EDITORIAL - Teddy Benigno and his unfinished revolution

There was always a storm gathering in the Philippines that Teodoro Benigno knew, and he was constantly worried that the country he loved dearly was not prepared for the storm’s fury. He expended barrels of ink detailing what was wrong and what must be done.

In his final days his prose dripped with disappointment that his warnings went unheeded. Having lived through some of the most turbulent periods in the nation’s history, he often yearned for the days when life, as he remembered, was much better, and he expressed hope that national leaders could restore the lost glory of his beloved land.

Teddy Benigno did not just dream of change, he worked for it. He was among the few voices that refused to be silenced in the early years of martial law. As the first Filipino bureau chief of Agence France Presse, he founded the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines and helped galvanize international opinion against the oppression of the Marcos regime. It took 14 years, but when the dictatorship finally collapsed, an exultant Benigno was persuaded to take on a new role in reforming the nation. As press secretary of Corazon Aquino, he was tasked to galvanize the government’s information machinery to consolidate public support for the fledgling democracy.

Along the way he earned the nickname Teddyman, to differentiate him from his namesake in the Aquino Cabinet, spokesman Teodoro Locsin Jr. who was Teddyboy. Bickering in that Cabinet as well as the other pressures that go with a high-profile job, particularly in a government born of a revolution, eventually compelled Teddyman to return to his first love. As a regular columnist for this paper, his writing often stung even friends, but he maintained their respect as a journalist of integrity.

With every change of administration Teddyman became increasingly frustrated, and it showed in his writing. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but that might is not always enough to effect speedy change. Two people power revolutions failed to bring significant reforms. Teddy Benigno expressed the sentiments of a frustrated nation, and he died still seeing storm clouds ahead for his country. His voice will be sorely missed.