Dear Editor,

Last Wednesday a grateful and tearful nation bade goodbye to Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, well-loved 11th president of the Republic of the Philippines, internationally known icon of democracy, loving mother and grandmother, and a fellow Tarlaquena.

In between trying to get some work done, once in a while I would walk to the TV lounge to catch a glimpse of President Cory’s slow-moving funeral procession mobbed by hundreds of thousands of mourners and admirers chanting her name. From a distance the emotionally charged scene looked like a canvas of yellow and black colors with brown hands jutting out of the picture.

I felt sad that I wasn’t in Manila for this historic moment; I wished I could have joined some of my friends who patiently waited for hours somewhere along the route to the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque, to pay their last respects to a much-respected lady. Perhaps I’ll feel better if I can share with you my simple personal experience with President Cory. I will no longer extol her many virtues because by now you’ve heard, read and seen a lot about this national leader who has left us with beautiful memories to last a lifetime. Allow me to share my personal story to demonstrate the profound impact President Cory had on those whose lives she touched including mine.

I had completed my six years of employment at the Westin Philippine Plaza when the much-heralded EDSA Revolution took place in February 1986. Yes, my family and I were among the more than a million Filipinos who marched on EDSA, an unprecedented collective action that ousted a 20-year dictatorial regime, installed our country’s first lady president and restored democratic processes throughout the land.

A couple of months later I was called upon to serve the new government, invited to lend a helping hand in the best way that I knew how. That’s how I landed in the Department of Tourism, as Deputy Executive Director of then Philippine Convention Bureau which later our team evolved into what is now the Philippine Convention & Visitors Corporation.

Passion to serve

Leaving my comfort zone in the private sector, I suddenly found myself in an unfamiliar capacity as a public servant. I didn’t mind the pay cut nor the bureaucracy because amidst the euphoria of our country’s newfound freedom, I, too had a passion to serve.

My colleagues and I were always in awe whenever we would catch a glimpse of President Cory in her signature yellow suits at official functions. One of my memorable moments with her was when she addressed the DOT staff in one of our tourism events. She reminded us to shun the “excesses of the past regime” and remain “simple, humble and honest.” She told us to be a role model and put “service to God, country and people” above all else. Those words of wisdom set the standards for my three-year government service.

My job was to promote the Philippines as a tourism and convention destination. And it turned out to be the most professionally enriching and emotionally rewarding job I’ve ever had in my entire career.

As part of my numerous marketing responsibilities, I travelled overseas either to help man the Philippine booth at international travel fairs, attend tourism conferences or go out on selling missions with my colleagues. As I recall, we did all these functions on a shoestring budget. After getting used to staying in the finest Westin hotels whenever I travelled for my previous employer, my new team and I searched for budget hotels, especially in countries where room rates were astronomically high. Once we found ourselves staying in a Holiday Inn in the middle of nowhere. I asked my traveling companion, our Tourism Attache in Washington DC, where on earth she found this motel. In an age when computers were not yet a way of life, she simply relied on what the travel agent said “our budget could afford.”

Instead of renting cars, we would have fun chasing taxi cabs in busy streets like Chicago or New York. Even the Tourism Secretary himself set an example for all of us, reminding us about President Cory’s standards. He, too, chased taxi cabs. I vividly remember one Winter day in Berlin, when my immediate superior, the Undersecretary of Tourism Marketing, and I stood almost freezing outside the exit gate of the world’s largest tourism fair. Along came a tourism official from Thailand and asked us what we were doing out there in the bitter cold. We replied that we were waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back to our hotel. He looked at us incredulously and asked, “Whatever happened to the stretch limos that your predecessors used to have?”

The world was happy for us Filipinos

Shortly after joining the DOT, the very first overseas function I attended was a convention of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) in Brisbane. All the Asian destinations were vying for a slot to speak and present their country before these 1,000 tourism professionals. Because of the Cory magic, AFTA gave the Philippines the first priority to present. I got so nervous by this unexpected opportunity that the Tourism Secretary almost had to push me onto the stage to deliver the opening spiel and introduce him as he warned me, “It’s now or never.”

Everywhere we went, people opened doors for the Philippine tourism team, and we felt that the world was just so happy for us Filipinos. More often than not, we would be asked about President Cory. One time I had to show my tourism brochures to a Customs officer who found my carry-on too bulky. But all he asked was, “How about giving me a picture of Cory?”

A year after joining the DOT, I represented the government in an Asia-Pacific tourism conference in Bangkok just after the May 11, 1987 elections. My staff had prepared a speech for me, which was about tourism statistics and tourist attractions in the Philippines. After my first nerve-wracking experience in Brisbane, by this time I had gained a bit of self-confidence in public speaking. But instead of reading my prepared speech on statistics, I just told the audience the story about the EDSA people power revolution, how the events unfolded, how we, as a people staged a bloodless coup that toppled a dictatorship and installed Ninoy Aquino’s widow as the rightful president, the position denied her after she was cheated of victory in an earlier snap election. Following the restoration of democracy, I told them that we experienced the largest turnout of voters in our history, as the Filipinos, basking in their newfound freedom, were eager to elect their own local officials and national leaders in Senate and Congress. As I talked I noticed that some American men in the audience were in tears, probably touched by the pride and joy of all Filipinos who I represented. After my 15-minute talk, a reporter came to me and asked for a copy of my speech. I told him that I didn’t have any; I just spoke from the heart.

I’ve also spoken from the heart in writing this email. Thank you for writing me to share with you and your readers my memories of the late President Cory. I hope you all had the patience to read this email.

In closing, I just want to say that in death, President Cory reawakened the Filipino spirit and united us once more.

I am so proud to be a Filipino. And prouder that I once served President Cory’s government.

Sincerely

Lynn

*** Lynn Z. Romero is currently Director of Sales & Marketing, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu