Wellness advocate and Miss World Philippines franchise head Cory Quirino graced the wake of Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc on Monday, saying at one point she told LJM the secret to her seemingly ageless beauty.
In an interview during the wake at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig, Quirino said the esteemed editor-in-chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer inspired her to keep writing about her passion.
Quirino writes a weekly lifestyle column for the Inquirer called “Inside Out.”
“She said if you have a passion, write about it. Write about your passion! And I never stopped writing since,” Quirino said.
Quirino said her fondest memory of LJM was when she asked the beauty tip expert her secret to youthful beauty.
“The most memorable moment for me was when she asked me to tell her my true secrets. And she said I won’t tell anyone, and I will judge you not,'” Quirino said.
“And true enough, she didn’t. So sweet,” she added laughing.
“She was really one of a kind. No one can replace her. There was a vacuum in people’s minds and hearts,” said Quirino, the granddaughter of former President Elpidio Quirino.
Although not a beauty title holder herself, Quirino is the franchise head of the Miss World Philippines organization.
LJM was appointed editor-in-chief by the Inquirer founding chair Eggy Apostol in 1991.
Before her death, she served at the Inquirer for 30 years. She was editor of the Mr. & Ms. Special Edition from 1983 to 1986 and editor-in-chief of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine from 1986 to 1987. She was appointed editor-in-chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1991, becoming the first woman and longest serving chief in a male-dominated newsroom.
LJM has also become an icon of press freedom during the martial law. She has attributed the Inquirer in toppling the Marcos dictatorship, saying the Inquirer is the “keeper of the Edsa flame.”
Magsanoc, one of the founders of the Inquirer, succumbed to cardiac arrest last Thursday, Christmas Eve, at St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City. TVJ
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