(photo courtesy of The Second Chronicles Gospel Singers)

(via inquirer.net) The city council of Pasay approved a resolution on Friday requesting the National Historical Institute (NHI) to place a marker at the a small church where the late president Corazon ‘Cory’ Aquino and martyred senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino were married.

Councilor Noel Bayona, the proponent of the resolution, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that the place where the couple exchanged their vows was unknown to many.

Cory and Ninoy were married at Our Lady of Sorrows Church on F.B. Harrison Street, Pasay City, on October 11, 1954.

The resolution said that by placing a historical marker where the Aquinos celebrated important events in their lives, particularly the place where they were married, “their lives are forever remembered by the country.”

“During the dark days of martial rule in the country, the late senator Aquino had carried on the crusade of fighting the dictatorship and the restoration of the democracy which eventually led to his assassination at the international airport,” the resolution said.

The resolution added that the senator did not die in vain as his advocacies were continued by his wife.

On Monday, the city council will send the request and a copy of the resolution to the NHI headquarters.

Today a wife is brought to her final resting place beside her man in Manila Memorial Park.  In a corner so ordinary as everything around them, the only indication they’re even there is if one doesn’t happen to miss two plain epitaphs bearing the couple’s nicknames: “CORY” and “NINOY.”

Ninoy didn’t have the privilege to see his housewife become the first woman president in all of Asia.  Their 29 years of marriage has been punctuated by his seven and a half years of incarceration, and cut short by his brutal assassination.  His death served as the candle that shed light until his countrymen joined his cause which turned darkness into yellow. Her passing, a reminder never to give in to that gloom that tries to envelope us as a nation.

My wife & I belong to a generation who only knew Cory as a widow, but never a wife. Our blog entries the past couple of days served as our own first time glimpse into her married life.  Indeed, Ninoy and his housewife was an ordinary couple who led extra ordinary lives because of their love for the country.  May our generation never forget that ‘the good & the beautiful’ is a stark contrast from the simple and ordinary.

This is our final tribute to Ninoy’s bride.  Here we celebrate her life & love!

“I’ve been thinking, ‘Would I ever have married anybody else?’ I don’t think so. And not that nobody ever looked at me. Because I am vain enough to think that there were others. But none of them ever measured to my husband’s qualities. And I feel blessed that we found each other…”

- Cory on being married to Ninoy

“He could solve almost any problem. And I also felt whatever problem I had, I could just bring to him, and he would find ways and means of addressing that problem, or the two of us could easily look for solutions. But this time, both of us were powerless to do so. And so the two of us naturally had to turn to God. And while I was prayerful before, I was not as fervently prayerful as I became. Because before, what were my problems? Really nothing. And very inconsequential com­pared to the enormous problems that were brought to us because of Martial Law.”

- Cory, on being married to Ninoy during his incarceration

(The above clips are part of Cory’s video interview by Dr. Shann Ferch in November 2004. Visit coryaquino.ph to view the complete video interview and the full transcript.)

• October 11, 1954 - Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino married Corazon ‘Cory” Cojuangco at our Lady of Sorrow Church along F.B. Harrison st. in Pasay City.

• Cory’s wedding gown was made by National Artist for Fashion Design, the late, great Ramon Valera. [source]

• Having come from political families, then President Ramon Magsaysay (leftmost) stood as a principal sponsor (ninong) in the wedding [source]

• During the reception, a dove from the wedding bell landed on Cory’s head. The old folks believed it was an omen of a higher position, power and peace. But due to the bride’s quiet and simple demeanor, the good sign was taken to mean it’s the groom who would be president someday. Cory would later confide that no one knew then the dove landing on her head would mean she, not Ninoy, would be president someday. [source]

• 1973 - their 19 wedding anniversary. Ninoy wrote a 19-stanza poem for his wife entitled “I have fallen in Love with the Same Woman Thrice“ from his prison cell in Fort Bonifacio.  This was later set to music by singer/songwriter Jose Mari Chan.

• 1979 - their 25th wedding anniversary. Ninoy begged Marcos to allow him to leave prison for the renewal of their marriage vows. Marcos, perhaps calculating that Ninoy was already a spent political force, granted the prisoner a thirty-six-hour furlough to celebrate his silver anniversary. [source]

•  Ninoy also used the vow renewal occasion to slip a letter to Jaime Cardinal Sin, who led the ceremony. It is said that it was Cory who passed on the letter to the His Eminence. Ninoy said: “Your eminence, only you can lead our exodus through the desert.”  [source]
  

The year was 1973.  Ninoy wrote an ode for Cory from within his prison cell in Fort Bonifacio as a political detainee during the Marcos Regime.  The original poem is composed of 19 stanzas symbolic of the years of their marriage.  It’s a tribute to his wife sacrifices for him and their family as he served his country and fought for freedom.  Its theme was both emotional and political.

In 1987,  singer/songwriter Jose Mari Chan was commissioned to set the poem into music.  The piece adopted the first line of the poem for its title “I Have Fallen in Love (with Same The Woman Three Times)” and was included in Chan’s top-selling album “Constant Change” which has since achieved a Diamond Record status (10 times platinum in terms of sales). The song didn’t get as much airplay on the radio then as much as the big hits from the album (i.e. “Beautiful Girl”, “Please Be Careful With My Heart”).  But the paean now serves as one of the theme upon the former president’s demise.

