FAMILY FRIEND SAYSDaughter Kris was Aquino�s nurse By Fe ZamoraPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 21:07:00 08/01/2009Filed Under: Cory AquinoMANILA, Philippines � Former president Corazon Aquino�s
�crisis baby� Kris Aquino-Yap has done her mother proud.Kris, 38, stayed close to her mother until the end.Aquino�s youngest daughter stood by while undertakers prepared the former President�s
remains at the Heritage Park in Taguig City�She came out the strongest among them,� according to a family friend, who witnessed the five Aquino siblings in crisis.According to this friend, Kris
attended to her mother�s bedside needs like a professional nurse.She was also the first one to embrace the former President after each radiation therapy.Kris was such a good nurse, her eldest sister
Ballsy endearingly called her "Florence Nightingale."�She performed the duties of a real nurse.
She was in control,� the family friend said.Deedee Siytangco, Aquino�s spokesperson in Malaca�ang, said that Kris and her siblings, Maria Elena �Ballsy� Cruz, Aurora Corazon �Pinky� Abelleda, Senator
Benigno �Noynoy� Aquino III and Victoria Eliza �Viel� Dee �drew strength from each other.�The former President died early Saturday morning after more than a year of battling cancer of the
colon.Aquino was diagnosed with cancer in March 2008.
When the family first announced her illness early last year, they did not say what stage Aquino's cancer was at.On June 24, the former President was confined at the Makati Medical Center and was
reported to be in �serious condition.�Last month, Kris revealed on her TV show that her mother had stage 4 colon cancer and was in "pain.'' She also said she was taking a leave from TV hosting and
appearances to be with her mother.A highly paid TV host and product endorser, Kris was born in the midst of a �major crisis� in the family.Her father, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was an opposition
senator.
Six months after Kris was born on Feb.
14, 1971, a grenade exploded at the political rally of the Liberal Party, wounding some of her father�s partymates.
(Aquino, who was not present when the blast occurred, was at one time even blamed for it.)On Sept.
21, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos placed the country under martial law and ordered the arrest of all opposition politicians, including Ninoy Aquino.At age five, Kris wooed the crowds as a
precocious stand-in for her father who campaigned for the 1978 Batasan Pambansa elections from his detention cell in Fort Bonifacio.In 1980, Marcos allowed Ninoy Aquino to undergo heart by-pass
surgery in the US.
The Aquinos moved to Boston where they lived for three years.
It was here where Kris finally got to know her father.For Cory Aquino, Kris was always her �baby.�Every August 21, the Aquino family and friends would gather at the grave of Ninoy at the Manila
Memorial Park for mass.After Kris joined show biz, her attendance at intimate family affairs was almost always covered by media.
Her mother seemed not to mind.
If at all, she seemed to enjoy Kris� celebrity status.At the August 2004 memorial mass, Aquino was anxiously searching the crowd for Kris, who showed up in a light yellow blouse and tight jeans which
were ripped at the knees.The usually soft-spoken former President exclaimed with joy: �Look at you, your jeans are torn,� as she extended her arms to embrace Kris.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090801-218284/Daughter-Kris-was-Aquinos-nurse
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