There are two names that have been swept under the rug as the nation continues to get caught up in adulation over the late president Cory Aquino — former president Fidel Ramos and Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile.There is no question that both names pale beside that of Cory in reverence. But in the historical significance of what happened in February 1986, there has to be some valid doubt as to whether Cory would have succeeded in making a difference without the two.
Sometimes, losing the benefit of hindsight can be cruel in that we are forever deprived the knowledge of what might have been, such as whether Cory, on her own, without the spark provided by Ramos and Enrile, would have gone on to become the heroine she is regarded today.
After Edsa 1986, Ramos succeeded in exorcising the ghosts of his Marcos past and went on to become one of the most respected leaders of the country. Enrile, on the other hand, still seems stuck with the checkered political career that has been his ever since.
But who they are now is not as important as who they were in February 1986, especially in the context of all discussion regarding Cory as the savior of democracy. It would be a great injustice not just to the two gentlemen but to history itself if we overlook this fact.
The pages of history are not so much treatises of morality as they are chronicles of hard and unbending facts. It is not history that judges itself but the readers of its pages and how these readers, in reaction to what they read, learn and make life better for themselves.
In other words, it matters little whether the spark ignited by Ramos and Enrile was born of a greedy attempt to grab power. The indelible fact is that, whatever their motives, that spark erupted into the conflagration we know today as People Power Revolution.
And it was to the center of that storm that Cory, plucked by fate from anonymity, found her destiny. While Cory was already leading civil disobedience rallies at the time, there is no certainty whether she could have attained the critical mass to bring things to tipping point.
It would be interesting to find out whether Filipinos would have risen had Marcos ordered Cory arrested. Unfortunately we will never find out because that was not meant to be. Ramos and Enrile changed the complexion of things and it is there from where history proceeded.
It is therefore unfair, irresponsible, and unacceptable to shove the two gentlemen, especially Enrile, out of the picture. Edsa 1986 happened because Ramos and Enrile abandoned Marcos at the time, giving the people and Cory the chance they needed to finally rise.