Letter to the Editor - Remembering Haydee Yorac

I met the late Haydee Yorac twice in her modest condo in Makati. The first one was June 9 of last year shortly after her brush with death. The brilliant, feisty lady lawyer had been in a coma for three weeks; she felt that prayers led to her recovery. She was back in form, positive about the prospects for justice for the long-suffering coconut farmers in the Coco Levy fund.

Our last meeting was May 3 of this year. She looked gaunt but very much at peace: It was not just over her health that she had resigned from the PCGG but because of some business interests interfering over the SMC shares.

Meanwhile, she felt that the hard-won victory for the coconut farmers was secure since the coco-levy fund had been declared as belonging to the farmers.

She also said "yes" to the invitation of Barug Pilipino ("a corruption-intolerant, Church-based movement giving birth to a transformed Filipino nation") for her to become a member of its Board of Advisers. We were ecstatic to have her.

Two features stood out in Haydee: Her hair and her eyes.

In a country seemingly obsessed with shiny, manageable hair, as if one's dignity and value rises and falls with each bounce of one's chemically-saturated mane, her signature hair pointed to more essential realities invisible to the eyes. She was solid from within. Unlike those of a former first lady. Haydee's jewelries were that of a clean conscience and an indefatigable zeal to promote the common good.

Her hair spoke of past and present turbulence, namely martial law and its ghost that continue to hound the nation, even as it also stood for the uncompromising, principled stand she had consistently taken in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Then there were her eyes, large, round, with a touch of childlike candor. These were eyes that saw the larger picture and that sought the greater good, not the lesser of two evils. These were the penetrating gaze of a no-nonsense public servant who exercised power while not losing her soul in the process. These were eyes that prayed while listening to its conscience.

The battle for our nation's soul continues. We seem to be moving from bad to worse, our minds dulled and ours hearts afflicted by the moral malady of choosing the lesser evil instead of the greater good. Grabbing power or holding on to it at all cost have made the political scene disgusting to a lot of people, who are responding to it with apathy or leaving the country.

Our search for truth through an impeachment process is stifled, contradicting the sentiments of many Filipinos. Peace will continue to elude us until we, like Haydee Yorac, will look deep into ourselves and discover the voice of conscience, not the imperatives of patronage and traditional politics.

Haydee Yorac has fought the good fight of faith. She lives on in the hearts of many Filipino believers and patriots who believe that when good men and women do something, evil will not triumph. Thank you Haydee!

(Sgd.) Fr. Carmelo O. Diola
Barug Pilipino