Category: cory

people power, rain or shine

it was a memorable day that we all got to share, thanks to the marvel of television.   the cathedral rites were beautiful, fr. arevalo’s eulogy sublime, and the military honors stately and dignified.   the family continued to amaze and warm the heart,sharing their mom, sharing their grief, never mind that it meant being exposed to the cruel glare of lights and cameras and nosy, sometimes uncouth, media.   thank you, ballsy, pinky, noynoy, viel, and kris!

but the best was yet to come.   and it happened out in the streets, the people’s turf, where yellow crowds gathered in great numbers, lining the streets or marching with the casket, flashing the Laban sign and chanting “Co-ry! Co-ry! Co-ry!”   it reminded me so much of the snap election campaign, when nakarating kami ng mga magulang ko hanggang lucena, quezon para lang maki-rally kay cory.

there was a brief moment when i asked myself, where were all these people, where were we, when cory was leading street protests asking gloria to resign post-garci and later in support of jun lozada?   why were we not there for cory then?   but now i see that it doesn’t really matter anymore.   what matters is that we have rediscovered cory & ninoy and what they stood for.   and i have no doubt that when the time is right, People Power will rise again, rain or shine.

postmortem: horrid media owe marcos kids a public apology

i thought that imee and bongbong marcos (with wife lisa araneta) showed a lot of class by showing up at cory’s wake, probably at the behest of their mother, who herself had the delicadeza to stayaway.

though it was clearly an ordeal for the marcos siblings (nakatutok sa kanila ang mga camera every step of the way) they nevertheless went through the paces with as much poise as they could muster.   nice of the aquino grandsons to meet them, take them to cory, and sit with them in an an empty front pew.   and yes, what a relief when ballsy finally came out to greet them, shake hands, beso-beso, small talk.   a show of good manners and right conduct all around.   cory would have approved.

when ballsy had exited frame, imee and bongbong left the pew tagged “family” and moved to another, some pews behind.    they must have thought the media cameras would finally leave them be, but no, the media know nothing of good manners and right conduct!

the media behaved absolutely horrendously, gathering around, thrusting microphones and tape recorders at the sibs, asking what they said to ballsy and what ballsysaid to them — an assault that no other guests had been subjected to, and which succeeded only in driving the marcoses away.   was that the point?   how bastos.

my sympathies to imee and bongbong, who did not deserve to be embarrassed so.   cory would have been horrified.

those media people and their bosses — attention, ANC! — owe the marcos kids a public apology.

gloria should go

… to the wake, i mean.   and she knows it.   not so much for the nation — we can take or leave protocol, i find — but for the international community.     the whole world is watching.   she has to handle this right, or lose face.

the news is that she’s arriving at 5 a.m. which gives her a few hours to get to the cathedral before the 9 a.m. show.   the question is, what time should she go.   soon after she gets back, habang kokonti ang tao, habang wala pa ang mga aquino?   or should she wait until the aquinos are there so she can personally extend her sympathies as well?   or her flight could be delayed, haha.   we’ll know soon enough.

nakarma naman talaga si gloria.   what rotten luck that the obama summons came when it did.  if she had been here when cory died, she could have simply appeared at the la salle wake the moment cory was ready and gotten it over with, before it became an issue.

shecould also have accepted graciously the aquino family’s preference for a private funeral, sabay pakiusap for even just half a day’s lying-in-state in congress and / or malacanang.   tama rin naman yung mga nagsasabing cory deserves a state funeral.   i would not have minded seeing legislators as well as the executive paying homage to cory and promising to keep the cory spirit alive.

as for cory’s post-garci demand that gloria resign, which the aquinos may well refuse to ease up on, well, in the spirit of the times gloria could offer them an ex-deal.   instead of resigning she’d stop all con-ass attempts during the remainder of her term, and she’d admit her mistakes re the national artist awards and the jbc list.   wouldn’t that be fantastic?

i know, i know, i’m dreaming, haha.   si cory kasi.

in cory’s wake

when ninoy died and his remains lay in bloodied state sa times street, pumila kami that night, my husband and i, to pay our respects, never mind that marcos might get mad or his military might be watching.   we just had to pay homage to this man who won our respect when he, alone, suffered jail for seven years and seven months rather than bow to a dictator, and when he dared come home from exile because the filipino is worth dying for.

past the gate a couple of kids handed us a black ribbon each, a small strip with aspili.   the patio too was small, the space enough only for the line of people snaking single-file around the coffin for a quick hello and goodbye, as quick as the pass-by cory’s coffin i’m now seeing on tv.   it was also very quiet.   the house was closed, there was no sign of any family or friends.   except for two or three watchful guys standing by (security siguro) we, the people, were alone with ninoy.   a starkly simple affair.

with cory, aba, sosyal!   what a case-study of a scene.    the huge venues and tv cameras, the people quietly filing by the coffin while family and friends sit around, move around, make chika nearby.   how rare, masses and elite sharing the same space happily, clear divisions and all.   the silent masa are just happy to be allowed a glimpse of cory one last time, never mind that they enter by a different gate, and are not treated like guests and offered seats.   the elite are just happy that the masses are there too, imagine if they weren’t, what a snub, how embarrassing.

interesting, too, that gma the once lucky bitch is now the the odd woman out.   indeed, she’s damned if she goes, damned if she doesn’t.   pero dapat kaya niyang magpunta.   just as dapat kaya ng mga aquino na tanggapin siya.   of course kung type niyang magdrama, she could always do the unexpected, like, line up with the people, why not, pay her respects to cory first, before facing cory’s clan.   i’m sure even kris would be lost for words  (well, at least for a while ;).

of course it would mean gma counting on the people to be too awed by her pa-humble chutzpah to do anything but welcome her among their ranks.   but what if the people remember only that cory had asked her to resign.   what if they do an edsa instead, like, you know, stop her from getting any closer to cory, kapitbisig human-shieldeffect.   lol.   that would be the end of her.   safer not to cross lines.   safer to face kris.