The Cory years
by Chit Estela
VERA Files
Author with Cory at Hacienda Luisita
For someone who had undergone much sorrow and pain,Mulberry Handbags, Corazon Aquino laughed easily and well.
People unaccustomed to hearing the former president laugh would quickly turn around to look for the source of the guffaw and be surprised at the woman who was known to be demure and self-effacing. But she was given to hearty laughter, especially when faced with the ridiculous or simply anything hilarious. On one of those occasions, she was sorely misunderstood.
I was one of the reporters covering Malacanang in the last half of Mrs. Aquino’,Cartier Handbags;s six-year term as president. I was working for the daily newspaper Malaya. It was a time when the Philippines became, for some reason, a frequent disaster zone. One calamity kept happening after another–,Cartier Bags;typhoons kept hitting the country and a volcano that lay dormant for 600 years suddenly erupted and put a large area of Luzon under cover of darkness and a thick layer of lahar. Countries and international organizations that rushed eagerly to help the country at the beginning of Mrs. Aquino’s presidency began complaining and said they were suffering from what their representatives called “donor fatigue.”
One day, while waiting at the gazebo for Cabinet officials to come out of the Guest House which served as the President’s office, the ground literally started shaking beneath our feet. Water from the Pasig River began splashing onto the Palace grounds. To keep from falling down, reporters had to hold on to one another for support. Then came the frightening realization: Earthquake!
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