that organized today’s Mass.
Two years later, there remains a gaping Tito Noy-shaped hole in all of our hearts, but something that has given us in the family some comfort these past two years is this practice that emerged of leaving Tito Noy’s favorite snacks for him here in Manila Memorial. It reminds us that we aren’t alone in missing him.
Those who’ve been coming here regularly since 1983 know that this is new. We never thought to leave a basket of mangoes or a box of Krispy Kreme for Lola Cory or some Kapampangan food for Lolo Ninoy. (Nor would I recommend it since these are perishable.) So how did this come about? The immediate answer is that Tito Noy was just a big fan of some very specific foods. (Coke Regular, not Zero. Green Nagaraya, not yellow. Red cherry Lifesavers only.) But is there something more to it?
Kiko Dee: One more drop of sweat…
I vaguely remembered a tribute written by one of his speechwriters, which ended with a promise to leave a Coke and a pack of cigarettes at his grave. With some help, I found and reread Charles Tuvilla’s beautifully-written piece on the ABS-CBN News website. Here’s more from the ending:
Si 7-5 siguro mismo ang unang magsasabing hindi siya perpekto, bilang tao man, o bilang Pangulo. Sa katunayan, maaaring sabihin na ang konsepto ng imperpeksyon—sa sarili niya at sa bansa—ang nagtulak sa kanyang bumangon kada araw, hindi para maging perpekto sa isang iglap ang lahat, kundi para baguhin at pagandahin, kahit unti-unti, kahit gaano kasalimuot, ang estado ng isang bansang dati’y nasanay na sa mentalidad na wang-wang.
When Tito Noy passed, most public tributes to him used some version of the line, “He wasn’t a perfect president, but…” I used to think that this was some attempt to assuage the trolls, but today, I wonder if Charles was right. Maybe Tito Noy was inspiring not because he was martyred for the country or because he defeated a dictator, but because he was imperfect. Among other things, he probably liked Coke and chicharon a bit too much, but despite his imperfections, he spent every day of his working life to move us just a little bit closer to the impossible dream of a perfect nation.
Maybe that’s what the snacks mean. Hopefully, none of us here will be martyrs. Most of us probably won’t be dragonslayers. But who can’t relate with the struggle of doing our part despite our imperfections? Sometimes, all it takes is just one more drop of blood, one more drop of sweat, or one more drop of tears to make the country we love just a little bit more perfect. And on the days we fail, sometimes, it just takes one more drop (or can) of Coke to pick ourselves back up and try again tomorrow.
Again, thank you everyone for coming and good morning.
