BY ROMMEL YNION
OUR eyes glued to the boob tube as P-Noy dead-panned his delivery of his State of the Nation Address, we were sure crocodile tears trickled down his face especially at that juncture of the speech where the names of his iconic parents tumbled off his lips to underscore their conjugal legacy not only to all Filipinos but to all citizens of the world: That democracy is worth dying for.
Yes, we all saw the tears, right? Or, if there were optical illusions that spin doctors employed to let “tears” achieve a melodramatic effect to appeal to the audience’s emotion, then, at least, they never occurred to us, absolutely certain as we were that melancholia gripped him momentarily as he invoked the memory of the most revered Filipino couple in world history.
But, P-Noy’s family didn’t see it that way, their perception anchored on inside stories that only they themselves know, their belief system buttressed by an intimate knowledge about the character of the man who has now led this county to the brink of Armageddon.
“No, he didn’t cry, binatukan sya ng Tatay nya kaya sya na samid (his father whacked him in the head and that’s why he choked),” said Peping Cojuangco, the president’s uncle. “His father, Ninoy, must have been so angry with him that he allowed his legacy to go to waste.”
Saddened by P-Noy’s mismanagement of the democracy that Ninoy died for, Peping lamented that even his awareness of the “massive cheating” in the last mid-term elections never drove him to mobilize the powers of the presidency to delve into it to ferret out the truth and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Alam nya na may dayaan at ang PCOS ay over-loaded ng mga botante na mas mahigit pa dihamak sa official registered voters sa Comelec but he didn’t do anything,” said Peping, obviously disgusted with the behavior of his nephew. “If Ninoy has been watching over him, what will he think?”
“Ninoy died for democracy only to see it bastardized by his own son,” added Peping, overwhelmed by the memory of Ninoy’s sacrifice. “How can there be democracy when elections can be pre-arranged?”
Scandalized no end by how PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines have “bastardized” democracy in this country, Peping, rummaging through possibilities in his mind that await Filipinos down the road of the future, can only eke out an alarming forecast for the country now recklessly run by his nephew.
“We must pray for change, asking the Lord to enlighten us and give us inspiration to lead this country to a future that Ninoy and Cory envisioned for us,” he said. “Only God can help us now.”
Alarmed also by the hostage crisis that has now gripped Malacañang, Peping wonders how P-Noy can extricate himself from this motley crew of demented “operators”, known as the Hyatt 10, who threatened to leave en masse if P-Noy lets go even just one of them.
“They created enemies for him, they created all these problems for him, and they will continue to make him a bad president for this country,” said Peping, accentuating the roles of Butch Abad and Kim Henares as detrimental not only to the interests of the presidency but to the country as well.
“They are the one running this country, not Noynoy who is too indolent to think, letting these people do the thinking for him,” he added. “And look where we are now because of them.”
To sum it up, Peping epitomizes the manner in which the Aquino-Cojuangco clan perceives Noynoy’s presidency, a presidency bereft of leadership, but laden with vested interests of the few bursting in multifarious directions, stripped of decency but clothed with the escutcheon of righteousness.
Christened “The Superboy” by his editor Dave Bugoslav in “Manila Times” during his years as a war correspondent in Korea for his derring-do in covering the Korean War, Ninoy must be restless in his grave now, convulsing hither and yon as his own son squanders his legacy to all Filipinos whom, he said, were worth dying for.
And died he did on that fateful day in August 1983 as executioners masquerading as his police escorts led him to martyrdom on the tarmac of that airport that now bears his name, signifying freedom that never ends, symbolizing democracy that springs from our hearts, not from the innards of PCOS machines manipulated by evildoers.
So, how is Ninoy now? Maybe, P-Noy knows./PN
