Quezon Province isn’t a strange land for Superstar Nora Aunor.
From the time she was nobody yet in show business if not in society, Nora was familiar with the long strip of Quezon when Baler was still intact as a town of the province.
When the most ubiquitous means of land transportation in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and even preceding them were the railroads, Guy would pass by many towns and communities of Quezon to and from Bicol. It was written in komiks magazines during the height of her popularity that the Superstar would take the deluxe coaches of the Bicol Express so-called of the Philippine National Railways to get to her hometown Iriga City and back to Manila.
Ate (a term of respect and endearment to an older woman by blood or affinity) Guy would ask her retinue if what town they were in during the trip and someone from her group would answer a railway station in Quezon if ever they were indeed in a particular spot of the province.
This time when land transportation is the most convenient and practical form of travel, most Bicolanos—celebs or not—take the road to and from Bicol.
Nora Aunor is no exception.
Recently, Nora’s publicist and handler Rodel Fernando posted on his social media territories mid last week that he was off to Bicol.
Rodel is from the north, a Kapampangan and there’s no known event in Bicol that merited press coverage since mass gathering of non-spaced movement is still not allowed under the various Alert Levels. Yet Fernando was shown in a photo sitting conveniently in a big van and later he posted pictures before some Camarines Sur landmarks and a shot in a field overlooking Mt. Mayon.
A fellow movie reporter, Rommel Placente, asked if Rodel wasn’t showing even a shadow of Nora Aunor who was apparently in the trip and the leader of the pack. Another netizen, obviously a Noranian, even greeted Nora and her good boy friend John Rendez.
Who else would Fernando be and where else would he go except with Nora and on to Camarines Sur and other parts of the region?
By car, La Aunor went to Bicol direct from her condo unit in Eastwood to South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to several parts of Laguna Province unto Calamba toll exit and on to Sto. Tomas Batangas to Laguna town of Alaminos and the city of San Pablo.
From San Pablo, Guy and her entourage passed by Quezon towns from Tiaong to Calauag to some parts of Camarines Norte and on to CamSur.
It was an exciting trip for the Superstar and her retinue.
It was also an exercise to pay Nora’s roots a visit particularly in Iriga City.
It was also a good time to present her newly organized party-list NORAA (National Organization for Responsive Advocacies for the Arts) as an alternative to voters in the party-list choices although it wasn’t known yet if her coming home was political in nature.
Happy trip just the same, Guy!