Tita Cory passed away at dawn on Aug. 1st, a Saturday, which we Catholics regard as Mama Mary’s Day… hence, we know in our hearts that she is now with God… reconciled with her martyred husband, the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. Since we’re only coming out at this time, I have read most of the accolades and tributes bestowed upon our former Pres. Cory Aquino, from the far left to the far right… from the rich and the poor alike who’ve always looked at Tita Cory as an “Icon of Democracy”. Indeed, this is what Tita Cory will always be known to us, after all, how many brave housewives went out of their shell to battle a well-entrenched Dictatorship?
I first met Tita Cory when she came to Cebu in one of the many sorties she did here after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, especially that unforgettable launching (where a simple lugaw was served) of the “Justice for Ninoy, Justice for All (JAJA)” at the old Club Filipino golf course, which is now the Ayala Business Park. It was then we condoled with her, after all, I submit that I have always been a Ninoy fan and at that time, kept a tape recording of his famous speeches in the US. Back then, we were like lost sheep, whose shepherd have been gruesomely murdered and taken away from us.
After that luncheon, I tried to catch up with my golfing friends at the back nine of the Club Filipino. Nope, I wasn’t involved in the media yet, because we knew that the mainstream media had become the propaganda tool of the Marcos Dictatorship. This was why famous columnists like Sir Max Soliven refused to write for the Marcos controlled press and began writing again in the so-called Mosquito Press in a magazine dubbed “Mr. & Ms.” and later on, together with Ma’am Betty Go-Belmonte, created the Philippine Daily Inquirer, then after the EDSA Revolt, The Philippine STAR was born!
That there is a huge outpouring of sympathy for the death of Tita Cory gives us an idea of how the Filipino people can honor our former President. Once more, we have this golden opportunity of a Filipino people united in grief. But should we bury Tita Cory beside Ninoy and then remember them during their death anniversaries? If there is anything woefully disturbing with the Filipino race… it is that we’re a very forgetful lot and worst of all, we never learn the bitter lessons from our past mistakes. If you ask me, we should learn the lessons from the life of Tita Cory as a tribute to her.
First lesson we must all learn from her, points a finger to the current opposition, which my good friend, Sen. Loren Legarda was quoted in The Philippine STAR last Saturday as saying, “Opposition Unity Impossible—Loren”. After Ninoy’s death, it was difficult enough for the opposition to convince Tita Cory to lead the banner of the opposition, but it was even more difficult for then Sen. Salvador “Doy” Laurel, leader of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) to step aside and let Tita Cory lead a united front against the monolith of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), political party of the Marcos Dictatorship.
But then, the opposition leaders prevailed upon Tita Cory to pick up the leadership from the fallen Ninoy Aquino and thus, Doy Laurel also made the supreme sacrifice in sliding down to be the vice-presidential candidate of Tita Cory with his own party UNIDO as the political party to carry the flag of the opposition. While that election proved inconclusive as to who won it, it was marred with massive cheating, and when the computer operators got sick and tired of being told to cheat for Marcos, they walked out of the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) and it sparked the beginning of the EDSA Revolt, called by Jaime Cardinal Sin and Butz Aquino.
Tita Cory then was with us at the Fuente Osmeña in Cebu holding a massive rally when word came that the People’s Power Revolt had began. Tita Cory was brought to the Carmelite Convent, while we went to Cebu Plaza Hotel with Doy Laurel, and the rest as you know is history. If there was something very positive that was introduced during the Cory Administration, it was the involvement of private sector representatives in government agencies. I got into the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) as private sector representative for more than 20 years, thanks to Tita Cory, who had the foresight to put volunteers into the RDC and other government agencies.
While we bury Tita Cory today, we should never bury her memory that once upon a time, when hope was lost, a simple housewife took the cudgels to fight a well-entrench dictatorship and restored democracy into Asia’s first Democracy. Looking back at the tumultuous funeral for Ninoy, and I expect the same will happen today for Tita Cory’s funeral, we can learn a final lesson here that when power grabbers and dictators die, they do not get a tumultuous send off when they are buried…. That’s if they get buried at all!
* * *
For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.