THANK YOU, PRESIDENT CORY!

(NOTE:  This is a REPOST. Originally published on August 2, 2009)

Corazon C. Aquino, 1933-2009
(Photo from Nueva Ecija Journal)

August 1st is a marked date in my calendar. That is the death anniversary of my mother, Urbana Ayroso-Ramirez (March 19, 1921 - August 1, 1987). 

Yesterday, August 1st, 2009, another great personality (and mother, for that matter) passed away—former President Corazon C. Aquino, the mother of Philippine Democracy. Being a democracy icon not only of the Philippines but of the whole world, President Arroyo has aptly referred to her as a “national treasure”.

I was doing some household chores early yesterday morning when I heard the song “Magkaisa” over the radio or on TV. That song will remind one of EDSA… of People Power Revolution. And the People Power Revolution will always come in close association with the name Cory Aquino.

Being aware of the former president’s health condition, I became apprehensive and worried about what could have happened to her. My inquisitive mind and restless feet brought me to a neighbor’s door where I learned about the sad news that the former president has passed away.

I was emotionally affected. My voice trembled as I continued to ask and talk to my neighbor. And as old and familiar footages and videos of Cory were shown on TV, something started brewing in my eyes.

Many may not know it, but I was a Cory sympathizer during the turbulent period of our nation’s history when the political situation was very, very unstable. Because of the many sufferings, pains, and sacrifices that she had gone through, she easily won the hearts and sympathy of many Filipinos, myself included.

Cory fought with the dictator and it was a David-versus-Goliath-like fight with herself representing David and emerging as the victor in the end.

I remember the mammoth crowds or rallies, the Cory! Cory! Cory! chant, the flashing of the "L" or Laban sign, the yellow ribbons and confetti, and the ticker-tape parade on Ayala Avenue that characterized the political atmosphere of our country during those times.

I had a more-than-a-meter-high pile of Malaya newspaper and another more-than-a-meter-high pile of Mr. & Ms. magazine/newspaper that had accumulated in my living room from the day those “mosquito press” started their publication until the time of, what seemed to me, their "mission's accomplishment".

I had a collection of various foreign broadsheets such as Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Asian Wall Street Journal, and Stars and Stripes that some fleet shore patrol and stationed American servicemen gave me or inadvertently left in our office (U.S. Naval Base). Those broadsheets carried news and stories about the political turmoil and unrest in our country that couldn’t be read in the local dailies especially when the “mosquito press” were not yet in existence.

After the EDSA Revolution, I also had a collection of various magazines that featured Cory, like the Time Magazine where she graced the cover being its Woman of the Year. 

But transferring from one house to another in Olongapo made it impossible for me to keep all those things intact. I could have boasted of such collections now with their great historical value had I not lost or misplaced them. Living all alone by myself and doing everything all by myself, I have lost track of them and really forgotten what I did with them.

There was even a time when, after Cory had peacefully relinquished the presidency to her successor, I tried to contact her by phone to ask about some matters of importance to me but Ms. Deedee Siytangco, her secretary, told me she had a meeting with foreign journalists. Instead, it was Ballsy, her eldest daughter, who entertained me on the phone. Oh, how pleasant and very accommodating Ballsy was to me!

I also loved listening to Cory’s speeches my most favorite of which was that one she delivered before the joint session of the United States Congress. That particular historical speech made me truly proud to be a Filipino. 

I have read much and widely about Cory Aquino—a plain housewife who suffered much under Martial Law and who was destined to liberate (as she indeed liberated) her countrymen from an oppressive and tyrannical rule, an honest public servant, a woman of Great Faith, and a President known for her simplicity and well-loved by the people. Despite all the pains she suffered in her earthly life, though, history will be kind in judging her. Cory Aquino has already earned a prominent and an enviable place in history. In fact, with the kind of life that she had lived, even sainthood won't be far from her.

Thank you, Tita Cory! Leaving the world of the living may sometimes be sweet especially so when your beloved Ninoy just cannot wait to be with you again. You may now rest in peace.

WE LOVE YOU!

Goodbye.

THE "CORY YELLOW" AND HOW IT CAME TO BE

Yellow blooms for Ninoy and Cory

Familiar scenes and activities of the past months marked the dramatic return of the “yellow fever” on the world stage where the atmosphere was characterized by people wearing clothes and using things and other symbols predominantly yellow in color. Even web pages, especially blog sites like this one (Goddy: An Unbreakable Spirit), were adorned with yellow ribbons with introduction or background why they are on the Net.

Occasioned by former President Cory’s affliction with colon cancer, her friends and supporters including the Catholic Church offered prayers for her recovery using yellow ribbons as symbol of their love and concern. When she passed away on the first day of August this year, the color yellow, identified with her--the country’s most loved president--became even more conspicuous and prominent in many places in Metro Manila and on the Net.

Cris Rivera, an officemate, approached me one vacant time and told me that his children asked him why the color yellow became “Cory’s symbol”. He said he had no idea and asked me if I knew the answer.

Cris is more than 10 years my junior and told me that he was just a student when the Aquino assassination and the People Power Revolution took place.

I told him that Ninoy Aquino’s return to the Philippines from his 3-year exile in the United States had the answer although I wasn’t really sure if I made a precise recollection of events. I told him I had no time to make a research but basing on events that unfolded during those times and news stories that I’ve read, I would try to give him a short background of the story.

As I started answering his question, I appeared like I was telling him a beautiful and deeply-moving story—a very touching love story between a patriotic man and his country and people; a very poignant love story between a man and his woman.

So, let me begin…

After Ninoy’s incarceration for more than seven years, he suffered from heart ailment that necessitated his release from his cell for a bypass operation in the United States. Ferdinand Marcos allowed him to leave the country subject to certain conditions.

When the successful operation was over, Ninoy and his family settled in Boston, Massachussetts. There, on fellowship grants from Harvard University and the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, he gave lectures. (President Cory, in her speech before the joint session of the United States Congress, stated that those 3 years they spent in Boston were their happiest years together.)

After three years of his self-imposed exile in the United States and after learning about the ailing Marcos’ deteriorating health condition, he decided to come back to the Philippines to unite the fragmented opposition.

Since Ninoy had been away for three long years, he wanted some signs or indications that people or those he left behind still wanted him back. Inspired by the old song Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree which was originally recorded and popularized by Tony Orlando and Dawn, he asked them to tie yellow ribbons on trees and elsewhere.

In a television interview during the 26th year anniversary of Ninoy’s death, Mr. