From silly nicknames to New York hotdogs, GMA reporters share their favorite moments with PNoy

Years of covering the late former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino would surely result to a ton of memories, and GMA News reporters shared some of their favorites.

In an interview on The Howie Severino Podcast, Tina Panganiban-Perez, who covered Aquino back when he was still the congressman of Tarlac, revealed that he had given nicknames to reporters he was friends with.

"He gives nicknames to people...those reporters who were somewhat close to. For example, he calls me Tinapa," Tina said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Aquino earned a nickname from them, too — "Kuya."

"We called him Kuya. Because he called younger reporters Ate and Kuya. So one of my fellow reporters protested, 'Why did I become Ate? Sir is our senior.' So during a follow-up question she said, 'Ah, Kuya!' So the Kuya stuck," Tina said.

"To this day, his name in my phonebook is Congressman Kuya. I never changed it because that's how I remember him," she added.

Lei Alviz, who covered Aquino's presidential campaign all the way to his presidency, said that Aquino never "let the presidency get to his head."

"I was in Malacañang and he suddenly stopped and said, 'Lei, I saw your relatives in a record store,'" Lei recalled.

"He remembered birthdays. When he was still president and after he stepped down, he texted during birthdays," she added. "You'd feel his sincerity as a person. When he would make friends with the media, it wasn't just because he wanted media mileage."

Tina agreed with this sentiment and said that back when Aquino was still a congressman, he would hang out near the place the media would work when there was downtime during a session.

"He would tell stories like, 'Last night, I slept late because I listened to music on my computer.' Just small talk," she said.

Sandra Aguinaldo, who covered Aquino's presidential campaign and first few months in office, recounted the time when Aquino's mother, Cory Aquino, was still president.

"I was assigned to interview her," Sandra said. "When he was a congressman, he would set interviews for me. He would always help me."

"Later, when he became president, I'd joke to him that he used to be the person who would set my interviews," she added.

Sandra also recalled Aquino's first international presidental trip. Since the destination was New York, Aquino had wanted to try their famous hotdog.

"Before he left Manila, he said he wanted to eat hotdog at a sidestreet in New York. Because he said that, of course we waited for it," she said.

When Aquino finally had the hotdog, she said that some people criticized the moment for being "staged."

"But the truth was that we really wanted to catch it, so we staked out in the lobby of the hotel, until they finally just arranged it," Sandra said.

"It looked staged but he was really happy. I guess, sincerely, he just wanted to eat a hotdog in a sidestreet. Maybe he wanted to go back to a time when he wasn't a politician," she added.

Aquino, the 15th President of the Philippines, passed away on June 24 at the age of 61 due to renal disease secondary to diabetes.

He was laid to rest on June 26 at Manila Memorial Park beside his parents, former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino and Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. —JCB, GMA News