‘Come on over,’ Dr. Rolando Solis bravely said to the Aquino family in 1980
By Tricia J. Capistrano
On August 21, 2023, the 40th anniversary of Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, Dr. Rolando Solis posted a photo of himself, a radiant Cory Aquino, Solis’ wife, Dr. Margarita Conanan-Solis, and Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino.
The photo was taken in May 1980 in front of the Solis residence in Dallas, Taxas. Ninoy Aquino had just had a successful triple coronary bypass surgery at Baylor University Medical Center.
Fast forward to 2023. In an interview with this writer, Solis reminisced about the meaningful role he had played in Philippine politics.
In March 1980, Ninoy Aquino, leader of the political opposition in the Philippines, suffered a heart attack while incarcerated at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
“The doctors in Fort Bonifacio examined him and told him that it might have been a muscle spasm because he exercised too much,” wrote President Cory Aquino in her memoir “To Love Another Day.”
Ninoy Aquino’s health continued to deteriorate, and after much rigmarole he was transferred to the Philippine Heart Center.
“On May 8, Ninoy observed that someone important might be coming because the guards were all dressed in barong and they were all cleaning with such meticulous care…lo and behold, there was Imelda (Marcos). She told Ninoy that she was sorry to see him looking so poorly. Ninoy, in reply, could not help saying that he was that way because of her.”
During that visit Mrs. Marcos asked Ninoy if he wanted to leave on a Philippine Airlines flight that night for the U.S. Ninoy Aquino immediately said yes.
Cory Aquino then called Dr. Rolando Solis, a Filipino American cardiologist based in Dallas, Texas and a family friend. “Come on over,” Dr. Solis said to Ninoy. “I’d be happy to help you.”
Rolando M. Solis, was born in Looc, Romblon Philippines. After completing medical studies at Far Eastern University (FEU) in 1963, he flew to Philadelphia to complete a one-year internship at Albert Einstein Medical Center. He subsequently chose to specialize in cardiology at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.
Dr. Solis and his wife, Dr. Margarita Conanan-Solis, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, established roots in Dallas. Solis was the first to perform a coronary balloon angioplasty in North Texas and was also the first cardiologist to perform transfemoral and transradial left heart catheterization procedures at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He also played an instrumental role in establishing the interventional Cardiology Program at the Philippine Heart Center in Metro Manila.
Though Solis had long been a friend of the Cojuangcos, he had never met Ninoy until the Aquino family arrived in Dallas on May 10, 1980. After seeing the senator walk, he clinically determined that he had a major heart problem and needed urgent heart catheterization. On May 13, a triple coronary bypass surgery was successfully performed by the late Dr. Ben F. Mitchel, then Baylor’s chief of cardiothoracic surgery.
As Ninoy recovered from surgery, he and Solis spent a lot of time together. Having been incarcerated for seven years and seven months, he released his pent-up emotions by talking at length about family and Philippine politics. “We became fast friends,” Solis recalled.
“Tito Rolly and Tita Margie took us to church every Sunday, introduced us to their friends in Texas, and took us to their favorite restaurants,” Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, the eldest child of the Aquinos, recalls. She was 24 at that time. “Even if they were so successful, walang kayabang yabang.”
When asked if he was scared to have had President Marcos’ top opposition leader residing in his home, Solis said he wasn’t. Later, however, he found out that his home has been under surveillance the entire time.
Subsequently, as Aquino’s personal physician, Solis accompanied Ninoy Aquino to Hong Kong, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. “He was such a wonderful guy. He could talk your ears off,” he recalled laughing.
On that fateful night of August 21, 1983, Solis received a frantic call. “Tito Rolly, my dad was shot in the head.”
Solis immediately flew to Boston to be with Cory and the family, then accompanied them on their flight to Manila.
When Cory later decided to run for president in 1985, Solis temporarily left his medical practice in Dallas and voluntarily served as volunteer campaign physician. He was one of the four who traveled all around the Philippines with her. The four included President Aquino’s sister Teresita Cojuangco, friend Fritzie Aragon, Solis, and son-in-law Eldon Cruz, husband of Ballsy.
“Every night there was talk of an assassination plot but Cory would say, ‘I am not scared.’ In fact, the security guards of Cory wanted her to wear a bulletproof vest for her protection. But she refused to wear it. ‘I would look fat on TV, I would not want that,’” he recalled Cory saying. So instead Solis wore the vest. When Cory learned about it, she said, “Rolly, talagang sira ka, if they want to kill us, they will shoot us in the head.”
The elections and then the People Power revolution resulted in President Corazon Aquino being sworn in as President in 1986. In spite of several coup attempts she completed her term. She passed away from colorectal cancer in August 1, 2009.
Today, Solis and his wife continue to reside in Texas. After practicing cardiology for 57 years, he no longer does cardiac catheterization procedures but now serves as medical director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Department of Baylor Scott & White Heart Hospital in Plano, Texas.
In concluding our interview, Solis said, “I feel grateful to have had the chance to be part of Philippine politics and have shared my history with my grandchildren. They are proud of it.”
© The FilAm 2024
