April showers

There are already April showers in March, bringing a soothing coolness to the metro before the onset of the summer season.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

The heat these days isn't scorching, thanks to April showers nurturing the ground and revitalizing the air.

Las Piñas Vice Mayor April Aguilar is described by her younger sisters as their second mother, one who would shower them with love and attention whenever their parents were away. She would make sure her sisters would be well nourished when their parents were working or traveling, cutting up Spam into bite-sized pieces and spoon-feeding her three sisters from one plate.

"She also used to cook nilaga for me when we were barely teenagers," recalls her sister celebrity doctor Dr. Aivee Aguilar-Teo. "I was so scrawny she would spoon-feed me till I managed even a few bites."

When April's first niece Alexa, daughter of her sister Alelee and her husband Martin Andanar, was born, she took care of the baby. When Alexa was hospitalized when she was a little girl, she refused to sit on the wheelchair if she was not on her Tita April's lap, recalls Alelee.

April was also a hands-on mother to her four sons when they were growing up, picking them up from school and bringing them to her office while she was working.

"Service is Ate April's language of love," says Aivee. She cooks for her family, her staff and her friends. She also does the marketing herself.

The late Las Piñas Mayor Nene Aguilar and his wife, current Mayor Imelda Aguilar or "Mama Mel," were not surprised when April, at 16, started tagging along with her dad when he was visiting his constituents. She also helped him attend to people lining up at City Hall.