Tita Cory redux
July 28, 2003 | 12:00am
Held on July 16 at the Dusit Hotel Nikko Ballroom was the joint general membership meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines, the Makati Business Club, the Investment House Association of the Philippines and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines.
So who else would the most prestigious business organizations in the country invite for a guest speaker, especially now that the historically fiery month of August is just around the corner? None other than former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.
Clad in familiar yellow, the beloved lady of bright-eyed history made a characteristically prompt entrance at high noon, to a round of very warm applause, in fact a standing ovation. All in smiles, she was led to the presidential table onstage, where she was joined by IHAP president Ricardo Fernandez, FINEX president Edgardo Limon, MAP president Edward Ferreira, MBC chair Atty. Ricardo Romulo, and former FINEX president Renato Valencia, who served as the master of ceremonies.
Came the call to order, thence the invocation, without which no official event can ever start in this country. While lunch was served and sedately enjoyed, the welcome remarks were followed by the introduction to the guest speaker.
Mrs. Aquino’s assigned topic was "Two Decades after Ninoy: Quo Vadis, Filipino?"
Excerpts:
"…Since the assumption of the presidency by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, we have had little respite from political turbulence. President Arroyo has tried to move us forward but our country continues to be beset with internal as well as external problems.
"Twenty years after his ultimate sacrifice, what would Ninoy have to say about where we, the recognized leaders of business and politics, have brought our country and our people? And while we are engaged in soul-searching, let us ask ourselves, were do we go from here?
"It was this question that I pondered early this year, when I thought of what would be the most appropriate way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Ninoy’s death, which is also the 20th anniversary of the first stirrings of the Filipino phenomenon we call ‘people power.’
"Listening to political analysts, one would think that people power was in tatters. Where are the cheering crowds, they asked on the 17th anniversary of EDSA last February, which was celebrated with a simple mass inside the EDSA shrine.
"In the face of such jeering cynics, I feel it is time to harness people power in its fullest sense. It is time to equate people power not simply as a political tool, but more importantly as an ideology of hope.
"At this time, when our faith in our institutions seems to be faltering, and our children are looking for greener pastures abroad, we need an ideology that can inspire us to action and reclaim the future that we seem to have lost sight of.
"People power, as I know it, refers to the collective efforts of individuals and communities to take control over their lives to pursue the common good for the greatest number.
"We accomplished this politically in EDSA in 1986 and again in 2001. Now, I believe it is time to make people power work for the Filipino economically and morally, by using it to create a dynamic, progressive, caring and compassionate society, the kind our children would be proud to be a part of.
"During the past two months, I have been traveling around the country meeting with Filipinos who have been doing extraordinary things for their fellow Filipinos. I have been inspired by the selflessness and caring of these people who have committed themselves to make life better for others. They truly represent what People Power People are all about.
"People Power People generally work quietly and willingly, neither seeking nor getting publicity, but making a real difference in their communities. They bring health, livelihood, education, housing, and most important of all, empowerment, to people – especially the poor – who would otherwise lose hope in their situation….
"Ninoy expressed the generosity of spirit that is needed to restore hope in the following poem he wrote in March 1976, on the third anniversary of his incarceration in Laur:
"’I am burning the candle of my/ life in the dark/ with no one to benefit/ from the light.// The candle slowly melts away;/ soon its wick will be burned out/ and the light is gone./ If someone will only gather/ the melted wax, re-shape it,/ give it a new wick –/ for another fleeting moment/ my candle can once again/ light the dark,/ be of service/ one more time,/ and then… good-bye.’
"…Twenty years after Ninoy’s death, I challenge you to join me in gathering the melted wax, re-shaping it, giving it a new ‘wick’ of people power so that Ninoy’s candle lights the dark once more, not just for a fleeting moment but in perpetuity….
"And so, on Aug. 20, 2003, the eve of the 20th anniversary of Ninoy’s martyrdom, I am launching the People Power People movement to pay tribute to many Filipinos who continue to selflessly offer themselves for the good of others. I have initially identified 20 groups to mark the 20th anniversary but I would like to meet more of these new heroes beyond our commemoration so that many more will inspire us to strive to be the best we can be…."
