Cory! Ko-wee! Kowee!

Cory Aquino's death on August 1 gave us the opportunity for a little history lesson with the boys. As we watched the news coverage of her funeral arrangements and the tributes to this great woman, we were able to explain to the boys that, when their Mommy and Daddy were teenagers in 1986, Cory Aquino became President after "People Power." We told them that Cory's husband was Ninoy Aquino, and that the bad people killed him when he arrived at the airport because they didn't want him to be President. Baz immediately made the name connection, and asked, "Did that happen in NAIA?" Apparently, he remembers that the "NA" in "NAIA" stands for "Ninoy Aquino."

I saw Cory's cortege when it passed through Makati, and Malou went to stand on South Superhighway on the day of the funeral procession. Today it was the boys' turn.

First they made their own expressions of tribute, on paper. Hadrien made a "yellow flag," with the note "Hadrien loves Cory."



Baz made a Philippine flag, on the reverse of which he wrote a note saying,

"Dear President Cory,
Thank you for being a good President.
Love,Baz."



Then we taped them to chopstick "flagpoles."

Off we went to 25 Times St., the Aquino residence in Quezon City which has apparently become a historical site (it has an NHI marker). Ten minutes after we got there, a white SUV pulls up, and Noynoy Aquino comes out and mingles with the crowd on the way into the house - I guess he still lives there. Nice guy - he posed with the kids and Malou, took the time to shake a lot of hands, accept words of condolence, and - when Hadrien offered it - even read Hadrien's flag/note.





There was a nice lady there who gave packs of Hershey's Kisses to Noynoy, and afterwards she explained that she works for Hershey's, that Kisses were Cory's favorite, and that she'd deliver them to the Times St. residence. Touching story indeed, but the nice twist to the tale was that, finding the two mokongs so cute, she gave them a pack of Kisses each. Of course I'll have to scrutinize the chocolates since they came from a stranger, and taste test most of the pack.



We stuck the boys' flags to the gate with the permission of one of the bantay, all of whom were very nice and genuinely pleased to see this outpouring for Cory.








Baz took pictures of his own, and the results were pretty interesting. Good eye Baz!






Mabuhay si Cory! Or, as Hadrien says, "Kowee! Kowee!" Yes, the two boys know how to flash the "Laban" sign!