Standing up for what is right

Some people are planning to hold an “anti-corruption” rally on EDSA on Sept. 11, birthday of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. An anti-corruption rally on the birthday of someone whose billions, amassed while he was in power (do you really believe he found the treasure of Yamashita?), remain largely unexplained? On the highway that has become the seedbed of protests against corruption and dictatorship?

I hope certain sectors do not piggyback on Janet Napoles for their own personal agenda against President Aquino, who I am certain is unwavering in his fight against corruption.

In one of my last interviews with his mother Cory Aquino, the late democracy icon told me, “How could I ever steal from the country when Ninoy died for it?”

Pinky Abellada once told me about P-Noy, who won the presidency on an anti-corruption platform, “Shoot me if my brother ever steals from the country.” Before her father Ninoy’s 30th death anniversary last Aug. 21, she confided, “You know, when it comes to government funds, P-Noy is even stricter than Mom.”

And Cory was already the type of President who would pay for the airfare of her children whenever one of them accompanied her during official trips abroad (technically, she could have let government pay for at least one of them because she had no spouse). She was also the type who would use her own money whenever she hosted personal gatherings, like the merienda for the movie premiere of Kris’ movie Pido Dida, or the merienda following the commemorations of Ninoy’s death anniversary. She would let the cook in her home, not the Palace chef or caterer, prepare the merienda. In the Palace Guesthouse where she held office, they called her “Cory-pot” (a pun on kuripot, meaning “stingy”). And I don’t think she was offended.

So while it is good, nay, necessary, for the people to remain vigilant EVEN when an honest man occupies the Presidency, they shouldn’t train their guns on the person who is on their side in the fight against corruption. Even Church funds — from as high as the Vatican to the smallest of parishes — have been tainted with corruption at certain times in history. No one should let his guard down. For as long as temptation exists on earth, so must vigilance. Stealing must be made difficult for people big and small, and the punishment for stealing must be tough  — for people big and small.

And praise for those who stand up for what is right should always be loud and clear.

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The few good men like the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Calixto Zaldivar of Antique should never be forgotten in the light of current events. Justice Zaldivar was known as the “dissenting justice” because he, along with then Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion, opposed martial law by stating that the 1973 Marcos Constitution was not validly ratified (Javellana vs. Executive Secretary). To defy Marcos — just as it is when you are defying any “boss,” whether in the classroom or the workplace — when he was at the apex of his power was an act of courage. But Zaldivar dissented.

According to Justice Zaldivar’s daughter, former Antique Gov. Salvacion “Sally” Zaldivar-Perez, when, unbeknownst to their families,  Senators Pepe Diokno and Ninoy Aquino were brought to Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija in 1973, the “dissenting” justice again did the seemingly unthinkable. He led the court in issuing the writ of habeas corpus, compelling the military to produce Diokno and Aquino. (According to the online Oxford dictionaries, the writ of habeas corpus is “a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.”)

The University of the Philippines Alumni Association, led by president Ponciano Rivera Jr. and secretary Dodie Lagman Jr., recently conferred the 2013 UPAA Multi-Generation UP Alumni Family recognition award on the late Justice Zaldivar, his daughter Sally and grandson, lawyer Dennis Patrick Zaldivar Perez.

They were cited for “upholding the UP tradition of academic excellence and nurturing a heritage of the finest family values, both of which are highly worth of admiration and emulation by our present, as well as future, generations.”

Justice Zaldivar finished his Bachelor of Laws at the UP in 1928 and placed third in the Bar exams the following year. He would have been 104 on Sept. 13. He passed away in 1979.

He was the only Antiqueño to occupy positions in three branches of government  — as congressman before World War II, governor and Executive Secretary to President Diosdado Macapagal and then justice of the Supreme Court from 1964 to 1973.

Like father, like daughter

His daughter Sally, “Inday Sally” to her former constituents and “Tita Sally” to a multitude, including to me, was elected governor of Antique in 2001. She served for three consecutive terms.

A Foreign Service and Political Science graduate of the UP (1958), she steered Antique out of the cluster of the Philippines’ 20 poorest provinces during her second term.

“I made arts and culture the source of pride of all Antiqueños,” Tita Sally adds.

Her legacy is literally concrete — all the roads from the boundary of Iloilo to the boundary of Kalibo have been rebuilt in concrete.

Her son, Dennis, for his part, finished his Bachelor of Laws in UP in 1993 and passed the Bar the following year. He was a working student, the legal aide of then Senate President Edgardo Angara in 1993.

Dennis was appointed judge in Binangonan, Rizal at the young age of 42. His lolo was his idol.

Dennis is married to Dr. Junette Alvarez Perez, an economic professor in La Salle. They have one son named “Thurgood,” after the African-American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

(You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez@yahoo.com.)