Goodbye Tita Cory!

I remember it was after a shoot I was covering for Childrens Hour where Pres. Cory was the speaker , myself and the other staff of Childrens hour was wishing for a photo-op with her. We waited for her to pass by the aisle on her way out of the Manila Penn Ballroom so we could have our pictures taken, Coming from the stage she started walking towards us with the Childrens hour director in tow, the director asked her if we could get some pictures with her, she obliged and we were all quite star struck and froze up, I was even thinking before of raising my hands with the L sign during the photo op. Since I was the least bashful, I started easing my way towards her to get the best position, she then grabbed me by my arm and pulled me to her side and said "o halika na wag na kayo mahiya" , I hurriedly gave my camera to Vic so we could have the picture, solo pa, but I completely forgot about the Laban sign. She obliged us with a few more pix even though she just passed up a lot of CEO's and Business Bigwigs who also where gawking for a photo op with her. She then thanked us for the service we were giving and left. I admit I've done my share of star photo ops of people I admire or are quite interesting. Some of the stars, I feel, allow photo ops with fans as part of their duty , almost mechanical , like they cant refuse else they'll end up being called mayabang. When it was with Tita Cory(nax feeling close tita), I felt it was genuine, that she really liked to have her picture taken with us. It didnt feel at all like having your picture taken with a politician while the politician simply does it to appeal to the Masas. It was a truly genuine experience. There was humility , softness yet with a strong presence in her . We were definitely lucky and honored to have had a few minutes with her, and the country is lucky to had her as a servant. Goodbye po.