"YOU GUYS ARE HEROES"

Nineteen eighty-six. The People Power Revolution. It was the best of times on the world stage when people around the world were taking their hats off to Filipino courage being showcased in TV live coverage while ousting a dictator in a rare bloodless revolution.

I was reading a foreign paper when I came across a news item about the story of a handful of Filipinos getting a pat on the back from a New York taxi driver. I can only imagine the sweet-sounding words and what it must have been like to hear them and feel inside as Filipinos in a foreign land.

That salute was on the road. Taking the high ground as the world was giving a big hand to our nation’s feat, our leader then, President Corazon Aquino, came away with the most sought-after invitation -- speaking about the Filipino success story before the joint session of the US Congress.

“Three years ago, I left America in grief to bury my husband, Ninoy Aquino. I thought I had left it also to lay rest his restless dream of Philippine freedom. Today, I have returned as the president of a free people.”

The above opener of her speech more than 3 decades ago embodied three major chunks: Ninoy, the Filipino people, and the Post-Edsa PH. So much profound prose has been written about them that I went for choosing a notable piece for each chunk. The following excerpts about Ninoy were taken from the book “Kingdoms in Conflict: An Insider’s Challenging View of Politics, Power, and the Pulpit” by Charles Colson.

NINOY

“As Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Philippines has said, it is hard for our doubting hearts to believe that spiritual power – which is peaceful, prayerful, humane, forgiving, willing to suffer on the side of the poor and oppressed – can change society. We know the gospel affects the lives of individuals, but can it make an impact on institutions and governments, where the heartless realities of power pierce like a knife? ... One can never quite calculate how one conversion like Benigno Aquino’s in a lowly prison cell may set in motion a train of events to shake a nation.

“‘You’re Mr. Colson…I must talk to you… I wanted to die in prison until I read your book [Born Again].’ I knew… I had another Christian brother.

“[T[hat conversion took away none of his heartfelt concern for his nation. Ninoy, as his friends called him, vowed he would one day return to the Philippines… ‘If I’m killed, I’ll be with Jesus,’ he told me, smiling.”

The rest is history.

THE FILIPINO PEOPLE

Excerpts below were taken from the article “Freedom Comes to the Philippines” by Francis B. Sayre, US High Commissioner to the Philippines, in the 1945 Issue of The Atlantic. Written 77 years ago, the article depicted that, to a great extent, nothing in the character and plight of Filipinos seemed to have changed today.

“To understand the Philippines and to get to the heart of their problems, one must turn to the untutored, poverty-ridden peasants who constitute the majority…The peasants live simply… honest, happy-go-lucky, struggling to keep free from debt but proving generally easy prey to the landlord and the moneylender.

“His innate good nature shows in his smiling face; and somehow, in spite of his poverty, one feels that he has learned the high art of distilling happiness from life. His children are always at the center of his family life…

"The ferment of coming independence is in his soul. He thinks of America as a friend who brought good gifts.”

Is it any wonder, then, that the 2020 Social Weather Stations survey showed Filipinos trusted the US more than China?

POST EDSA PH

Though author Sandra Burton had good words for Filipinos as a people after she had witnessed and wove “her own experience into a thrilling account [in her book “Impossible Dream”] of the most dramatic episodes of our time” [the EDSA Revolution in the words of author Stanley Karnow], sad to say, Burton felt too chancy about the future of our country.

“Filipinos had the greatest tolerance for the chaos of any people I had ever met. In that sense, more than in others, they seemed suited to democracy. In President [Cory] Aquino they had a leader who truly believed that democracy could produce results in a poor and polarized country. But I would try to keep my expectations about its success on this volcanic soil within the bounds of realism.”

Not mincing his words, James Fallows in his straight-shooting article in the Atlantic, “A Damaged Culture,” bolstered such low-grade expectation which I excerpted below:

“A New Philippines? In the United States, the coming of the Aquino government seemed to make the Philippines into a success story. The evil Marcos was out; the saintly Cory was in; the worldwide march to democracy went on. All that was left was to argue about why we stuck with our tawdry pet dictator for so long, and to support Corazon Aquino as she danced around coup attempts and worked her way out of the problems the Marcoses had caused.”

Just as Burton foretold, like a self-fulfilling prophet, in her book’s epilogue the PH hazy future, so too Fallows looked upon a “dark view” of PH “not only without nationalism but also without much national pride.” What would Fallows think upon knowing that the son of the “tawdry pet dictator” the US stuck with for so long is now the President of the Philippines? What would have Fallows felt upon knowing that the son of the “tawdry pet dictator” will be coming to town?

NATIONAL PRIDE

You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. I’m telling you why.

PBBM should watch out for both legal and political fallouts. He has a standing contempt order in connection with a human rights class suit. Issued in 1995, the contempt amount reached $353 million in 2011 due to PBBM’s evasion of paying such contempt order.

Legally speaking, according to Rappler, former ambassador to the US Raul Rabe said the US State Department would need to secure the permission of the courts for PBBM’s visit. Politically speaking, the dilemma’s upshot may pull the rug from under the Biden administration and catch PBBM off-balance, subsequently, weighing down the intended boost of the US-PH partnership.

Martial Law human rights victims may not cry. “Robert Swift, the American lawyer working to recover assets to distribute to those victims said that PBBM’s US visit would put in motion moves to enforce the contempt judgment,” Rappler reported. Swift added he could even request a subpoena for PBBM to face the court to explain.

Alan Franklin, an LLM in international law, stressed that the exact nature of the immunities from criminal and civil liability of heads of state is ambiguous.

As Filipinos, we may not pout. But, weighing on our nation’s psyche, PBBM’s visit should stir us up to ask ourselves: are we as proud now as we were during the EDSA People Power?

Head still photo courtesy of Nothing Ahead @ pexelsdotcom