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Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

PLEASE be forewarned: What follows is not a learned treatise or discourse  on leadership at all. What you will hear are the musings of an old man who (1) heard about the stint of Quezon in Malacanang; (2) watched from afar the way Osmena, Roxas, Quirino, Magaysay, Garcia and Macapagal handled the presidency of the country in their respective terms, and (3) has witnessed the administrations Marcos, Cory Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Macapagal-Arroyo, and Noynoy Aquino at closer range.

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Please understand that we are here not to criticize how  our 14  Presidents, past and present, handled  their respective administrations.

We are here, among other things, to recall, as best we can, the qualities, particularly, of the leader who helped topple the martial law administration of President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986 or some 20 years ago. And, to suggest that those virtues should likewise inhabit the life of the person we would like to be our next President come the 2016 elections.

Inevitably, we must resurrect Cory Aquino from her eternal repose for the reason that, I believe, she provided the face of the peaceful Edsa People Power Revolution that restored freedom and democracy to our land.

The peaceful manner in which the 1986 Edsa revolution uniquely attained its aim is acclaimed worldwide, to the main credit rightfully of Cory Aquino, its leader. More factually, however,  it was the millions of our people who responded to the challenge of Cardinal Sin to march to Edsa in those precarious days of January 1986, who made it all possible with God’s grace.

We stress here the people’s indispensable participation in the events of 1986 because it is obvious that without people marching to the beat of freedom and democracy, risking their lives and liberty to defy the dictator, the 1986 Edsa People Power would not have succeeded.

Hence, the leader and the led, together, useless is one without the other, as a popular Frank Sinatra song puts it, deserve the honor for the victorious event we are recalling today.

Talking about the leader of the Edsa People Power Revolution, Cory Aquino, was probably the least, if not, the last, person who – a good many of our people – thought had the capacity to excite and inspire people to rise up against a dictatorship that had ruled the country with an iron hand for roughly 14 years starting from 1972 to 1986.

How, then, did Cory Aquino emerge as the leader of the peaceful struggle against the Marcos regime?

It was certainly a mix of many circumstances that are not so easy to explain.

Indeed, the fact that she was the widow of Ninoy Aquino, the most articulate leader of the  opposition to the Marcos regime at that time, helped propel her into that role. Ninoy, as everyone knows, was assassinated in 1983 upon his arrival at the Manila International Airport upon his return from exile in the US.

But, because no other political personality came to the front to carry the torch of freedom and democracy, upon the persistent urgings, particularly, of Sen. Lorenzo Tanada, and with the blessings of the then Cardinal Sin, Cory Aquino became the face of the political opposition to the Marcos regime.

Cory Aquino, however, was probably the most ill-suited – politically speaking – personality to lead the peaceful uprising in 1986 against the dictator.

For as the old saying goes, she was “born with a golden spoon in her mouth” in the comforts of the Cojuangcos, the wealthy hacienderos of Tarlac.

And, she had none of the eloquence or the bravura that is usually associated with political charlatans who would attract audiences with their long-winded oratory. Nor was she known for having any streak of violence that would  have prepared the minds of the people to readily accept her as a viable counterpoise to meister of the brutal martial rule regime.

Neither did she have access to the millions needed to do a well-heeled political campaign at that time. For, the Cojuangco wealth – at least, of the Cory Cojuangco Aquino family tree – was severely constrained by martial rule.  And, so was the basic constitutional guarantee of the freedom of speech and of the media at that time effectively censored and curtailed

Thus, it was certainly the worst of times for anyone, let alone for the likes of Cory Aquino, to challenge the dictator.

After all, the dictator, then, had all the arms he needed to keep the country compliant with the demands of martial rule.

Cory Aquino had none.

The dictator even had the expressed, if not, the tacit, support of some powerful foreign governments.

Cory Aquino had none.

The dictator had the entire civilian government machinery at his beck and call.

Cory Aquino did not have a single barangay under her control.

But, as history records it, without firing a shot, she caused the dictator to flee for his life in 1986, and a year, later in 1987, she likewise unselfishly restored the institutions of freedom and democratic rule to our country and people.

Incidentally, the restoration of the institutions of freedom and democracy to our land was, I submit, the greatest achievement of Cory Aquino.

For without freedom and democracy, our people would not be enjoying the liberties that are now accessible to all our fellow citizens.

How, then, did Cory Aquino galvanize the support of the people under her leadership that metamorphosed into the Edsa People Power Revolution, a phenomenon that is now acclaimed worldwide as a model for dismantling a dictatorship bloodlessly?

It is hard to describe in simple terms how she did it.

But, in the campaign to topple the martial law dictatorship, I saw at close range Cory Aquino’s displaying the virtues of Humility, Honesty and Courage.

Her unpretentious ways, the patent virtue of honesty that she wore on her sleeve, and the incontrovertible fact that as “a mere housewife”,  she had the courage to take on the most powerful person of the country at that time attracted and inspired millions of our people to rally behind her.

Because she was humble, she dressed simply, spoke humbly, and treated everyone within reach with respect befitting a fellow human being.

Because she was honest, the people saw in her a good replacement to the then authoritarian incumbent whose name was tarnished by shady characters of all stripes.

And because she displayed plain, effortless, and undiluted courage, the people saw in her, the leader they needed at that time; one who refused to be intimidated by threats of bodily harm by the dictatorship, or by intimations that the bloody end of her husband’s life could also be hers.

Thus, Cory Aquino, the “mere housewife” saw herself pitted against the veteran political strongman, Ferdinand E. Marcos, who was also the country’s incumbent administrator of martial rule.

However, as expected, after the “official” results were counted, the Commission on Elections, which had lost its integrity and independence under martial rule, proclaimed Marcos, the winner over Cory.

The victory turned out to be merely pyrrhic. It did not lead to the reinstallation of Marcos as his own successor to the presidency of the land.

What Marcos only succeeded to do was to have a photo op of his supposed presidential oath-taking in Malacanang. For in a couple of hours, he found out that the Presidential Palace no longer offered any sanctuary for him and his family.

Why? Because millions of people had trooped – not to Malacanang to support him – but to Edsa to proclaim Cory Aquino as the rightfully elected president of the land.

As a result, Marcos – and family – fled to Hawaii and Cory Aquino took over Malacanang as the duly elected President of the Republic.

Because of Cory Aquino’s example, I think we can truthfully claim that people love to see the traits of Humility, Honesty and Courage in the person of the leader of the nation. (To be concluded)

 (The following are excerpts from a talk of former senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.  at a forum sponsored by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung at the Discovery Primea, Makati City.)

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