WALA LANG

Worthy descendant of the Rizals of Calambâ and the Hidalgos of Batangas, married to Nueva Ecija’s distinguished Tinio family that produced heroes who fought for our country’s independence, Lourdes Hidalgo Tinio stood out in any crowd.

She stood out not for flamboyance nor for designer clothes and diamonds, but for simplicity and quiet elegance. She did not boast her powerful friendships, was never in the news. Her photograph rarely appeared in society pages and when they did, she was in the sidelines, never at center stage.

Hers was old world courtesy that masked a brilliant mind, topnotch business success, a loving mother and doting grandmother, a cultured lady with flawless taste, integrity, and exceptional loyalty. She was not a fair-weather friend. She stood by friends when they were up, did not falter when they were down. Not many are like Lulu Tinio.

Her home is not a palatial mansion that stuns passing innocents. But behind its simple façade are art treasures—rare Anitas, an early Abueva in the garden, an HR in the powder room, a large Amorsolo of a scene from Noli in the living room, a connoisseur’s trove of religious imagery, and her own accomplished paintings, for the lady was also an artist. Her garden is not abloom with showy cattleyas. It is a peaceful place, just like the homeowner, memorable in its festoons of the old-fashioned manaog-ka-irog and water splashing into a quiapò filled pool.

I am fortunate to have known Lulu for almost 50 years. She was a Blue Lady, among the close friends of First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos (they were San Juan neighbors), and I was on the Marcos Cabinet. We would see each other in meetings and socials in Malacañang and elsewhere. 

In happier times, we would meet with friends like Dr. Teyet Pascual and Sonya Mathay, sometimes in unforgettable events with Mrs. Marcos while on a mission like the Wiener Opernball, or a candlelit dinner at the Archbishop’s Palace in Salzburg, a call on Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. 

In the quiet years after EDSA 1986 while I was building a professional practice, we would get together for a simple lunch sometimes in her mezzanine walk-up office in a Makati CBD high-rise that one would not suspect was hers. 

Occasionally we went antiquing—once to a junk shop in Santa Ana where she found a wall-sized woodcarving. She occasionally held extraordinary happenings like when she and Teyet Pascual organized a Forbidden City dinner for four with an Imperial tent set up in her lanai and everyone required to be in Qing Dynasty costume. 

We joined hands to purchase and return works that we recognized as purloined Marcos possessions—once a portrait of Mrs. Marcos in a flowery bower and another an Edades portrait of Senator Imee. 

Lulu was a delightful companion with stories like how the ancient Rolls Royce, if I remember right, parked in a basement guzzled unbelievable tanksful of gasoline and forever broke down, so she used it only to attend grand weddings. (She must have upstaged many a bride.)

Mrs. Tinio was not a Cabinet member. She did not hold a powerful and high paying post. She was not among the Philippines’ best dressed women. Nor was she active in business groups. She was an unassuming, cultured, and elegant lady, a loyal friend to those who deserved her friendship.

British 19th century Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Read no history, nothing but biography for that is life without theory.” The life of Lourdes Hidalgo Tinio is a life that more Filipinos should live.

Note:  Lourdes H. Tinio was a granddaughter of Saturnina Rizal Hidalgo, the eldest among the siblings of Jose Rizal.

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