From “Cooper” to “Mr. President” (Baliw baliw baliw....by tomcat the classmate)

**tomboy** · February 19th, 2012 11:55 AM

Hindi ko inaasahan na totoo pala ito.

‘Tomcat’ recalls Noynoy
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/i...=2010/april/16

Manila Standard Today
Lowdown by Jojo Robles
April 16, 2010

Readers of this column know that I rarely surrender my space to others in the form of extensive passages quoted verbatim. But today I willingly cede my allotted quota of words, editing only for style considerations, to someone who calls himself “Tomcat,” who recently wrote the following open letter (via Facebook) to leading presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino:

Dear Noynoy:

We were classmates at the Ateneo and I have no doubt that you would remember me even if we were not close. Hint: I was one of those who ribbed you about the low grade that Father Kreutz gave you in math because you could never seem to get your fractions right. Remember going ballistic over that ribbing? [Reverend Wiliam “Bill” Kreutz, SJ, is a long-time Ateneo teacher from New York who founded the Jesuit Volunteers of the Philippines—JR. All subsequent bracketed phrases are mine.]

Anyway, reading the psychological report that was posted on the Internet a few days ago certainly made me remember you. I heard you say on the news that the report was fake but you did admit that there were some things in it that were true. “Part truths” I think were your exact words. It fascinated me enough to want to read the report carefully to check out which were those things that were true.

Obvious things first, those facts that any of our classmates can confirm if asked. One of these is, as the report says, you have a labile disorder. This is whole truth. Even Father Gorospe would be distracted by your drooling during our oral exams. [The late Reverend Vitaliano Gorospe, SJ, was connected for a long time with the Ateneo Theology Department.] Father Ferriols, who made a point of showing he didn’t like you, would make side comments about it that led your classmates to give you the nickname “Cooper,” a reference to Cupertino school where we would teach Catechism to retarded children. I, however, never called you Cooper. [Reverend Roque Ferriols, SJ, taught Filipino Philosophy at Ateneo.]

The report says that you have a “major depressive disorder.” Well, I honestly don’t know if that is true. What I do know is that in school you were very temperamental and had sudden mood swings. Isang minuto, nakikikain ka kay Brudda Francis, maya’t maya nagagalit ka na. Many of our classmates can attest to witnessing scenes like this.

The report said that you used to go with your mom to see Dr. Manuel Escudero. That is a whole truth. I remember seeing you at Tito Maning’s high-rise apartment on Roxas Boulevard when we were still kids. Tito Maning was a consultant with the WHO here in Manila but he was also a psychiatrist who treated only the high society people in Manila. Even Imelda Marcos was his patient. Unfortunately, so was my mom who suffered from insecurities due to my dad’s numerous infidelities.

Tito Maning’s wife, Tita Jo, was a very good artist who had a couple of exhibits of her work before they left Manila for good a few years after martial law was declared. They lived in Topeka, Kansas. After they left, I kept a correspondence for a while with their very cute daughter Nina who I am sure you remember. I had such a crush on her. Maybe you did too. She used to talk to us “little folk” in the sala of their apartment while the “big folk” would lock themselves in the room and discuss “big folk” matters. She wanted to go to ballet school or some dance school which she did, I think, and I eventually lost track of her.

About your smoking marijuana, I also can’t say if that is wholly true. What I do know is that you would try to tag along with a group of students that would hang out with Ma’am Gloria Arroyo. [Yes, President Arroyo herself.] Mga students niya sa Economics. She was always surrounded by bright and handsome students kaya hindi ka pinapansin. Pati si Ma’am Placer, she never gave you the time of day kasi people said you were “medyo weird” and your grades were mababa per her standards.

Pero, you still tried to hang out with those guys. Trying hard to belong ba. I know those guys would drink na kasama pa si Miss Rosales na pag lasing na, kumakanta ng Spanish songs in Spanish. They would drink dozens of bottles of beer at Shakey’s Katipunan because Mrs. Ramos (our Spanish teacher in case you don’t remember) owned the restaurant. This group was also known to also smoke joints in the college auditorium, up in the closed space where the spotlights were. So, if you were hanging out with them then, you were probably also smoking marijuana too.