An open forum followed. Chairing the panel was former FINEX president Jose Cuisia, Jr., while the members were former IHAP president Guillermo D. Luchangco, former MAP president Ramon Y. Dimacali, MBC vice chair Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., and yours truly as the only media representative.
I felt only slightly out of place in that table of highly respected CEOs, even as we were joined by former government officials Roberto de Ocampo and Cayetano Paderanga, SSS chair Cora de la Paz, and Ambassador Ramon del Rosario, Sr. Some of these guys – as affable as schoolboys voted most likely to succeed – I had sat down with for one-on-one sessions in the past.
Ambassador Ramon del Rosario, Sr. I had paid a courtesy call when he headed our embassy in Tokyo, way back in the late ’80s when I took part in a poetry festival. I had taken the opportunity to interview the gracious, articulate gentleman and written a feature lauding him for his efforts abroad. Soon I received a handwritten thank-you note from Tokyo; such was the quality of civilized conduct and communication skills the Ambassador is known for. Only recently, he shook up a MAP meeting by hurling a challenge to the businessmen to do something to help reduce our deplorable level of corruption.
Monsieurs Luchangco, Dimacali, and De Ocampo, as well as Madame De la Paz, I had occasion to interview at length on their personal and professional views on corporate governance. These interviews joined others, including one of Mr. Cuisia, Jr. that had been conducted by poet-writer Mila Aguilar, for the eventual Anvil Award-winning coffee-table book Paragons: 23 CEOs on Corporate Ethics, designed by Marily Orosa’s Studio 5 and published by the FINEX executive committee in 2001.
I felt complimented in sharing a table with these head honchos. Such may have been my delight that I quickly acquiesced to "Boy Blue" del Rosario’s and "Joey" Cuisia’s suggestion that I ask the first question to start the open forum.
Uhhh, well, oh, okay.
"Good afternoon, Ma’am. Nothing weighty with this question. I’m understandably more inclined to dwell on literary rather than political matters. So here goes. In the interview article that appears in the July issue of FINEX Digest, you’re quoted as saying that you’re still in the conduct of completing your memoirs, which you’ve decided to compartmentalize into two parts…
A smiling interjection from my, our, Tita Cory: "Three parts, Krip."
"Oh, okay, three books then, Ma’am. In any case, given the keen anticipation with regards your memoirs – which may be said to approach that preceding each book from J.K. Rowling…."
"Hindi naman, Krip!" Still smiling.
"…Uhhh, well, talaga, Ma’am. So anyway, when can we expect publication? As a related question, are they being published serially, or all at the same time? And finally, Ma’am, just out of personal curiosity, would you by any chance be including some of your haiku in these books?
Hah! Yuson, 3. CEOs, 0.
"The first book muna, which will be from birth to Ninoy’s assassination. Then the second will cover the time until my presidency. Originally we wanted the book launch in December, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it, because of my involvement with the People Power People movement. So, well, perhaps in time for my birthday next year. Anyway, you’ll be the first to know. Because I expect you to write a good review, even if you haven’t seen it yet." (Laughter)
"And yes, I’ll be including some haiku, but, uhhh, I won’t tell how many, or which, so you don’t expect too much."
"Thank you very much, Ma’am."
Some of the questions that followed naturally had to do with Mrs. Aquino’s declared intention to demur from endorsing anyone for the presidential derby next year. She wound up making a face as both Del Rosario Jr. and Cuisia Jr. attempted to suggest that this non-endorsement may "enable an undesirable candidate to become President."
Saying that she was more or less determined to stick to her decision for various reasons, Mrs. Aquino let on that the only candidate she would endorse, if need be, was her son Noynoy.
"I think my days of making a difference are over. I’m 70 years old, and as my friends tell me, I’m already in the pre-departure lounge. So let me stay there." Or words to that effect.
This brought to mind an anecdote that came my way through double hearsay, how the former President had spoken recently on the phone to our friend Mario Taguiwalo, who served as Health deputy secretary under her administration. Mario and Beaulah had just suffered the worst possible tragedy, which was to lose a son, and Mario had written an eloquent eulogy, which drew Mrs. Aquino’s attention. After offering her condolence, the story went, Tita Cory asked Mario to promise to write her own eulogy. Mario was nonplussed and had to gather himself. He argued that he didn’t even want to think of the possibility of such an occasion, soon or ever. But then Tita Cory voiced out that same line about being in the pre-departure lounge, and Mario just had to make that promise.
