She was hardly the perfect President; despite my decided bias because of her key role in our shining moment, I freely acknowledge that former President Corazon C. Aquino had her flaws. After all, she gave us Kris Aquino. She had her share of critics, bloopers, and outright blunders. There was a time she was even lambasted by the very press that adored her for allegedly hiding under her bed during one of Gringo’s many idiotic coup d’états, though not many people my age might remember it; I do, but only because Sic O’clock News had a very funny skit about it, and I loved that show. She was no saint, in whatever way you choose to use that term. Rather, she was as human as any of us — frail, even — but courageous in where it mattered. And that’s how I choose to remember Cory.
I choose to remember Cory as a housewife, mother, and widow, who took the Marcos dictatorship to task for its crimes against the Filipino people. As a woman who could have run away but did not, when it would have been infinitely easier just to go away. As a person who had everything to lose standing up to the biggest bully of them all, because that’s the only way you deal with bullies. The EDSA People Power Revolution would not have worked with anyone else as the figurehead, and to her credit, she understood that. She entered the dirty dirty world of politics so that the people could have someone to rally to, because no trapo could do it, not after Marcos, not so soon. So she had to give up the easy life of a wealthy private citizen and accept the burden, the scrutiny, the pressure, of being a figurehead for the greatest democracy ever told. She had to give up being a mother to her children so she could nurture a wounded nation.
Shortly after our liberation from Marcos tyranny, she said:
I am determined to make a success of this government. I am not doing it for Cory Aquino but for the people who are hoping and praying. I am doing it for democracy. If I fail, it might be said that democracy itself does not have a chance to survive here. It is determination, more than anything else — and I keep telling people: “You have to help me.” They do help, and for some of them, it is a big sacrifice.
Cory made a big sacrifice, too. And that’s what made her a better leader than most.
You might also want to read the (not so) noob mainframe programmer’s thoughts on this.
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i grieve.
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