WE bid goodbye to former President Cory Aquino, the woman who mothered an oppressed nation when she could have chosen to care for her own children alone.
Cory espoused and fought for the Filipinos’ aspirations for democracy and prosperity when she could have opted to become an ordinary widow of a martyr.
The Aquino administration was not heaven on earth as everybody expected it to be after the dictatorship was toppled. Upon assumption to power, Aquino supporters jostled for juicy position while remnants of the old regime feigned loyalty to the new order.
While Mrs. Aquino instituted land reform, her family, which owns vast track of lands in Tarlac, was assailed for dodging the law. Talks with rebels were snail-paced even as disgruntled segments of the military tried to bomb her out of Malacañang.
Cory, however, will always be revered as an icon of democracy, a heroine who rose from ordinariness to courageous leadership despite the odds she faced. She mustered the courage to lead because she listened to her people’s clamor.
It is unfortunate that while Cory was still alive, the very people who benefited from her sacrifices are trying to undo the gains of the EDSA People Power Revolution. Charter change, term extension, political and media killings and blatant corruption have replaced the ideas of good governance, democracy and liberty that emanated from that bloodless revolution.
Once Cory is laid to rest, there is a lingering fear that the young will not recognize her or the greedy will bring us back to the dark period that we sought to banish.
After all the tributes and gratitude we expressed for Cory, bigger challenges await us after her burial, and that is the preservation of our democratic ideals and fulfilling our aspirations for clean governance.
Certainly, Cory would continue to pray for the Philippine wherever she is now. Until her last days, she did raise our country to God’s mercy and graces.
But now that she is gone, we must couple prayers with vigilance, hope with decisive action, particularly in the 2010 elections.
We bid farewell to Cory as we lay her to rest, but we should not bury the memories of an ordinary housewife who rose to lead a hopeful nation.
RONIN
Francis Allan L. Angelo
The Daily Guardian
5 August 2009
scrimgeour
