BIPOLAR. AS the presidency, so is the boy. Or vice-versa, it matters not. As much the same, so much the shame.
Exhibiting that pattern of behaviour that swings from the lows of manic depression over the Marcos dictatorship and obsessive compulsion over the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo maladministration at one end, to the highs of his father’s accidental martyrdom and his mother’s misqualified beatification at the other.
Bipolarity coming manifest anew in he recent events that spotlighted the President BS’s moments. Babbling before Pope Francis in Malacañang, thus:Then-President Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, when I was 12-years-old, beginning an era in which the most fundamental rights of many Filipinos were flagrantly and routinely violated.
It was in this environment that I came of age. In a sense, I had a front row seat to that tyranny and persecution. After all, the dictator wasted no time in having my father, one of his most influential and vocal opponents, imprisoned. Martial Law deprived our family not only of a loving husband and father. Many of our friends avoided us.
There were few who dared speak up…… Hence, there was a true test of faith when many members of the Church, once advocates for the poor, the marginalized, and the helpless,suddenly became silent in the face of the previous administration’s abuses, which we are still trying to rectify to this very day.
Rambling at the Mitusbishi Motors plant inauguration such: Mitsubishi Philippines found a way to stand by their commitment to the Filipino people and to continue growing through the long years of the dictatorship and the coups that threatened instability during my mother’s presidency.
Driveling at the wake of the SAF heroes, hence: Ako man ay nawalan ng mahal sa buhay nang biglaan. Naaalala ko nga po ang sandaling nag-uusap kami ng aking yumaong ama.
Nagdesisyon siya noon na dumating na ang panahon para bumalik siya sa ating Inang Bayan mula sa Amerika…… Mag-isa po akong nanonood ng telebisyon sa bahay amin noon sa Boston, naghihintay ng balita tungkol sa nangyari sa aking ama.
Narinig ko pong sinabi ng announcer sa telebisyon: “Opposition leader Benigno Aquino was seen lying in a pool of blood; shots were fired.” Sa oras pong iyon, para pong tumigil ang oras sa akin, huminto at halos wala akong napansin sa buong kapaligiran; bumaliktad ang aking mundo. Hindi ko maipaliwanag ang pagkabigla na naramdaman ko.
Ni minsan, di namin naisip na may posibilidad man lang na papatayin siya. Pinakamabigat na siguro ay ang ibalik siya sa kulungan. Kaya’t talagang nagulat kami sa nangyari. Sa kanyang pagbalik, hindi na po nagawang makatuntong pa ng aking ama sa lupang sinilangan.
Pababa pa lang ng eroplano, walang habas na siyang pinaslang. Nang makumpirma ang nangyari, hindi ko pinahintulutan ang sarili kong maiyak. Pinigil ko ang luha ko, at inilipat lahat sa galit.
Ang ama po namin ang pinuno ng pamilya; siya ang aming tagapagtanggol, ang gabay at inspirasyon, at ang bukal ng lakas na sa aming mag-anak noong mga panahon ng Martial Law.
Pakiramdam ko, nawalan na ng puwang sa maayos na pag-uusap; itong hinahanap na kadiyalogo ng tatay ko, at ang kanyang mga kasamahan; sila ay nagmistulan nang mga asong ulul na hindi na kayang makausap nang matino. Ang sabi ko, ibibigay ko saking ama ang tamang paggalang; at pagkatapos, gagawin ko sa kanila ang ginawa nila sa aming pamilya.
Sa kinakamalungkot at pinakamasakit na sandaling ito, ilang tanong ang bumabalot sa isip ko: Ngayong wala na ang aming ama, paano natin maaabot ang kanyang inaasam para sa bansa? Ibig sabihin ba no’n, tapos na ang laban?
Yung namatay na para sa bayan ang aking ama, at wala man lang tayong nakamit na pagbabago, ‘di ba’t sayang namanang kanyang sakripisyo, at ng libo-libong Pilipino? Sa mga panahong iyon, di ko maiwasang isipin na ang huling yugto noon ay hahantong sa madugong himagsikan.
Ngunit nagsimulang magbago ang pananaw ko nang makita ko ang dami ng taong nanindigan at nakiramay sa labas ng aming bahay sa Times sa Quezon City. Tila ba hindi na sila natatakot sa Batas Militar. Dito ko po nakita ang posibilidad na maitutuloy ang laban kahit wala na ang aming pinuno…
“Eulogy of His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Philippines, At the Necrological Service for the Fallen PNP-SAF troopers.” So the Official Gazette at www.gov. ph tagged that piece.
A more definitive title would have been: “Eulogy of His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Philippines, for His Father, Benigno S. Aquino Jr. At the Necrological Service for the Fallen PNP-SAF troopers.” For it was his long dead father that he eulogized, NOT the present corps of heroes who lay in honor right before him.
On one hand, he felt unobliged to be there at Villamor when the mortal remains came home. On the other, he obliged their grieving widows, families and friends – in the darkest moment of their mourning – to listen to him panegyrize his father.
If only to find cause to damn Marcos anew, and obfuscate his direct accountability, his liability, his culpability, for the carnage.A life of alibi – Marcos and GMA ever to blame. A life of entitlement – being Ninoy and Cory’s heir. The Pnoy presidency – a world removed from the Filipino constituency. Aye, that affliction long ago politically corrected to Down’s Sydrome, resurfaced in this much maxed variant, bipolaroid.