Like him, I shudder to think what any eulogy for this classy lady would have to muster by way of mixed parts grand tribute and infinite sadness. I maintain that more than Ninoy, she made us proud to be Filipino, and made us resolve to offer our very lives for the Filipino.
And since it’s become unimaginable for us to convince her to become President again, we can only console ourselves that the wait for the first book of her memoirs won’t be that long, and that perhaps the second and third books will come out before Harry Potter No. 6. I’m particularly expectant with regards the third and last part of Cory Aquino’s memoirs, which is presumed to cover her presidency and beyond.
I hope for three valuable elements to be included in this book. The first should be a full account of how the Honasan-led coup attempts failed in everything except to wreak so much damage to a country that was taking off under Tita Cory. I’m still wondering how this guy can even get the gumption to declare his availability for the presidency. What makes a colonel, or a police general like Ping Lacson, think that they can throw their hats into the ring when they remain bereft of any achievement even as legislators?
I also look forward to the inclusion of Tita Cory’s most celebrated speeches, including and most especially that stirring one delivered with the bases loaded before the US Congress. Since Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin continues to disdain the idea of collecting and publishing his brilliant literary produce between covers, this should be the closest that lovers of good literature can get to appreciating Teddy Boy’s worth as arguably our best wordsmith pound-for-pound.
And lastly, I hope to see at least the following haiku included in Tita Cory’s memoirs. It is her own, and may curiously reflect her avowed intention to abstain from political partisanship. In Neni Sta. Romana’s essay, "From Ninoy’s Shadow to the Presidency," in the book Seven in the Eye of History (edited by Asuncion David Maramba, published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. in 2000), it is recounted how Cory had written some haiku as her daughter Viel’s class submissions, and that this one "had been deemed the best by her English teacher, Fr. Joseph Galdon, S.J."
"Tall majestic tree,
Stop or cease to be."
We wish of course for our Tita Cory to always reach for that sky that has been her destiny. But oh, okay, she has the right to partial retirement, where we can only wish her the best as she writes more haiku, or indulges in painting, her other creative hobby. As an artist, as with revered memories, Tita Cory will never cease to be.
So who else would the most prestigious business organizations in the country invite for a guest speaker, especially now that the historically fiery month of August is just around the corner? None other than former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.
Clad in familiar yellow, the beloved lady of bright-eyed history made a characteristically prompt entrance at high noon, to a round of very warm applause, in fact a standing ovation. All in smiles, she was led to the presidential table onstage, where she was joined by IHAP president Ricardo Fernandez, FINEX president Edgardo Limon, MAP president Edward Ferreira, MBC chair Atty. Ricardo Romulo, and former FINEX president Renato Valencia, who served as the master of ceremonies.
Came the call to order, thence the invocation, without which no official event can ever start in this country. While lunch was served and sedately enjoyed, the welcome remarks were followed by the introduction to the guest speaker.
Mrs. Aquino’s assigned topic was "Two Decades after Ninoy: Quo Vadis, Filipino?"
Excerpts:
"…Since the assumption of the presidency by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, we have had little respite from political turbulence. President Arroyo has tried to move us forward but our country continues to be beset with internal as well as external problems.
"Twenty years after his ultimate sacrifice, what would Ninoy have to say about where we, the recognized leaders of business and politics, have brought our country and our people? And while we are engaged in soul-searching, let us ask ourselves, were do we go from here?
"It was this question that I pondered early this year, when I thought of what would be the most appropriate way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Ninoy’s death, which is also the 20th anniversary of the first stirrings of the Filipino phenomenon we call ‘people power.’
"Listening to political analysts, one would think that people power was in tatters. Where are the cheering crowds, they asked on the 17th anniversary of EDSA last February, which was celebrated with a simple mass inside the EDSA shrine.
"In the face of such jeering cynics, I feel it is time to harness people power in its fullest sense. It is time to equate people power not simply as a political tool, but more importantly as an ideology of hope.
"At this time, when our faith in our institutions seems to be faltering, and our children are looking for greener pastures abroad, we need an ideology that can inspire us to action and reclaim the future that we seem to have lost sight of.
