Cebu and two women presidents

Destiny seems to have ordained that the only two women who became Philippine presidents would enjoy a very special relationship with Cebuanos. And by very special, it is not necessary for that relationship to be loving or emotional, just plain extraordinary.

In 1986, when then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces of the Philippines vice chief of staff Fidel Ramos rebelled against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the political crisis caught Corazon Aquino in the middle of a civil disobedience rally in Cebu.

Aquino, an ordinary housewife thrust into the political storm that came in the wake of the assassination of her husband, opposition senator Benigno Aquino Jr., had challenged Marcos in a snap election he called amid mounting pressure for him to account for the murder.

Marcos was widely believed to have stolen the election, forcing the opposition to daily take to the streets in ever growing numbers. Stepping up pressure, Cory called for civil disobedience and as support for Marcos eroded, Enrile and Ramos jumped. The nation was in flux. Fearful that the authoritarian apparatus would come for her as Marcos marshalled his forces against the rebels in Manila, Aquino, with the help of a few heroic Cebuanos, found a “safe haven” at the local Carmelite monastery in Mabolo.

But history never provided the circumstances that would have answered whether Cebuanos and the Carmelites were indeed willing to make the supreme sacrifice for Cory had the soldiers of Marcos come knocking at the gates.

As soon as she “safely” passed the night with the Carmelites, Cory flew to Manila the next day and was proclaimed president, just as Marcos had his own proclamation in Malacañang. But by that time, the balance had tilted, and Marcos was eventually forced to flee.

On hindsight, it is just as well that Cebuanos were never truly tested by circumstances different from what transpired when Cory was here. That way, the comfort of surmise is stacked subjectively in our favor. Why bother with what could have been when what was suffices.

So Cory, in her gratefulness, and Cebuanos, in their pride, can dance on the tabletop of cozy happenstance. “The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on. And neither all your peity nor wit shall move to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash a word from it.”

The relationship between Gloria Macapagalo Arroyo and the Cebuanos is just as extraordinary, although the circumstances that made it one are as different as a cow is from a lark.

Gloria found her own “safe” haven in Cebu in her own quest for the presidency. But there was no need for circumstances to test the validity of her “safety” in Cebu because she was in no real danger in whatever manner.      The opposition not only did not have the machinery and the resources Gloria enjoyed, it was also hopelessly fragmented and saddled by sorry fate. The man who had a fighting chance, Raul Roco, died.

The surviving alternatives, the actor Fernando Poe and the controversial police officer Ping Lacson, had no chance of making it to the Cebuano menu, Cebuanos being masterfully picky in choosing their leaders.

Thus, in a field where the main contenders are Gloria, Poe and Lacson, it was a no-brainer that the Cebuanos would pick the former, even if they did not particularly like her. To the Cebuanos, it was an obvious case of the obvious choice.

Besides, virtually all congressmen and almost all local government officials were with Gloria. And in a country where the saying “all politics is local” finds its greatest meaning, there was absolutely no chance for either Poe or Lacson to take Cebu.

In a political exercise tainted by allegations of cheating, there was never any need for Gloria to cheat in Cebu. Cebuanos gave Gloria a one-million majority . It’s just incidental she also won by a similar margin overall. That’s why Gloria loves Cebu.