MEDIUM RARE

Yes, you may call her Atty. FL, as in Atty. First Lady Louise (Liza, with a “z”) Araneta Marcos. Remember her first unofficial act was to take out all her stuff from the law office that she headed?

Now that her lawyerly duties cover weekend trips to Iloilo for her Friday classes in the West Visayas Central University, you may expect her to “handle the same class from first year to fourth.” The goal is to guide the students from their freshman year, the better to shape them without gaps or leaps, through their senior year.

How easy or hard has it been for Professor and students? Of the 26 students from the beginning, a source told me they’re now down to 21. It’s a fact of life. Students cannot cope or keep up, some of them learn they’re not cut out for the grind, some parents realize they cannot force their children to give them what they want, i.e., an attorney in the family, with the proper documentation to hang on the wall or display inside a glass frame.

Besides teaching, Atty. FL is busy renovating some of the old-world mansions within the Malacañang compound. So far she’s had four projects under her belt, including the Goldenberg Mansion that is now part of the Malacañang museum tour. Last week, my friend from New York and I joined a small group that toured the Mansion after a merienda musicale organized and hosted by the Philippine Ambassadors’ Ladies Association. The Mansion is now like a pearl that has been dusted and polished to perfection, gleaming with an old-world elegance without ostentation. Quoting one of the household staff, “Please don’t send us more pianos, we have 10!”

Atty. FL, beaming with pride, spent a few minutes with us, then slipped away to leave us to the guide who has been at his job for the last 14 years. In the gallery of portraits of former presidents, we were told that all the first ladies’ portraits were done by Lulu V. Coching. My friend and I ended up in the ladies’ room, where we were soothed by its roominess and soft, almost romantic lighting.

It was Ramon Magsaysay who said Malacañang belongs to the people.