Ninoy and Philip

(In order to honor the 27th death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino and to commemorate the upcoming National Heroes Day allow me to share with you a speech I gave last Wednesday to the students of the University of the Philippines at the Malcolm Hall of the College of Law.)

 Twenty-seven years ago, Ninoy Aquino was murdered at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport. His death was the beginning the spark in a chain of events that brought the end of a dictatorship and restored democracy to the Philippines. Most, if not all, the students here today were not even a gleam in their father’s eye when this occurred. In fact, most young people have no idea of the repression under martial law and remember Ninoy only as an icon: a bespectacled face on a T-shirt or a poster. The youth know him as a national hero but don’t really comprehend his sacrifice. Most importantly, the youth forget the simple and profound truth that Ninoy died so that their generation would be free. His own words, given in a speech before the Asia Society in New York on August 4, 1980, bear this out. Ninoy said:

“I have asked myself many times: Is the Filipino worth suffering, or even dying, for? Is he not a coward who would readily yield to any colonizer, be he foreign or homegrown? Is a Filipino more comfortable under an authoritarian leader because he does not want to be burdened with the freedom of choice? Is he unprepared, or worse, ill suited for presidential or parliamentary democracy?

“I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for because he is the nation’s greatest untapped resource.”

These are not the hollow words or the rhetoric of a politician. Ninoy knew of the great danger to his life that would result in his flying home to the Philippines. He could have just taken the easy route and stayed in Boston, where his life was comfortable, far away the troubles of Manila under martial law. And yet he came home because he believed that we were worth dying for.

But Ninoy isn’t the only person who has willingly sacrificed himself because of love of country. Ensign Philip Pestaño was someone who truly embodied and continued Ninoy’s legacy.

Let me tell you a little bit about Philip. Ensign Philip Pestaño was a graduate of the Ateneo High School, Class of ‘89. After graduation, he went to the Philippine Military Academy, where he was indoctrinated, as all cadets were, with a deep sense of honor and a love of God and country. Upon graduation, as a member of the Navy, he was assigned to work on board a supply ship, the BRP Bacolod City. Unfortunately, the ship was used not only for transporting supplies for the military but was also allegedly used for gun-running, transporting illegal logs and drugs. One of Philip’s duties was signing the ship’s manifest, meaning he had to affirm that the ship had been used to transport only lawful articles. Having a deep-rooted sense of duty, he refused to sign the ship’s manifest. Because of this, on Sept. 27, 1995, as the BRP Bacolod City sailed from Sangley Point to Manila Bay, Philip was murdered and later found dead in his cabin.

Philip could also have just taken the easy route and just turned a blind eye to these illegal activities but he could not. As Philip’s family attests, he like Ninoy was too good of a man, too good of a Filipino for that. As a good soldier, he believed likewise that the Filipino was worth dying for.

(As an aside, I am now counsel for the parents of Philip and we are set to begin proceedings before the Department of Justice so that after 15 years, we can finally give Philip and his family justice.)

I share the examples of Ninoy and Philip with you to stress what a great debt you owe to them and with the hope that their deeds and their lives will inspire you to love your country and honor your fellow Filipino.

But perhaps the more important point is to ask the question: What should living Ninoy’s ideals mean to you? Or, more simply, how will you manifest and make real your love for your country? Honestly, I cannot and should not be the one to answer this question for you. However, allow me to say the easy course might be to ask you to do basic things such as study well, (when you start working) pay your taxes, and follow traffic rules. While all of this is fine and I wholly support it it feels insufficient. It is insufficient because given the enormity of the problems that we face as a nation grinding, crushing poverty, corruption, and threats to the environment we need you among the very best students of this country to aspire for much more. Simply, I cannot in good conscience exhort you to give honor to Ninoy’s legacy by merely pointing to the basics of good citizenship.

So I will do the opposite. Ninoy dreamed big. Read his speeches, letters, and writings and you will see that he dreamed of a Philippines that was vibrant, free, democratic, and its citizens empowered. So did Ensign Philip Pestaño. That is why they were willing to die for their dreams. No one would be willing to die over small dreams. So the challenge for you is to dream big for your country. How you will manifest your aspirations for the Philippines and what role you will have in achieving it will depend on you. Specifically, it will depend on where your skills, abilities, and passions lie.

Perhaps the most fitting way to end this speech is not by giving you specific instructions on how to continue Ninoy’s legacy but instead by reminding you, through this poem, about the challenge of making your own life worthwhile, taking into account Ninoy’s sacrifice for you, and that way, you can genuinely continue Ninoy’s legacy.

“The Dash” By Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak,

At the funeral of a Friend.

He referred to the dates on this tombstone,

From beginning … to the end.

He noted that first, came his date of birth,

And spoke of the following date with tears.

But he said what mattered most of all,

Was the dash in between those years.

For the dash represents,

All the time he spent alive on earth.

And how only those who loved him,

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters most is how we live and love,

And how we spend our dash…

So think about this long and hard.

Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left,

That can still be rearranged…

So when your eulogy is being read,

With your life’s actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

And how your spent your dash?