Or – to a simple mind like mine, it cannot be any plainer to understand than this: Benigno Aquino, Jr. was killed. EDSA happened. Cory Aquino became president.
Coming full circle anew after the interregnum of Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo: Cory Aquino died. Benigno Simeon Aquino III became president.
Dying as the foundation to reigning in non-monarchical Philippines, to ruling in a democratic republic. “The King is dead. Long live the King” finding some deviant meaning here.
Wonder still why death and destruction run rampage all over the islands under Aquino administrations?
Indeed, massacres and disasters find parallel lines in the presidencies of the mother and the son.
In the contemporary times of BS: The Mamasapano Massacre of 44 Special Action Force troopers a month ago.
The Al-Barka Massacre where 19 members of the Army Special Forces were killed and 14 others seriously injured by Moro rebels in October 2011.
The ambush-mutilation of seven Marine troopers by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu in July 2011.
Lest we forget, the “Hostage Crisis Massacre” of eight Hong Kong tourists at the Luneta on August 20, 2010.
Then the natural calamities:
In November 2013, Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) reduced to rubble Tacloban City and the rest of Leyte as well as Samar with some 9,000 people dead.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Bohol and Cebu in October 2013, grounding to dust heritage churches, toppling down buildings, creating sinkholes that swallowed houses, killing over a 100 persons.
In December 2012, Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) smashed into Central and Northern Mindanao killing some 1,900 people.
In December 2011, Typhoon Sendong (Washi) struck the northern part of Mindanao killing at least 1,080 people.
And a maritime disaster:
MV St. Thomas Aquinas collided with the cargo ship MV Sulpicio Express Siete off Cebu on August 16. 2013, leaving 114 people dead. In the still-remembered past with Cory:
The Mendiola Massacre right at the very gates of Malacañang in January 1987 with 13 demonstrating farmers dead.
The Lupao Massacre in Nueva Ecija in February 1987 with 17 killed.
The slaughter of 39 people, including women and children in Digos, Davao del Sur in November 1989.
The Vizconde Massacre in Paranaque in June 1991, with three members of the family as victims.
Even more devastating natural calamities then, like:
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Central and Northern Luzon wreaking full havoc in Baguio City and Cabanatuan City on July 16, 1990, killing 1,621 people.
In June 1991, the Mount Pinatubo eruptions that killed 800 people, recorded as the “second largest volcanic cataclysm of the 20thcentury” topped only by the 1912 eruption in some Godforsaken spot in the Alaskan Peninsula.
In the wake of the eruptions came the lahar rampages that buried whole communities and added to the death toll.
And supertyphoons too:
Sisang (international name: Nina) in November 1987, ravaging the Bicol region with 240 kph winds and causing 979 deaths.
Ruping (Mike) in November 1990, its 220 kph winds causing a swath of destruction in Central Philippines, killing 748.
Uring (Thelma) unleashing flash floods in Ormoc, Leyte in November 1991, killing more than 5,100.
And the maritime disasters:
MV Doña Paz colliding with the MT Vector off Marinduque on December 20, 1987 resulting to 4,341 deaths in what has been recorded as “the worst peacetime sea disaster in the 20th century.”
MV Doña Marilyn – sister ship of MV Doña Paz – sinking at the height of Typhoon Unsang on October 24, 1988 resulting to 77 fatalities.
Death and destruction make the defining constancy in the Aquino presidencies. No matter BS’s straight path. Notwithstanding the secular canonization of Cory. Predestined fate? Preordained destiny? Pure coincidence? Spurious correlation?
Whichever, it is the nation that most suffered. And we celebrate EDSA for this?
