(As told to Ross Harper Alonso)

(Editor?s Note: In July 1989, the late President Corazón Aquino was France?s guest of honor at the bicentennial celebrations of the 1789 French Revolution. During the four-day duration of Aquino?s state visit, José Carmelo Banaag served as her interpreter. Banaag, who is fluent in six languages, including three of the official United Nations languages?English, French and Spanish?was then working in the translation division of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). He still lives in Paris and is a freelance cultural editor and journalist. In this article, Banaag shares his memories of that historic visit. )

I WAS HAVING a late Saturday breakfast when I heard about Cory?s death on French radio. It was very sad news, to say the least. This was immediately picked up by TV news bulletins, with more extensive coverage on the prime-time mid-day and evening news of the two major channels, TF1 and FR2. It was then that I started reminiscing about my privileged four days working for what the prestigious newspaper Le Monde dubbed ?the heroine of the 1986 revolution.?

Months before the visit, Philippine Ambassador to France Fely Gonzales and Consul Junie del Mundo were looking around for someone to work as an interpreter cum personal assistant to Cory. The two were quite familiar with my line of work.

Del Mundo, who was in charge of putting together the Paris team for the visit, offered me the position and I accepted without hesitation. I told him it was a great honor. The embassy then officially asked Unesco for my secondment prior to and during the period of the state visit.

Ambassador Gonzales told me I should be able to immediately answer any question that President Aquino may want to ask about France and about anything to do with France. A tall order, even if I had been living and working in Paris for many years. I still had to read up as much as I could on a wide variety of subjects.

During the preparations, the French liaison team from the Élysée Palace invited the Philippine team to visit the building where Cory would stay, which turned out to be a grand palace. You could feel the excitement of the French team.

Instant hit

But I wondered about the Parisian public?s reaction, blasé as they are to so many visiting heads of state. These visits have become such commonplace events in France that the media hardly report on them unless the visiting chief of state is from a major world power.

But Cory spoke a good amount of French and this made her an instant hit with the French. And in 1989 the Edsa People Power Revolution was still fresh in the minds of most French people.

Owing to the extensive media coverage of the 1986 events, her image as ?la dame en jaune? (the lady in yellow) was still imprinted in the minds of the French public. She had some sort of mystique in France. The French people were awed by the fact that a housewife with no political ambitions had been catapulted to the presidency by the people.

Thus was the term ?people power? coined, and the Philippines became famous.

I like to think the Filipino people?s concept of nonviolent revolution inspired many other countries over the years. Ukraine?s ?orange revolution? of 2004 is just one example.

Grand welcome

Before coming to France, Cory made a three-day visit to Germany, the first Philippine President to have done so.

After a short flight from Bonn, she arrived at Orly airport, where she was welcomed by President Francois Mitterand and the French First Lady. They then transferred to a French Air Force helicopter, which landed in the Esplanade des Invalides in the center of Paris. They rode across the Alexandre III bridge, going up the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, until they finally reached the Élysée Palace.

It was all very grand. They were escorted by a parade of impeccably uniformed French Republican guards on horseback, the entire route flanked by French and Philippine flags. The flags of the two countries were also displayed along the entire length of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It was a magnificent sight.

Cory?s Paris staff and I were introduced individually by Ambassador Gonzales and Consul Del Mundo as the President entered the Marigny, where she was to stay for the duration of her visit.

The Marigny Palace was originally built by the Rothschilds in 1869 and bought by the Giscard d?Estaing presidency in 1972 to house visiting heads of state. It is right across the Élysée Palace where the French President resides and is connected to it by an underground passage.

Cory arrived with a small entourage?some Cabinet members, her doctor and an aide-de-camp. But no stylist or hairdresser, not even a secretary. Everyone stayed on the upper floors of the Marigny, except Cory, who was on the ground floor in the presidential suite with direct access to the garden, and her daughter Ballsy who occupied the adjoining suite for the spouse of the visiting head of state.

My office was right next to the President?s suite. As everyone was getting settled in their rooms after the long flight, I remember her coming in to ask me how to dial direct to Manila. She called me by my nickname from the very start. I was immediately put at ease by her warmth, her mild manner and the sincerity of her smile and soft voice.

For the next four days, she would drop by my office for brief chit-chats in between calls on her by other heads of state and government, like Rajiv Gandhi of India, Brian Mulroney of Canada, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Sosuke Uno of Japan and Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico. She received them all in the grand salon of the Marigny.

I was amazed by her enthusiastic curiosity about every subject and her eye for detail. Her questions were wide-ranging, on agriculture, the economy or social welfare one moment, French cuisine and fashion the next.

Every evening, coming back from state dinners and official functions, we would go through the text of her speeches for the next day. All of these had already been translated into French in Manila, but needed minor updates and revisions to reflect the day?s events.

She had pointed questions about the use of certain French words. ?Jojo, why are the French so fond of using the word spécificité?? she asked once.

Cory was the guest of honor at the biggest event, the traditional July 14th parade, sitting next to President Mitterand on the dais. There were many other gala evenings, like the inauguration of the Opéra de Bastille. All these events were part of the bicentennial celebrations, with some 35 heads of state and government attending.

Symbol of modern revolution

Only one head of state, of course, could have the honor of staying at the Marigny and it wasn?t an easy task for French protocol to choose which one.

It was said at the time that Mitterand himself chose Cory. Like most French people, he was fascinated by this symbol of a modern revolution 200 years after the French had theirs. She was from a reemerging democracy and a developing country at that. And a woman, just as gender empowerment was becoming a big issue.

So, while all the other heads of state were on ?official visit,? Cory was on a ?state visit.? Other female heads of government at the time were Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom.

The most memorable moment of her visit, for me, was the afternoon of her departure from Paris. There was one last state reception, a garden party at the majestic quarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She wanted to go but was concerned about not being able to leave the party in time to catch the private jet that the King of Belgium was sending to take her to Brussels. She was to have a brief meeting with King Baudouin, after which she would take her Philippine Airlines commercial flight back to Manila.

She decided to forgo the garden party. Instead, she spent the time working on some papers, and getting people on the phone in Manila. This was also when we had a really long talk, when she asked me many questions about my background and my career with genuine interest.

At the airport, Cory gave me a firm handshake and a very warm smile just before she boarded the Belgian jet. She thanked me. I told her, ?Madame President, I thank you.?

That was the last time I saw or heard from her. But my fond memories of this amazing, mild-mannered lady are with me for always.

I believe it was a very successful presidential visit. The French people saw this gentle, bespectacled housewife as a symbol of the nobility and dignity of the Filipino people and their ability to transition to democracy by peaceful means.

RP in French map

Before her visit, a cabbie or a waiter would sometimes ask me if the Philippines was in Indochina or the South Pacific. I was never asked that sort of question again after Cory?s visit. The Philippines was now in the mental map of the French.

Many years later, I met this very distinguished French couple who asked about my nationality. They exclaimed, ?Oh, the Philippines! You are more advanced than us?you already have two women as presidents!?

She?s no longer with us but I think the Cory mystique will live on. She gave the country some of our noblest moments and it is my hope that we have many more such moments in this and future generations.