At home in Ateneo de Manila’s Church of the Gesù, former Cabinet secretaries bade their final farewell to the man who led them, the late Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

It was a reunion imagined under better circumstances given the limits imposed by the pandemic. But many of those who served in the Aquino administration were still willing to venture out.

After a Mass officiated by the Jesuit priests of the university, members of Aquino’s most trusted circle shared their memories of working with the late president and the lessons they carried years after stepping outside Malacañang.

‘He did not give up’

Former energy secretary Rene Almendras, a longtime friend, gave a glimpse into the personal life of Aquino, also called PNoy, and the private moments when the former president would say what was on his mind. 

The two had grown so close since that first meeting in a party as young boys. By the time Aquino’s health condition worsened in the last few years, Almendras, along with some others, had sat in some of the doctors’ meetings with Aquino.  

Almendras asked his fellow Cabinet members to forgive him for not divulging details of the former president’s condition. Aquino had sworn him to secrecy. When Aquino died, it still came as a shock to Almendras and other close friends, since they had in fact been making plans on where the former president would stay after his scheduled kidney transplant.

“We were so looking forward to the transplant….. He was a fighter to the end. Hindi ho sumusuko si PNoy (PNoy did not give up),” he said.

Almendras said it was true the former president could be difficult to understand. But when he read the letter of the slain former senator Ninoy Aquino to his son, one would understand why Noynoy acted the way he did. 

“Alam po ni PNoy kung anong pakiramdam (PNoy knew the feeling of) what it is to be helpless, to be powerless. Alam po ni PNoy what it feels to be api (PNoy knew what it felt like to be oppressed). But that did not make him a bitter person,” Almendras said. 

Aquino was only 22 when his father took him aside and tasked him with looking after his mother and sisters, before leaving the United States to return to the Philippines in 1983.

‘That was PNoy’

To Almendras, Aquino’s family history meant that being the son of the nation’s democracy icons shaped the values he’d push for as president from 2010 to 2016.

Top of the list was Aquino’s zero tolerance for abusing his position, and some of the perks that went along with it. Almendras cited Aquino’s famous “no wangwang” policy as the embodiment of this spirit. 

“It was not illegal to do so if you were in power. But the President’s point was: ‘Hindi mo kailangan gawin ‘yan, kahit may kapangyarihan ka.’ (You did not need to do it just because you were in power),” he said.

Aquino had also been adamant about refusing gestures that would show his more personal side, even after criticism that he seemed insensitive to issues that required some emotion. Alemendras cited the deadly Mamasapano clash – “the elephant in the room” – where 44 elite officers died in a botched terrorist raid.

“Sana daw niyakap ng presidente yung isang namatayan. Hindi siya ganu’n. Hindi niya gagawin yun para pakitang tao lang. Pero alam natin lahat anong ginawa natin para sa namatay,“ he said, recalling Aquino’s orders to provide for the family of the killed officers.

(People said he should have embraced one of the victim’s family members. But he was not like that. He would not do that just for show. But we all know what we did for those who died)

Then there was the time Aquino prayed by listening to music, with Bukas Palad’s Anima Christi playing for 3 hours as he waited for the Indonesian government to decide on Mary Jane Veloso’s fate. Veloso was the overseas Filipino worker who was awaiting her fate in Indonesia’s death row. And the time he sang Ateneo’s alma mater song – a hymn that goes, “Mary for you, for your White and Blue” – as a response to rumors that he’d closed Malacañang’s chapel and taken out the statue of Mary.

“That was PNoy,” Almendras said, recalling more stories.

Memories of Aquino

Former executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., the first to speak after the mass, eulogized the former president with an imagined list of final orders he would have given his former Cabinet secretaries.

Ochoa was regarded as the primus inter pares, or Latin for “the first among equals,” in the group.

According to Ochoa, Aquino would have wanted the older among them to take it easy and those who could, to still help the country even as private citizens.

“We are all saddened by his passing away, but at the same time lahat tayo papunta rin doon…. Mauuna na daw siya, tinotoo niya ‘yun (but at the same time we’re all headed toward the same end…. He said he’d go ahead first, and he did),” Ochoa said. 

Aquino had only one executive secretary throughout his entire six-year term in Ochoa, whom the late president called the “little president” – a reference to the common monicker given to the Office of the Executive Secretary.

Since Aquino entered politics in 1998, Ochoa had been his principal legal counsel. He had attributed all of his supposedly sound legal decisions to Ochoa.

Aquino’s lessons

Aquino’s longtime chief of staff Julia Abad shared lessons she learned from a decade of working directly under him. Abad was the chief of the Presidential Management Staff under Aquino’s term.

She talked of three lessons:

First, Abad said Aquino had wanted all who worked with him “to take pride” in their work. Abad recalled days when Aquino had reminded them they were in a position to help people and that they must take their jobs seriously.

Second, Aquino’s staffers learned from him that “leadership is about being of service to others.” Abad highlighted Aquino being a leader who set himself as an example for others, pointing when Aquino followed traffic rules without seeking special treatment.

Third, Aquino’s staffers learned to “have faith in the youth.” His faith in his staffers showed this, Abad said, with her as an example. She also observed this in Aquino intently listening to students.

“You have fought the good fight, Sir, and it was our honor and privilege to have played our own little parts,” Abad said.

Aquino’s legacy

Former Anti-Poverty Commission chief Joel Rocamora shared an intimate examination of Aquino. In his tribute, Rocamora zoomed into Aquino’s vulnerability – his “burden.”

“Noy carried a very heavy burden, a burden of what he felt was the responsibility of his family, the obligation of his family to our nation,” Rocamora said.

He said, however, that with Aquino’s service and his passing, the burden has been lifted from the family, saying “Tinubos na ni Noy (Noy has lifted it).”

Before closing his speech, Rocamora posed a challenge to everyone to share in the “responsibility” Aquino carried – the responsibility to serve the country.

“We commit to keep that legacy alive. The best way to keep that legacy alive is to make sure we have a president that keeps, that understands that legacy, and will be able to continue the legacy of service to our country – the legacy of decency in governance,” Rocamora said.

Aquino’s fight

Detained opposition Senator Leila de Lima, Aquino’s justice secretary, wrote and sent her eulogy. She said she answered the former president’s call to join his administration because the “the fight is more worthwhile with people like him by our side.”

“We found ourselves in the same path because we both believed it leads to a better Philippines for all Filipinos,” she said.

Former education secretary Brother Armin Luistro said Aquino’s push to reform the Philippine education sector also gave the country a “fighting chance to compete with the rest of the world.”

“Maybe the nation will not always acknowledge your accomplishments, but I will trust you on this and not lose sleep on some of the unfair criticisms of our administration…. You can rest now, Mr President. Wala po kayong utang sa ating mga boss (You no longer owe any debt to our bosses),” Luistro said.

Listen to other Cabinet secretaries speeches below:

Former social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman

Former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas

– Rappler.com