"People power, as I know it, refers to the collective efforts of individuals and communities to take control over their lives to pursue the common good for the greatest number.
"We accomplished this politically in EDSA in 1986 and again in 2001. Now, I believe it is time to make people power work for the Filipino economically and morally, by using it to create a dynamic, progressive, caring and compassionate society, the kind our children would be proud to be a part of.
"During the past two months, I have been traveling around the country meeting with Filipinos who have been doing extraordinary things for their fellow Filipinos. I have been inspired by the selflessness and caring of these people who have committed themselves to make life better for others. They truly represent what People Power People are all about.
"People Power People generally work quietly and willingly, neither seeking nor getting publicity, but making a real difference in their communities. They bring health, livelihood, education, housing, and most important of all, empowerment, to people – especially the poor – who would otherwise lose hope in their situation….
"Ninoy expressed the generosity of spirit that is needed to restore hope in the following poem he wrote in March 1976, on the third anniversary of his incarceration in Laur:
"’I am burning the candle of my/ life in the dark/ with no one to benefit/ from the light.// The candle slowly melts away;/ soon its wick will be burned out/ and the light is gone./ If someone will only gather/ the melted wax, re-shape it,/ give it a new wick –/ for another fleeting moment/ my candle can once again/ light the dark,/ be of service/ one more time,/ and then… good-bye.’
"…Twenty years after Ninoy’s death, I challenge you to join me in gathering the melted wax, re-shaping it, giving it a new ‘wick’ of people power so that Ninoy’s candle lights the dark once more, not just for a fleeting moment but in perpetuity….
"And so, on Aug. 20, 2003, the eve of the 20th anniversary of Ninoy’s martyrdom, I am launching the People Power People movement to pay tribute to many Filipinos who continue to selflessly offer themselves for the good of others. I have initially identified 20 groups to mark the 20th anniversary but I would like to meet more of these new heroes beyond our commemoration so that many more will inspire us to strive to be the best we can be…."
An open forum followed. Chairing the panel was former FINEX president Jose Cuisia, Jr., while the members were former IHAP president Guillermo D. Luchangco, former MAP president Ramon Y. Dimacali, MBC vice chair Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., and yours truly as the only media representative.
I felt only slightly out of place in that table of highly respected CEOs, even as we were joined by former government officials Roberto de Ocampo and Cayetano Paderanga, SSS chair Cora de la Paz, and Ambassador Ramon del Rosario, Sr. Some of these guys – as affable as schoolboys voted most likely to succeed – I had sat down with for one-on-one sessions in the past.
Ambassador Ramon del Rosario, Sr. I had paid a courtesy call when he headed our embassy in Tokyo, way back in the late ’80s when I took part in a poetry festival. I had taken the opportunity to interview the gracious, articulate gentleman and written a feature lauding him for his efforts abroad. Soon I received a handwritten thank-you note from Tokyo; such was the quality of civilized conduct and communication skills the Ambassador is known for. Only recently, he shook up a MAP meeting by hurling a challenge to the businessmen to do something to help reduce our deplorable level of corruption.
Monsieurs Luchangco, Dimacali, and De Ocampo, as well as Madame De la Paz, I had occasion to interview at length on their personal and professional views on corporate governance. These interviews joined others, including one of Mr. Cuisia, Jr. that had been conducted by poet-writer Mila Aguilar, for the eventual Anvil Award-winning coffee-table book Paragons: 23 CEOs on Corporate Ethics, designed by Marily Orosa’s Studio 5 and published by the FINEX executive committee in 2001.
I felt complimented in sharing a table with these head honchos. Such may have been my delight that I quickly acquiesced to "Boy Blue" del Rosario’s and "Joey" Cuisia’s suggestion that I ask the first question to start the open forum.
Uhhh, well, oh, okay.
"Good afternoon, Ma’am. Nothing weighty with this question. I’m understandably more inclined to dwell on literary rather than political matters. So here goes. In the interview article that appears in the July issue of FINEX Digest, you’re quoted as saying that you’re still in the conduct of completing your memoirs, which you’ve decided to compartmentalize into two parts…
A smiling interjection from my, our, Tita Cory: "Three parts, Krip."
"Oh, okay, three books then, Ma’am. In any case, given the keen anticipation with regards your memoirs – which may be said to approach that preceding each book from J.K. Rowling…."
