Malou Frostrom – A Dear Colleague and Friend

By Willie Buyson Villarama

I share the shock and sorrow of everyone who have had the chance to know and love Malou Frostrom. It is heartbreaking to hear of her tragic death and how terrifying it must have been for her and all those aboard that ill-fated helicopter.

Even now, I find it hard to believe that she is no longer just a text or a phone call away, that she is no longer with us. The world is a sadder place without her. Nevertheless, I always seek comfort in God’s promise that there is always a place with HIM up there in heaven for good people, and Malou was a more than just a good person.

I first met Malou on the first week of July 1998. I was the Chief of Staff of then newly installed Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We weren’t yet sure what our budget for personnel would be like, so I asked my friends to spare me a few good people to make up my team. Malou volunteered. She came highly recommended and was brought to my office by a common friend Ernest Villareal of the Aboitiz Group of Companies.

She was the easiest person to like. The work was tough and can be quite unpleasant, but she was charming and always cheerful, never missing out on an opportunity for a good laugh. Sometimes, she would even poke fun at her own Visayan accent.

She had a way with people and there is not a type that she could not handle well. Even in the most stressful and turbulent times that we worked together, not once did I see her lose her cool. She became my most popular staff member, second only to John Lesaca, the famous violinist, who was then also a member of my staff.

I vividly remember her telling me, “Boss, ‘pag lalaki ang naiinip, ako na bahala. Kapag babae ang galit na sa kakahintay sa’yo, si John ang pag-eentertainin’ natin.” That made us all laugh, but true enough, it worked.

Before I left the OVP, Malou was finally given a permanent position. She did well as I followed her career moving up from one important position to another, until finally, as one of the President’s most trusted aide and friend.

The last time I saw her was on March 7, Saturday, when she went here in Pampanga as the advance party to inspect the places that the President was scheduled to visit within the next few days.

I met her group at the Bren Z. Guiao Sports Complex in San Fernando aboard the same Bell 412 chopper. She was, as always, full of life.

She first checked out the Archbishop’s Palace and the new chapel of the Virgen delos Remedios which the President was to visit the next day for Apung Ceto’s 72^nd birthday.

Without wasting any time, she then went to the Pampanga branch of PAG-ASA in Maimpis and there inspected the improved flood warning and forecasting facility which PGMA unveiled on March 18.

Finally, we went over to Pampanga’s Best meat processing plant in Brgy. Dela Paz which the President visited also on March 18. There she gamely wore the required worker's standard suit as she entered the 8-hectare factory compound and inspected every possible place where PGMA might want to see. Even where the staff and press people would take their meal was pinpointed by her. She never left anything to chance, always making sure that nothing can go wrong when the President arrives.

In all places she walked through where PGMA was going to pass. It was a task that she must have lovingly and deftly done for Mrs. Arroyo a thousand times.

On our way to Bale Capampangan to have our lunch and catch up, she asked, “Teka, ang mga pilots may pagkain ba?” I assured her that my driver, Lito, brought them food prepared by Mrs. Lolita Hizon. That’s how thoughtful she was and it’s why she was well-loved and respected by the people she worked with.

I will miss her as will everybody else whose lives she touched in the too short a time that she was here with us.

Farewell Malou. We love you.

PS: Jan, I know you will miss her very much.