Jun-Jun Binay with his brood – Alexi, Maria, Jej, and baby Ken

“God has gifts for all of us;
a light for every shadow,
a plan for every tomorrow,
a key for every problem,
and a joy for every sorrow.”

--Dr. Lorina Cabaluna, Joy in Living Foundation

My Easter celebration was my fourth without my Hubby who loved the holiday as it brings the family together in Bella Vista. It will not be the same without my sons around and my daughter and her Amanda under “house arrest” due to asthma and pneumonia this year, but I have lovely Easter memories to savor, so I enjoyed the quiet and the cool weather in Tagaytay. Besides, it was a privilege to have helped out healer Fr. Fernando Suarez in Monte Maria’s new “home” in barangay Amuyong in Alfonso, Cavite.

I went to his Easter Vigil mass at the tent in MonteMaria with 7,000 other pilgrims and it was really an exhilarating spiritual experience!

Undersecretary Berna Romulo Puyat and her three children will also not have their beloved  Atty. David Puyat today and all the other Easters to come for he went home to his Creator a week ago. Only 42, David succumbed to a heart attack while playing his favorite sport, football with some friends at the Ateneo field.

My sympathies too for dear, dear Reggie Coseteng on the death of her gentle husband Edison. Reggie was one of “Tita” Cory’s dearest friends and Edison was always so supportive of her and her family.

This is also the first Easter of my young friend, Makati councilor Jejomar Binay, Jr., “Jun-jun” to his family, friends, and constituents, without his wife Ken-ken.

He survived Christmas and Valentine without her (although miserably) and he will have to deal with political issues aside from coping as dad and mom to his brood.

Jun-Jun is running for mayor of Makati, to “continue and enhance my father‘s (the present mayor) legacy of good and effective governance” against the vice-mayor, once the ally of the popular mayor Jojo who is also gunning for the vice-presidential post.

Over a “healthy” lunch at Chef Jessie’s in Rockwell, we shared private talk about his children and what he intended to do as mayor if he gets the electorate’s blessing on May 10. But mostly, it was about grieving and learning to cope over the loss of a beloved spouse. I shared my loss over Hubby, he shared his grief over beautiful Ken-ken, his young wife who died at childbirth last year.

Being “tita” to Jun -Jun (by virtue of my long-standing friendships with his parents) gave me license to probe his heart aside from his brains. So, I began by telling him that his opponent   say “Hindi pa hinog para maging mayor ng financial center ng bayan.” (You are not yet ripe to be mayor of the country’s financial center).

He did not flinch but answered softly.

“After my years of service (since I was fifteen years old) in various capacities in the community and the municipality and eventually the city of Makati, after my personal challenges, I think I can look anyone in the eye and say that I am more than ready to be mayor. I want to continue my father’s many excellent people-centered programs (senior citizens’ care, medical services, educational benefits, investor-friendly policies) and enhance them even more with my own expertise and ideas.” An Atenean, Jun-Jun subscribes to the “Service for Others” that his Jesuit education stresses.

It would be easy to imagine how hectic a candidate’s life is. Yet Jun-Jun, while in the eye of a storm remains calm, soft-spoken, and rational.

Jun-Jun’s wife, Kennely Anne Binay died last year, on August 11, and there is no doubt to the depth of his grief and to the enormity of single parenthood that he faces every day. Ken-ken died due to cardiac arrest and massive bleeding a few hours after prematurely giving birth to their fourth child, Maria Kennely.  I immediately went to condole with him at their brand-new home when I learned of the tragic news, the house where Ken-Ken slept in for only a week before she had to be confined for a difficult pregnancy. Just days before, my daughter and I were with the Binays at the Lagdameo family’s mausoleum at the Manila Memorial Park during the long wait for “Tita” Cory’s funeral cortege. Jun-Jun was telling us that his wife was confined and about to give birth anytime but he had wanted to pay homage to  “Tita” Cory. And then Ken-ken died.

“We were just starting to build our family and our future,” he told me gently. “I remember going to Makati Medical Center during Ken-Ken’s wake to check on our baby, and I bumped into Father Tito Caluag. I asked him, ‘Why did this happen, Father?’ And he told me, ‘It’s good that you are asking that, because God will give you the answer—in His time.”