LEAVE IT TO HIM: Two quotes of freedom icon Cory Aquino caught my attention when I read reports of her having been found to have cancer of the colon.

The first quote was when she remarked “Is that so? Well then, God will take care of me.” upon learning of the findings of the doctors.

She was also quoted as saying: “I'm 75 years old... what more do I want?”

Lesser mortals would have broken down and drowned themselves in self-pity, fear and anguish. But not Cory, mother of a similarly hardy brood of five.

Her unflagging faith in God and her total surrender to His will make her shine like a beacon in a dark, stormy sea.

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HEALING: I have no doubt that with God looking after Cory, and her loved ones storming heaven with their prayers, she will recover soon from this minor irritation.

With God, everything is possible.

Her faith and her love affair with the Lord will take care of the big C.

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STOICISM: The second quote that struck me was Cory's instruction to her children: “Don't cry, control your emotions.”

That was the same “order” given the family (I was told years ago by Lupita, sister of Cory's late husband Ninoy) after his 1983 execution at the tarmac as he returned from exile to try to “talk some sense” into his ailing fraternity brother.

You will remember, after Ninoy's murder, the grim TV video of Cory and the children arriving from the United States where they had lived in exile. They looked gaunt and obviously fatigued -- but there was no weeping.

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WHY SO: Lupita said the family did not want to give the strongman Marcos and his cohorts the satisfaction of seeing them broken. To the very end, they would hold their heads high and defiant.

Of course they did unburden themselves, cry out their grief, but only in the privacy of their family circle. To the outside public, they were stoic -- as the fallen Ninoy had wanted it.

In fact, during the days when Ninoy was locked in solitary confinement -- including a reported attempt to slowly poison him -- they were under strict instructions from him not to plead for his life or ever consider a compromise with the dictator.

Will Kris, the most outgoing of the lot, be able to control her emotions? “I'm trying my best to keep my end of the bargain,” she said. “She (Cory) emphasized that I should be prepared, you take it one day at a time.”

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HERE'S ONE: Trying to outpace the opposition and her critics, President Gloria Arroyo says now and then that she is in the thick of a campaign against corruption.

If she really is, she can crack down on the National Power Corp. where a powerful mafia is reportedly busy making dirty money by the millions.

I have come across another document that appears to confirm persistent reports that plunderers are working in cahoots with Napocor insiders, who we can assume get a generous share of the loot.

As often pointed out in Postscript, Napocor officials have this habit of making last-minute purchases of coal for its power plants. They refuse to abide by a directive of the Department of Energy to enter into long-term coal procurement contracts to save money.

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HOW IT'S DONE: The modus operandi is simple: Napocor sets a bidding that is sure to fail because of unrealistic price terms. This forces an emergency purchase (to address a fuel shortage). Napocor then enters into negotiated contracts, where the fun (fund) is.

I have a copy of a letter from Napocor Vice President Juan Carlos Guadarrama, who is also chairman of the bids and awards committee, to a company called PT Marsitero Marlloan, presumably one of Napocor's coal suppliers.

The letter dated Feb. 12, 2008, invites Marsitero Marlloan to submit price proposals for three lots of 65,000 metric tons of coal for the Pagbilao plant. On Feb. 19, 2008, the coal purchase agreement was given to Marsitero Marlloan.

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GHOST FIRM?: As far as that goes, there seems to be nothing wrong -- except that the listed address of Marsitero Marlloan in the documents was c/o Transpacific Consolidated Resources Inc. which supposedly holds office at the Danara Hotel's Business Center on Panay Ave. in Quezon City.

Why would a company which supplies multimillion-dollars worth of coal hold office at a hotel's business center? Does it not have a regular office where its officers and employees conduct business in keeping with their status?

A check of the listed telephone number of Marsitero Marlloan, and/or Transpacific Consolidated Resources Inc. showed that the company no longer uses that number.

I asked somebody to check and he was informed that Danara Hotel no longer operates a business center!

I was told also that some unscrupulous individuals use the so-called business center (that does not operate) to meet clients and make it appear that they have an office in Manila.

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WHO'S IN IT?: Does Napocor President Cyril del Callar know that Transpacific could be non-existent?

Why would a blue-chip like Napocor consider, then award!, a multimillion-peso contract to a company that does not have its own office and, as of last check, could not be located at its last advertised address?

Transpacific bagged the more than P350-million coal contract last Feb. 19.

President Arroyo better look into this and similar Napocor transactions. Her continued failure to crack down on the mafia there has fueled suspicion that some members of her family may be profiting from them.

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