The report said you had a flight attendant girlfriend. This is another whole truth. I will not mention her name here to protect her but she was a PAL stewardess. I found out about this because I was on a flight with Father Samson [probably Ateneo de Davao president Reverend Antonio S. Samson] once and she was the one who seated us. When she found out we were from Ateneo, she introduced herself and said she was the girl friend of an Atenean and mentioned your name. Father Samson then asked jokingly if you were a good boyfriend to her. She shrugged and said you were “okay” but she was bothered because you were “too conservative.” You didn’t even like to kiss her daw because you were saving her for the wedding night. And you insisted that she dress very conservatively. Jealous boyfriend ka daw. No wonder that relationship ended. Maybe that’s why you got so depressed over it.

About the report. I know that [Ateneo-based Jesuit psychologist Reverend] Tito Caluag is one of your best friends. His group of “friends” are some of the richest and most influential people in the country today. I know that you used to frequently visit his home. He hosts get-togethers where things that are too esoteric for me are the subjects of discussion. At one time, this group of yours even discussed the ousting of [Ateneo president] Father [Bienvenido] Nebres because Tito Caluag had his own ideas on how Ateneo should be run. Maybe your closeness to him is why he was the one you went to when you were depressed and why he was the one who handled your case and signed your psychological report. To keep things quiet.

But I confess I actually don’t know. I do know that Tito Caluag was at one time your sister Kris’ father confessor. He may not be a very trustworthy father confessor, though, because many have heard him say aloud that “walang ginawa si Kris Aquino dito sa Ateneo kundi habulin si Alvin Patrimonio at mag-emote sa quadrangle”.

Anyway, yun muna. Good luck on your presidential run. If you become president of the Philippines, that would be really something, huh? From “Cooper” to “Mr. President” when brighter and more scheming Ateneans like Mar Roxas and Dicck Gordon have not been able to make it is an achievement that Ripley should feature.

Your old friend,

Tomcat

**tomboy** · February 19th, 2012 12:00 PM

Kung totoo ito grabe naman yung bugahan ng halo-halo. Naging sago tinubuan ng ulo tuloy si friend.

Ninoy himself sought psychiatric help for Noynoy.
FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa (The Philippine Star) Updated April 24, 2010 12:00 AM

A clincher - FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa - The Philippine Star » News » Opinion

I did not want to write about Noynoy’s mental sickness. In a political campaign season, it looked like black propaganda from rival politicians.

That was before I received information I could trust that the allegations about Noynoy’s mental illness were true. My source is apolitical but she was moved by her responsibility to her country. She decided to do her part to stop the prevarication of others who also knew. The stories about Noynoy’s mental illness are not ‘concoctions’ she said. These should not be dismissed. It should be proved.

We must look at the issue closely and not be satisfied with mere gossip but seek to establish the facts.

My source has no reason to invent a story. She is a private person who received information she feels must be told. She is connecting a story many years ago when Noynoy was a young boy in Boston, not a presidential candidate but as the well-loved only son of a father frustrated that he will not be able to carry on with his legacy.

Were Ninoy alive today, he would have been shocked at the cruelty of those who would use his son for their personal ambitions. He would have been angered by the insensitivity of those who would stop at nothing to push Filipinos, herd them into a crying mob and then set up his sick son as a presidential candidate.

* * *

This is her story:

Ninoy was worried about his son and his future because he loved him. He expressed frustration that he could not rely on his son to take up his legacy but that was not his main concern. He was more worried about his happiness as a person. That is what led him to seek help from his doctor friend.

My source said that when she read about Tomcat’s (a classmate in Ateneo) letter and other stories about Noynoy’s mental problem her mind clicked and related it to Boston days. “Ay totoo pala yung sinabi sa akin many years ago.” Both the Aquinos and the doctor’s family were living in Boston. (Ninoy and his family lived in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston in self-exile from 1980 until his assassination in 1983.)

The psychiatrist in question became a close friend of the Aquino family. The doctor is now dead but he still has relatives living in Boston. Ninoy sought the doctor and his exact words to him were: “Tingnan niyo nga si Noynoy, walang ka-drive drive (for a young boy he was lethargic). He must have a problem.” The doctor told the story to some close friends among them, the source of this story. When Tomcat’s letter came out in Manila and with Noynoy a leading presidential candidate, she thought her story ought to be known. She is not a politician. She is not indulging in malicious rumors or black propaganda. She is recalling a story told to her and a circle of friends in Boston.