"Hindi naman, Krip!" Still smiling.
"…Uhhh, well, talaga, Ma’am. So anyway, when can we expect publication? As a related question, are they being published serially, or all at the same time? And finally, Ma’am, just out of personal curiosity, would you by any chance be including some of your haiku in these books?
Hah! Yuson, 3. CEOs, 0.
"The first book muna, which will be from birth to Ninoy’s assassination. Then the second will cover the time until my presidency. Originally we wanted the book launch in December, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it, because of my involvement with the People Power People movement. So, well, perhaps in time for my birthday next year. Anyway, you’ll be the first to know. Because I expect you to write a good review, even if you haven’t seen it yet." (Laughter)
"And yes, I’ll be including some haiku, but, uhhh, I won’t tell how many, or which, so you don’t expect too much."
"Thank you very much, Ma’am."
Some of the questions that followed naturally had to do with Mrs. Aquino’s declared intention to demur from endorsing anyone for the presidential derby next year. She wound up making a face as both Del Rosario Jr. and Cuisia Jr. attempted to suggest that this non-endorsement may "enable an undesirable candidate to become President."
Saying that she was more or less determined to stick to her decision for various reasons, Mrs. Aquino let on that the only candidate she would endorse, if need be, was her son Noynoy.
"I think my days of making a difference are over. I’m 70 years old, and as my friends tell me, I’m already in the pre-departure lounge. So let me stay there." Or words to that effect.
This brought to mind an anecdote that came my way through double hearsay, how the former President had spoken recently on the phone to our friend Mario Taguiwalo, who served as Health deputy secretary under her administration. Mario and Beaulah had just suffered the worst possible tragedy, which was to lose a son, and Mario had written an eloquent eulogy, which drew Mrs. Aquino’s attention. After offering her condolence, the story went, Tita Cory asked Mario to promise to write her own eulogy. Mario was nonplussed and had to gather himself. He argued that he didn’t even want to think of the possibility of such an occasion, soon or ever. But then Tita Cory voiced out that same line about being in the pre-departure lounge, and Mario just had to make that promise.
Like him, I shudder to think what any eulogy for this classy lady would have to muster by way of mixed parts grand tribute and infinite sadness. I maintain that more than Ninoy, she made us proud to be Filipino, and made us resolve to offer our very lives for the Filipino.
And since it’s become unimaginable for us to convince her to become President again, we can only console ourselves that the wait for the first book of her memoirs won’t be that long, and that perhaps the second and third books will come out before Harry Potter No. 6. I’m particularly expectant with regards the third and last part of Cory Aquino’s memoirs, which is presumed to cover her presidency and beyond.
I hope for three valuable elements to be included in this book. The first should be a full account of how the Honasan-led coup attempts failed in everything except to wreak so much damage to a country that was taking off under Tita Cory. I’m still wondering how this guy can even get the gumption to declare his availability for the presidency. What makes a colonel, or a police general like Ping Lacson, think that they can throw their hats into the ring when they remain bereft of any achievement even as legislators?
I also look forward to the inclusion of Tita Cory’s most celebrated speeches, including and most especially that stirring one delivered with the bases loaded before the US Congress. Since Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin continues to disdain the idea of collecting and publishing his brilliant literary produce between covers, this should be the closest that lovers of good literature can get to appreciating Teddy Boy’s worth as arguably our best wordsmith pound-for-pound.
And lastly, I hope to see at least the following haiku included in Tita Cory’s memoirs. It is her own, and may curiously reflect her avowed intention to abstain from political partisanship. In Neni Sta. Romana’s essay, "From Ninoy’s Shadow to the Presidency," in the book Seven in the Eye of History (edited by Asuncion David Maramba, published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. in 2000), it is recounted how Cory had written some haiku as her daughter Viel’s class submissions, and that this one "had been deemed the best by her English teacher, Fr. Joseph Galdon, S.J."
"Tall majestic tree,
We wish of course for our Tita Cory to always reach for that sky that has been her destiny. But oh, okay, she has the right to partial retirement, where we can only wish her the best as she writes more haiku, or indulges in painting, her other creative hobby. As an artist, as with revered memories, Tita Cory will never cease to be.
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