Merry Christmas Ninang Gilda (Revisiting a previous FB Post)

December 24, 2025 Merry Christmas Ninang Gilda


This Christmas, a special occasion made possible by the closeness of family get togethers, I remember someone who is not really family but a close family friend of my parents particularly my father whom she adored. I called her Ninang Gilda but she is better known to the book-going public as writer Gilda Cordero-Fernando or publisher GCF. 


Today, my siblings celebrated a pre-Christmas luncheon without me or Macoy at Ayala Alabang. Whether it is a conscious decision on their part to exclude me and Macoy in their little-grand salo salo, I don’t mind it at all and don’t feel any remorse or self-pity. In fact, me and Macoy decided early on we won’t go even if we were invited which of course we weren’t.


Mommy and Daddy are long gone and although both me and Macoy lived with them through their twilight years here in Sanville, to their last breaths as it were; it is just Macoy who I consider family right now. He needs me. I need to help only him.


Remembering my parents at this time is ever present but more than the couple fixture in our lives, I also remember Ninang Gilda, who acted as a surrogate parent to me, especially when things with my parents and me  were not going well…which was almost all the time esp in my teens. She was a bridge to my understanding of the elders in my life who weren’t really attuned to my feelings…or even probably my siblings’. 


Ninang Gilda was a soulmate, a writer and a watercolorist who had a penchant for performing arts just like me. In fact, I remember her accompanying me to plays, not just the movies, which we of course did after their barkada’s (UP Law Class of 52 and spouses) regular luncheon get-togethers. Without her presence, her wits and charm about her and love for daddy, I don’t think I will be able to fully appreciate the legacy of my own father. She was always the life of the party. The most interesting Senior in the room. Always vibrant. Always the star of the show. And me, always her admirer.


I feel lucky to have known her because if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have any reason to look back in my life and relive the good old days which she was definitely part of. If or when I mention this to my Theresian HS friends, they wouldn’t probably believe that I was friends with the late, great Gilda Cordero-Fernando. That’s how highly-regarded she was in life and how lowly-regarded I am with my peers. But that’s okay. Not everyone has to know. This makes it even more special and me realizing that my peers really didn’t matter much to me either.


Going back to family, it is only Macoy and the distinct memory of Ninang Gilda who gives me roots to this existence and meaning to Christmas. They say you can’t choose the family you were given in life, only friends. Oh, but I am so lucky that I have chosen mine and chosen wisely.


Merry Christmas in heaven, Cordero ng Diyos.



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