* * *

Psychiatry is a tradition in the doctor’s family. His mother was also a known psychiatrist and at one time headed a top mental hospital. She wrote a paper on how family interaction in the Philippines can cause mental sickness. The paper was published in American medical journals.

His strange behavior has been told by those who knew him closely, like the classmate from Ateneo, who hid under the pseudonym Tomcat. His recollections give details and can be verified by others who knew Noynoy then. These plus how Ninoy sought help for his son can be the starting point for a serious investigation.

In Tomcat’s letter he mentions the name of a psychiatrist, Dr. Manuel Escudero. He is not the doctor in Boston to whom Ninoy talked to about Noynoy.

Noynoy’s mental illness was a recurring problem, exploding in bouts while a student in Ateneo and again when they lived in exile in Boston. That belies claims he has been cured.

(Aquino’s household help have said he regularly takes seroquel and abilify, both medicines for mental illness. It is alleged that he is suffering a variant of labile disorder. Dr. SamVaknin writes that the “main dynamic in the Borderline Personality Disorder is abandonment anxiety.”

Tomcat wrote that in Ateneo his temper was well known and he had puzzling sudden mood swings. “Isang minuto, nakikikain ka kay Brudda Francis, mamayamaya nagagalit ka na.”

There are other reports of aberrant behavior. Bel Cunanan of Inquirer wrote in her column, “Some mayors relate that at a Tarlac festival, Noynoy was enjoying some halo-halo with local officials and other guests when quite suddenly, he blew some of it over the face of a friend. To the shock of those around him, Noynoy then began to laugh, as if it were a big joke.”

* * *

As one columnist put it “If psychiatric and psychological tests are required for a judge or a soldier, how much more for a president who has in his hands the fate of 92 million Filipinos?”

We must save our country from vultures who will feast on the carcasses of a doomed country. They are willing to sacrifice everything and everyone for the sake of their ambitions.

In saving our country, we also save Noynoy. He has a right to a happy, quiet life and should not be derided because of his mental problems. He needs help but not to become president of the Philippines.

Only a psychiatric test and the results made public can resolve the issue. Until then, people will continue to doubt his mental stability.

The stories of his friends in Ateneo, his Jesuit teachers and colleagues in Congress and the Senate must be collated and verified — every one and each of them. It should not be treated as mere gossip.

* * *

The Liberal Party ought to be more responsible. When the results of the test are known he should be persuaded to withdraw as Missouri Senator Eagleton withdrew his candidacy for vice-president in 1972 just 18 days after his announcement as George McGovern’s running mate after his shock treatments for depression were known.

There are enough of us to stop the recklessness of those who persist in putting up Noynoy as president. They should have done their homework. We must support sources who are afraid to identify themselves in fear of the unthinking mob. There is enough time before May 10 to conduct psychiatric tests on him and all the other presidential candidates for the sake of fairness.

**glenn manikis** · February 19th, 2012 12:18 PM

obvious naman sa pag meddle nya sa impeachment.... sinusumpong nanaman....

**111prez** · February 19th, 2012 02:11 PM

noynoy's obsession with corona could be a symptom of this mental illness / psychological condition

then again, birds of the same feather flock together so baka yun mga advisers and spokespersons niya ganun din

**niwde11** · February 19th, 2012 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by 111prez

noynoy's obsession with corona could be a symptom of this mental illness / psychological condition

then again, birds of the same feather flock together so baka yun mga advisers and spokespersons niya ganun din

i think mas malala yung mga advisers especially the spokespersons.

**shadow** · February 19th, 2012 02:31 PM

Hinde recycle na itong issue nun latter part ng campaign? Hinde na bumenta dati, Paano ulit bebenta ngayon to think it was at the height of election...

Kung ako sa camp ni corona, sabihan niya spin doctors na magisip ng bagong issue, Kasi nahahalata tuloy na desperate na sila to come out with a recycled issue.

**chua_riwap** · February 19th, 2012 02:57 PM

tulo laway pala si PNoy.......

tagal na nga nyan. he-heh april 2010 pa.
ano ba gusto nila?
eh kung si Roxas ang tumakbo noon, eh di si erap presidente natin ngayon.

lalo nang gumulo.....

**Monseratto** · February 19th, 2012 04:24 PM

Lesser evil among the presidentiables, pero parehong inuuto ng mga taong paligid. People with weak foundation are susceptible to those kind of things.