Gracious in defeat

As of this writing, all the frontrunners in the Presidential race have conceded to Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, except for former President Joseph Estrada and I think we should just respect his decision to continue with his fight.

It was television that actually helped show the various faces of defeat and what I saw mostly were those that overflowed with graciousness and calm — as the losing Presidential candidates accepted their fate and courageously braved the cameras of our news programs.

I saw Gilbert Teodoro on TV the day after the polls looking cool and collected as he talked to news reporters and I respected him all the more after he faced media to accept the bitter truth that he didn’t win the race. He remained a gentleman to the very end. I hope he still gets to work for the government and I will not cry nepotism if Noynoy gives him a post under the new administration. 

Manny Villar I admired for the first time after he, too, conceded to Noynoy. Obviously, I am not a Villar fan — never was, but may just be one someday, thanks to my new perception of him after witnessing how he graciously accepted defeat on television.

Suddenly I found myself empathizing with Manny. Not that I cheered when everything, including the kitchen sink, was being thrown at him. But I did get swayed by all the issues being raised against him, not only by his political opponents, but by media, particularly the ones with independent minds who I believe were only after the welfare of Filipinos in general.

Personally, I worried about his spending — on how much money was being thrown into his ambition to become the nation’s ruler. That truly scared me.

In the case of Richard Gordon, I never saw him on TV conceding to Noynoy. I just heard about his decision to throw in the towel from the news and read it later in the papers.

I actually know of a lot of people who were willing to help him get elected into the highest office in the land, except that everyone felt they were going to waste their votes on him since he never figured in the ratings. Some people who worked under him, of course, didn’t like his temper. But then, a lot of them did agree that he is a worker and mover.

Among the Presidential bets, it’s Richard I’ve had repeated personal encounters with — though mostly insignificant. Strangely enough, all these happened during wakes. The first time was when Korina Sanchez’s mother was lying in state at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park. We were just a few feet away from each other and in all probability he never recognized me from TV. But I sensed that we were just waiting for each other to make the first move — until in the end and nobody did.

After he left (I stayed behind to talk to Robert and Millet Mananquil), I realized I should have stood up and introduced myself as a courtesy to a government official. (To begin with, I was the younger one.) But for some reason I didn’t — and I don’t understand why I allowed that to happen when I’ve always been particular about courtesy and politeness.

However, I made up for that when he showed up two nights at the wake for James Lim, son of Toni Rose Gayda and grandson of Rosa Rosal. On both occasions I approached him to say good evening, which he acknowledged with a handshake. Maybe he still didn’t recognize me. But I felt good — and still feel good — now that I’ve done my part.

In the Vice Presidential race, I’ve never seen Loren Legarda look so radiant until the day after the elections — when she conceded to Jejomar Binay (but not to Mar Roxas). During the entire campaign season, Loren seemed stressed out and harassed and I was happy to see her relaxed during the press conference where she accepted defeat with so much grace.

Thanks to media, the public got a peek on how the losing candidates for President and Vice President conducted themselves in the face of defeat. We have to remember how each one of them behaved at this point of the race — when it is over. For they will be around again — soliciting our votes in the next elections. And it helped that we saw this facet of their character and this was made possible through the magic of television.