L-R: Pinky, Ballsy, Kris and Viel Aquino sit pretty for photographer Mark Nicdao

This month the late President Cory Aquino’s daughters step into the limelight in a coup of a different kind—a casting coup for what seemed to be an impossible dream magazine cover. Publicity-shy daughters Ballsy, Pinky and Viel were reluctant when first asked to pose for the cover of Town & Country’s November issue. But they later relented, even if they were nervous about facing the daunting (to vanity-free women like them at least) challenge of getting glamorized and “exposed” in a manner unfamiliar to them.

“We can’t even remember when we last had our hair and makeup done,” Pinky said at the cover shoot. Throughout the time the entire nation’s eyes were on them as they mourned their mothers’ death, Ballsy, Pinky and Viel showed grace under pressure devoid of the trappings of makeup, jewelry or designer clothes. They were paragons of simplicity, in contrast to their more fashion- and beauty-conscious Showbiz sister and “baby” Kris. In fact, so media-wary are her three older sisters that despite the fact that they were the country’s First Daughters for six years, not much is known or has been written about Ballsy, Pinky and Viel.