Remembering Cory Aquino

Tomorrow, Aug. 1, is the 16th death anniversary of President Cory Aquino. In these troubled times when the Filipino people hunger for leaders who are honest and charismatic, we remember with gratitude that there was such a person in the history of our country.

For nearly three decades, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino exercised power – for a few years as the legally elected president, but for a much longer period, before and after her presidency – using solely her “charismatic” leadership.

“Charisma” has been defined as the quality of an individual by virtue of which he or she is set apart from ordinary men and women and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional qualities.

The ancient Greeks often thought of charisma as a gift from the gods. But modern definition more frequently alludes to charisma as a personal leadership involving personal magnetism that permits leaders to arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.

Leaders come in varying types of personality. Most of them use identifiable personality tricks and props. Winston Churchill and Fidel V. Ramos both used the cigar as props. But Churchill had the V (for victory) sign while Ramos had the thumbs-up sign. Roosevelt used the “fireside chats” while Martin Luther King used biblical phrases in his civil rights speeches.

Corazon Aquino had the yellow color and the Laban sign as her populist trademarks. Her son, President Noynoy Aquino, still used yellow as his official color but the Laban sign had been replaced by the yellow ribbon.

But central to the charismatic leader’s repertoire is the power to persuade through communication skills. Charisma can influence others and arouse their enthusiasm.

During the movement to replace the Marcos dictatorship with democratic institutions, many opposition leaders had the opportunity to speak to the people as rallies and marches were becoming more numerous.

But no one had the ability to arouse the kind of enthusiastic reception that Cory could. She did not speak in the loud, bombastic style of the traditional politician. Nor did she speak in the angry tone common among speakers espousing leftist ideology.

When she spoke, however, the listener could visualize a vivid picture of the sufferings and sacrifices of Ninoy and his family. And when she would end that what motivated her husband was his faith and belief that the Filipino was worth dying for, the listener could empathize with her.

The ancient view that someone is either born with charisma or not is very different from the modern one. Although some persons might have a predisposition to acquiring it, there is considerable evidence that charisma is not something one is born with. Charisma is not given to a person and it is not an inherited or inborn quality. It is something that develops over time.

I did not have the privilege of knowing President Aquino before she came back in 1983. I remember seeing her in some of the Laban meetings during the 1978 Batasang Pambansa elections when her husband galvanized the opposition with one television interview.

But I was later told that those who knew her then could never imagine that she would eventually develop into a truly remarkable charismatic leader of the Filipino people.

It is possible, therefore, for leaders to develop charisma, although certainly only very rarely is this done successfully. But charisma, combined with hard work, the right attitude and even a little bit of luck can have an impact of influencing and motivating, no matter how hopeless the situation might look.

During the dark days of the unlamented Marcos dictatorship, the possibility of a peaceful transition to democracy seemed like a hopeless and impossible cause. There were several moral and hardworking leaders of the opposition at that time. But there was one person who combined hard work, an inflexible moral standard and charismatic leadership that fortunately emerged to lead her people in a nonviolent crusade that culminated in the rebirth of Philippine democracy.

Philippine history has had many examples of how selfish and shortsighted leaders in politics, business and religion can destroy the economy and moral fiber of our society.

We continue to be in search of leaders who will finally lead us to a Golden Age that we have longed and prayed for. Perhaps it is true that the ideal leader is someone who does not intend to become a national leader. But it is the leader who has the ability to inspire a shared vision and possesses the virtues of integrity, competence and with the courage and will to surmount any challenge.

One of the greatest gifts that Corazon Aquino has left us is the legacy of a leadership that symbolized and expressed what is truly the best in the Filipino. We can only pray and hope that she has left us with the legacy that will inspire other Filipinos with the conviction and the will to believe that the Filipino is still worth dying for.