Part 1
THIRTY years ago this month, as the country teetered on the brink of a real revolution, people and an electric air filled the historic Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, to witness the hasty oath-taking of the late Mrs. Corazon Cojuangco Aquino as the 11th President—in defiance of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, who held a similar ceremony in Malacañang a few kilometers away.
To those present, most of whom had risked their lives only three days earlier on Edsa as human buffer to the breakaway group of then-rebellious Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Fidel V. Ramos and the reformist soldiers, it was a supreme act of faith and hope that Mrs. Aquino would establish a good, just, honest and efficient government.
Appearing to match faith with faith, Mrs. Aquino, the naïf icon of Philippine democracy and religious Catholic supremacy, humbly accepted the gift of power, took her oath of office and pledged to obey the “fundamental law of the land” (Constitution), enforce the laws and do justice to every one.
Then she said:
“Beloved brothers and sisters, it is fitting that, if the rights and liberties of our people were taken away at midnight 14 years ago, the people should recover those rights and liberties in full daylight. It took the brutal murder of Ninoy [Benigno S. Aquino Jr., her husband] to bring about a unity so strong and the
phenomenon of people power. We became exiles in our own land—we, Filipinos, who are at home only in freedom—when Marcos destroyed the republic 14 years ago. Through the power of the people, we are home again. And now, I would like to appeal to everybody to work for national reconciliation, which is what Ninoy came home for. Continue to pray! Pray to the Lord to help us, especially during these difficult days.”
Appearing proud and magnanimous, she announced to the nation and the world that she would restore unity, genuine reconciliation and democratic space; that she would not file charges against Marcos; that she would not reside in the Presidential Palace (“because in these difficult times, it is not proper to live in extravagance”); and that she would be “the opposite of Marcos.”
At the thanksgiving Mass at the Luneta Park on March 3, a week after she took her oath of office, President Aquino also said: “We owe our mandates to the people. And it is a sacred trust that must not be violated. No one will be exempted from my uncompromising pledge not to tolerate graft and corruption, nepotism, usurpation and abuse of power and authority, extravagance, incompetence, abuse of human rights and violations of the basic freedom of speech, assembly, thought and non-violent action.”
Instead of all these, what many people witnessed during her term was a repetition of a strongman rule and an era of hatred, vengeance and disunity that lasted beyond her term.
To be continued
To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.