TOUCHED AND COMFORTED BY CORY...

Cory's death brought back memories of love, kindness, courage and love of country.

Allow me to share with you, one story of one person I know, who in normal circumstances would not share this story for fear of being misinterpreted that he's bragging of a past association. The truth is, he would rather keep mum about it.

But when he heard about Cory's death, he remembered this incident as if it happened just the other day, as he allowed himself to succumbed to grief shared by many.

This is his story...

He was not a former cabinet member, not one of the known personalities in the Administration that came after the toppling of the Marcos regime, but this man will never forget and will forever cherished in his heart that just like the powerful men of that administration, he too was trusted by the lady in yellow.

“Minsan, nakakahiya, kasi siya pa ang laging nagpapasalamat sa amin, na para bang siya pa ang may karangalan na nakasama kami. Lagi pa niya kaming tinatanong kung kumain na kami o kung pagod na ba kami. Ganun siya. Mapagpakumbaba,” says Eduardo De Guzman, 53 years old, retired senior cameraman of TV-5 and one of the selected close-in cameramen of President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino under Radio-TV-Malacanang then spearheaded by Maria Montelibano.

De Guzman, as a news cameraman is known for his mild-mannered demeanor, one of the bests in his field, but not one who will come forward and brag about anything, but upon hearing the news of Cory’s death, he felt a deep sense of loss and grief and remembered instantly how for one unforgettable moment, the former president accorded him the highest honor that humbled him.

It was just a day after the devastating earthquake of July 16, 1990, De Guzman was on duty in Malacanang, he came on time, never the type to go absent without a valid reason, but while he was physically present, his mind was somewhere else, worried for what happened to his relatives and his town mates in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija. “Isa sa mga tinamaan ng lindol noon ang Nueva Ecija, tapos ang nababalita lang yung sa Cabanatuan, kako, paano yung mas malalayong lugar na noong mga panahong iyon, mahirap pang maabot, tulad ng bayan namin sa Gabaldon. Duty ako, pero di ako mapakali,” narrates De Guzman.

De Guzman was worried that the roads maybe blocked and that the supply of food for those in the remote parts of Nueva Ecija like Gabaldon would be scarce. He mustered the courage within him and asked his direct superior, Montelibano, if it’s possible that help could also be extended to those in other parts of Nueva Ecija and not only in Cabanatuan City. Montelibano discussed the matter not with the then Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos who is also the Chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council NDCC but directly to the president herself.

Montelibano never went back to De Guzman to tell him what happened to his request, not intentionally, De Guzman noted, but due to the hectic schedule that his direct boss had to attend to at that time. That very same day, the president was scheduled to record a statement and he was assigned, as usual to be the studio cameraman.

After President Aquino finished with her statement recorded and for nationwide broadcast related to the earthquake that hit the country in 1990, she walked towards him and smiled. In a motherly way, she placed her hand on his shoulder, tapped it as if to pacify him, “Ed, Huwag ka ng mag-alala, magpapadala tayo ng tulong sa mga kababayan mo. Manalangin ka na walang napinsala sa kanila,” President Aquino told him and then she left the room.

De Guzman recalled that his body shivered and he felt a rush of emotion that humbled him a 100X over. “Akalain mo, nilapitan ako. Hinawakan pa ako sa balikat at tinawag ako sa aking pangalan.” To be called by his first name by the President was a big deal for a production crew like him because De Guzman thought, he probably was just one of the persons in the room, serving at the pleasure of the president. That single gesture validated what they knew all along, that the president they’re serving, trusts them and consider them as part of her family.

Recalling that moment, De Guzman said, it was as if his own mother touched and comforted him.

Later that day, she was called to Montelibano’s office where his direct boss told him, the President has ordered that three truckloads of relief goods be deployed to Gabaldon and nearby remote areas that was also hit by the Earthquake. There was another message for De Guzman, one that really startled and humbled him. “Sabi ni Boss Maria, sabi raw ni presidente, ako na ang magdala ng relief goods sa Gabaldon at sa iba pang bayan na malalayo sa Nueva Ecija.”

And so it was in July of 1990, a cameraman from Malacanang led a relief mission of not just one but three military trucks full of relief goods to the remote towns of Nueva Ecija and it was made possible because the president listened to a plea of someone who thought he was just a face in the crowd, a nobody.

On the day of President Aquino’s burial, De Guzman vowed to serve his president again. “Kahit retired na ako, manghihiram ako ng camera, lalabas uli ako, kukuha uli ako ng video, sasamahan ko ang Sambayang Filipino sa paghahatid sa pangulong tunay na makapangyarihan pero mas matingkad ang pagiging mapagpakumbaba.”

Truly, how can anyone forget and not share this act of kindness that was just one of the many reasons why she is loved by many? (end)