When the world respected us

(On Saturday July 4, this piece was in the Opinion page. I have been requested   to reprint to ensure wider readership.)

As the nation prays for the recovery of President Corazon C. Aquino, we should also pause a moment to remember and reflect on the saga of this courageous lady who led our people out of the clutches of dictatorship, caught the imagination and admiration of the world, and made us all proud to be Filipinos. The People Power Revolution of 1986 was hailed as a seminal event in the struggle for democracy all over the world, as other peoples and other countries followed with their own versions of people power and peaceful revolution.

In that time of glory and celebration, the world perhaps never respected and admired us Filipinos and our country more. Mrs. Aquino personified the nation that we had become, and people everywhere showered their affection and respect on her. And when she visited the world’s great capitals, the red carpets were unrolled to welcome her.

I still vividly remember her visit to the United States in 1986 when I was among the lucky few invited to join the business delegation to the US. We were allowed to join in almost all the events in Washington, D.C. These included the traditional ceremonial occasions such as the dinner hosted by Secretary of State George Schultz and her address to the US Congress. It bears noting that no other Philippine President since then has been accorded this honor of addressing the American legislature. Those were proud moments for us. The standing ovations given her were enough to make our eyes well with tears.

But these grand state events notwithstanding, for me the most memorable moments of that visit were the informal encounters and meetings, when people would literally accost us in the streets and ask us if we were Filipinos accompanying Cory Aquino. When we said yes, they would tell us how fortunate we were to have such a leader, such an icon of democracy. I remember an amusing incident in the soda fountain of a Washington Hotel when I was having a snack. Then finance secretary Vicente Jayme and other officials were also there. An American asked us if we were part of the security detail of President Aquino. Ting Jayme was speechless but he gamely confirmed that we were indeed part of her entourage. It seemed that the whole of Washington, D.C. knew that Cory was in town.

In San Francisco, Jesus Tambunting and I were on a cable car coming down from Nob Hill and again we were asked by our fellow passengers if we were Filipinos. When we said yes, they said, “Welcome to San Francisco; you should be very proud of your Cory Aquino.”

Three years after her US visit, President Aquino appointed me as the Philippine ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Commission. A few weeks after my presentation to King Baudoin of Belgium, I was informed that President Aquino would be a special guest of honor of French President Jacques Mitterand at the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris. She was invited because she symbolized to the French the Asian version of Joan of Arc, the symbol of fighting oppression. The French people and their press adored her as only the French can in their Gallic manner. Once again, it should be noted that President Aquino is the only Filipino President ever invited to be a special guest of honor in the Bastille Day celebrations aside from being accorded a state visit prior to the July 14 festivities.

Immediately after the celebrations in Paris, she agreed to make a private visit to King Baudoin of Belgium. Her schedule did not allow her to make a more formal state visit, but she agreed to have tea with the King and Queen Fabiola at the Royal Palace of Laeken. Serge Barrera, the chief of protocol, and I were allowed to stay in another sitting room during the tea. King Baudoin was known to be a very democratic and approachable monarch but we were totally surprised when we saw the King asking President Aquino to pose for him. He was the photographer before he allowed the Belgian press corps to take their picture!

Such gestures of respect and admiration were repeated many times over during the first year of her Presidency and under the glow of historic EDSA. President Aquino was the subject of adulation globally. Time magazine made her Woman of the Year for 1986. No President before and after made us more proud to be Filipinos.

It’s been a rocky road for us since then. Our democracy has had to live through many trials and tribulations. The ship of state and the economy have lurched and wavered from time to time. But through them all, we have managed to keep on course.And by the grace of Providence and luck, we are where we are today – not quite the proud and achieving nation we envisioned at EDSA in 1986, but still stable, resilient and unreservedly democratic despite all odds and the global recession.

Many will wonder what happened to the glow and the pride we all felt in 1986. I remember one young mother telling me that she felt so good in the early days after EDSA that she made it a point not to commit any traffic violation despite the absence of a policeman, because she wanted to offer something to the nation we had become. Diyahe, if she acted otherwise.

It’s not all gone. Whatever we have been, say the classicists, in some sort we are still. The flame that President Aquino awakened and inspired in us needs only to be lighted again.

In this week of prayers for Cory and her recovery, may her valiant struggle inspire us yet again to strive to be the best that we can be!