(photo courtesy of the LA Times, http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-07/corazon-aquino_48399263.jpg)
When I gave my quarterly examination in Beginning Economics last Thursday, a current events question was posed asking the student who was this iconic Philippine figure who IS currently suffering from colon cancer. The answer was obvious if not for the wrong question. She was long dead before my exam got into the hands of my students.
Cory's death brought back yellow ribbons and reignited EDSA 1 spirits long ought to be hiding in the shadows of history's vaults. Yes, the newspapers were all about Cory, good for one their colour was already yellow, but the other national daily which normally has blue for it's front page, this time, had to switch to yellow. The TV's also had to extend airtime for "news" coverages and Cory exclusives slash specials. Suddenly the Filipino nation called the Aquino children, Ballsy, Pinky, Noynoy and Kris by their first names, that's when normally it was only the last that everyone utters either because somebody won a gameshow or because a controversy just blew, and naturally she had to be there. And the pulpits weren't spared, in the span of a week, I heard 3 homilies all bordering to Cory eulogies, not counting one Requiem mass celebrated specially for her.
I cannot help but wonder, who Cory was for me?
I was born a year before the tumultous year of 1986, was barely 5 when Gringo was busying himself of devicing ways to evict Mrs. Aquino out of Malacanan. Pretty much my only recollection of Tita Cory was her picture hanging on my first grade classroom, in June of 1992. It was to stay there only for the next few weeks as a new picture of Ramos had to replace hers.
Who is Cory for me?
I believe Cory was lucky. She was lucky her husband Ninoy was the lone voice of the opposition at a time when a common enemy was occupying Malacanan. When Ninoy got shot at the Tarmac of the Manila International Aeroport, everybody pointed their fingers to that common enemy, who wouldn't? Mrs. Aquino was lucky because she had to, being the spouse of Ninoy, continue his fight. She was lucky because the bells of Jaime Cardinal Sin tolled for her victory. She was lucky the Filipinos were tired of a dictator ridden with lupus, and were looking for someone new. She was lucky she survived mutltiple coup attempts of chauvinistic disillusioned men in uniforms.
But a presidency is not measured with luck. I could only postpone judgment on her reign until history can cast more light in her behalf. Until then, Mrs. Aquino's presidency for me would no more than be a case of luck, of coincidence, of an auspicious admixture of strange political, psychological and social cicrcumstances, all of which worked towards her becoming a leader.
Who would Cory be for me?
Cory has passed on to the realm of history, to paraphrase one news column. She has rightfully become now a fragment of historical trivia. And the question I made in my economics class would have become out of scope as she became history and no longer current-event.
Cory would remain for me a former president, just like all of them former ones. Shadows of years gone by, and ideals perhaps lost, perhaps still existing. Cory would be remembered for her 2 constitutions, the revolutionary Constitution and the 1987 Constitution. Cory would remain to be that regal president, more of the Head of State than the Head of Government. For the rest, historians of the future will judge. As for me, I could no longer posit any judgment.
Maybe I have become indeed indifferent to society and its supposed ills. Maybe I cannot render judgment on Cory because I refuse to be one with, in her terms, the common tao, a people so formless, so weak-boned it cannot even stand against the lies and deceit of media. Isn't it known that over these past years the news has become tiring, with the media blinded to whatever good the current president has done. The media has made it so difficult for any president to do good until they have gone to their graves.
Why arel all these showers of affections for Mrs. Aquino brought only with her passing away, why couldn't we have paid her tributes when she was still alive? Why weren't there Cory Specials when she was still there to feel loved and valued by the nation? Why did she have to be dead and irresponsive to be shown love? Such hypocrisy spun by the so called fair and responsible media.
If there is one thing I am thanking Cory by now, it is that her death has shown the real hypocrisy of the media.
Thank you Mrs. Aquino and pray for us your people to the God whom you have loved so much in this life.