On the day of Cory’s passing, the Joe Mari Chan was interviewed by Arnold Clavio & Vikki Morales for GMA News detailing about how the song came to be.  When requested by the news anchors to sing parts of the song, Chan obliged but turned emotional midway.  Below is a clip of that 9-minute interview:

A remake by Christian Bautista is due to be released soon and will be included in his new album containing 19 Jose Mari Chan classics. Below is the full lyrics of the song and a YouTube clip as Bautista sang it live for the first time in yesterday’s tribute for Cory in ABS-CBN’s Sunday noontime show, ASAP.

I Have Fallen in Love (with the Same Woman Three Times)
words by Benigno Aquino, Jr.
music by Jose Mari Chan

 I have fallen in love
With the same woman three times
In a day spanning 19 years
Of tearful joys and joyful tears

I loved her first when she was young
Enchanting and vibrant, eternally new
She was brilliant, fragrant
And cool as the morning dew

 I fell in love with her the second time
When first she bore her child and mine
Always by my side, the source of my strength
Helping to turn the tide

But there were candles to burn
The world was my concern
While our home was her domain
And the people were mine
While the children were hers to maintain

So it was in those eighteen years and a day
‘Til I was detained; forced in prison to stay

 Suddenly she’s our sole support
Source of comfort
Our wellspring of hope
On her shoulders felt the burden of life

 I fell in love again
With the same woman the third time
Looming from the battle
Her courage will never fade

 Amidst the hardships she has remained
Undaunted and unafraid.
She is calm and composed
She is God’s lovely maid

- - - - - - - - - -

Full text of the original poem is posted here.

Benz recently got an email from Roanna (ni Jarwin), a former W@Wie.  She said she just wanted to talk to someone who belonged to the time when she was so happy.

(this and photo below by Nice Print)

Maan has been one of the 30 W@Wie brides who had an 08.08.08 wedding. But as the countdown to her first wedding anniversary begins, she is scared of the pain that might hit her. You see, Jarwin has passed on last May 2009 due to heart attack while swimming during a company outing. It was our first time to receive such an email from a beloved W@Wie.

Benz suggested for her to write everything down to flush a bit the sorrow out of her system, if that would help her. Maan thought long and hard about the suggestion. Eventually she did and told Benz that she actually got to smile at the end.  In Maan’s word: “the letter helped wonders.”

Hugs to Maan for the strength and courage for sharing her story with all of us. The W@W community has been her cyber family and always will be.

- - - - - - - - - -

Dear friends,

At this time last year, I was also an excited bride-to-be. My husband and I were keen on looking for ways to make sure that we will have the wedding of our dreams may it be by attending as much bridal fairs as we can, going to Divisoria on weekends and being as much hands-on as we can. We succeeded. On August 8, 2008, my husband and I were married in Antipolo Cathedral and it was the happiest day in our lives. After the wedding, we moved to an apartment immediately and experienced the independent and carefree life of a newlywed couple. We traveled, went to malls and enjoyed life’s simple pleasures like cuddling on DVD nights or doing the grocery on payday or eating burger at midnight or doing the house chores while playing loud music.

But everything crashed on May 1 this year. Eight months through our marriage, my husband had a heart attack while swimming during our company outing. There was no premonition. We really didn’t expect it. Although he had a family history of heart conditions, he was so fit and healthy. I couldn’t find words to describe what I feel - anger, pain, guilt…. He passed away at the time when we were so in love and had so much hope for the future. We didn’t even have the chance to have kids together. I am still in pain. I am still grieving. I have my good days when I can appreciate the blessings in spite of the tragedy. But most of the time I have my bad days when I feel like tearing my hair out and just cry myself to sleep. It is especially difficult now because our first wedding anniversary is coming up. I keep remembering how my husband and I would talk about how we would spend it and where we would travel to celebrate it. Thinking about that day really scares me.

But I am writing not to paint a grim picture of my life. I am sharing this because I would like to point out five lessons in our love story which hopefully would do some good for married couples, even future ones too.

• Never waste your time with petty quarrels - Although our married life was happy, we were not a perfect couple. We also have our petty quarrels like tampuhan over who would prepare our meal or for not being able to text at the right time or for being 30 minutes late. We’d not talk for some time until during the wee hours in the morning when we were both in bed then he would reach out and hug me then say, “bati na tayo.” Oh how I wish I could bring back the time and not even bother with these petty things. Never ever let a day pass without patching things up and talking it over. Now I realize that I should have said sorry more often.

• Offer words of affirmation - I remember how we would often ask each other: do you love me or are you happy with me? It was good that we did this because right now, his words of affirmation keep me going whenever I am on the verge of depression. Besides, expressing your love and your happiness will add strength to your relationship.

• Find joy out of simple things - Always show your partner that you appreciate him — whether it’s a phone call during the day to say hello, or buying lugaw for pasalubong, or cooking his favorite meal. And when he does something for you, don’t forget to say thank you even for little things. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt  — don’t fall into that trap.

• Always make memories - Our time was short but for me, every minute was in color. Every word exchanged, every place we’ve been to and every restaurant we ate at were all deeply etched on my mind. It helped that we had our websites and albums to document our life together. Our first purchase as a couple was a digital camera and it was so well-used that we were able to build 6 albums of pictures in such a short time.

• Express your love - A hug, a touch in the head, a peck on the cheek — there are so many ways to express your love. But most importantly, verbalize it. Saying “I love you” as much as you can will not only make your partner feel good but will also inspire him.

We were married on 888 and spent 8 months together as husband and wife. Yes, I still feel rotten and empty at times. But I have hope in the future and trust in the Lord. I will survive this. My husband’s life was short but it was a life well-lived. But I believe in our love and I believe that we will see each other again – in God’s time. God bless all of you.

Roanna (ni Jarwin)
8-8-8 | Antipolo Cathedral
http://dacruzes.multiply.com