The perfect story needs no additions

Corazon Cojuangco Aquino is and was everything she ever needed to be.

Her perfect story is complete and needs no addition to it. No title, street sign or beatification could possibly add any more value or power to her life’s testimony.

In the last page and the last paragraph of the Bible, the writer warned us not to add or subtract anything from what has been written. The same warning applies to those who truly love or respect Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.

Anything that we attempt to add to her already legendary life story would merely be to satisfy “our own” vanity, our own guilt or our own pain or effort to contribute to someone else’s life instead of our own.

For others, it serves nothing more than to take advantage of the emotional moment in order to harvest favor from people who love Cory Aquino.

We may be sincere in our desire to honor Cory but has someone ever asked: What would Cory say? Or how would Cory react to the suggestion that we rename EDSA after her, make her a national hero and then have her beatified?

I don’t know if she would turn yellow or be tickled pink, but without a doubt, she would have said no once, twice and three times. If Cory had been the type to hug the limelight and hoard the titles she would have been out there all these years. Instead, Cory retired to private life.    

As good intentioned as others may be, we need to remember that Cory lived a life that defied the public titles.

She was a “Cojuangco” who became an “ordinary housewife”. She was a “widow” who fought a “powerful dictator”. She was an “ordinary housewife” who became President of the Philippines. She was a retired “Tita Cory” who became our icon of democracy and a model of how Filipino Mothers love and care for their family.

She was the ordinary that did the extraordinary.

To attach official or heavenly titles upon Corazon Cojuangco Aquino would be tantamount to saying she was never simple or ordinary and therefore her life’s testimony is no longer extraordinary.

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It is very tempting to take pot shots at the suggestion to rename EDSA and call it Cory Aquino Avenue. As a result there is now a protest from relatives of EDSA to leave their share of history alone. Another suggestion is for Senator Mar Roxas to show his sincerity and offer to rename “Roxas blvd” into “Cory Aquino Blvd” Since “Roxas blvd” was also sequestered from the original “Dewey blvd”.

Instead of fanning the dispute, let us turn it into an opportunity of studying what’s wrong with the picture.

First why do we allow this unregulated, impulsive and disruptive action of legislators and local officials, to rename streets, government and school buildings? One law that they should pass is to limit the number of highways, boulevards, avenues and city streets that can be named after one person.

The naming of such locations should only be for Presidents, Provincial Governors (in their province) and real heroes and not after Senators, local officials or the mother or father of politicians.

Nationalism and patronage politics should also be filtered out when renaming a certain location can create a gap between our local reality relative to regional or international history.

For instance, there is now some confusion between the former “Clark Air Base” and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. From an international point of History, Clark Air Base is significant in both World War II and the Vietnam War. In terms of Philippine History, Clark Air Base symbolizes the good and the bad in US-Philippine relations.

Since a “new” airport inside Clark was named the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, there has been a bit of confusion as to, which is which? 

We should also limit the naming to only one at the national, regional or provincial level. The names should likewise have a minimum lifespan (say 50 years) and a public hearing before someone is even allowed to pass a resolution or a law to rename a certain location.

There should also be a central data bank that filters and process all the names and changes so that we can keep track of all these information.

As far as choosing the ideal highway for Cory, why EDSA?, why not the SCTEX which is one of the best and scenic highway we have and also goes into Hacienda Luisita which is the ancestral domain of Cory’s family.

If we don’t own that piece of highway then we can name the South Expressway after Cory since it certainly has been the site of the longest stretch of love and honor expressed to Ninoy and Cory twice.

Whatever we do, let us do it with careful thought, with consideration and with respect for all.

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DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Jun Ebdane was certainly on the ball as he traveled outside Metro Manila to inspect the extent of storm damage on public works.

While he’s at it, Secretary Ebdane should also spend more time tailing his regional directors instead of tailing the President. Ebdane may not have heard but radio reporters have started calling him “The Tail” or “Buntot” on radio because he has consistently been seen following the President.

I understand Ebdane’s predicament in the face of a President who constantly has questions and demands answers and solutions immediately. Ebdane however has to spend nothing more than one whole day driving around Metro Manila to discover that the roads have deteriorated and the local officials are not doing anything about their share either. Unfortunately when people get angry, it’s Gloria and Ebdane who will conveniently be blamed.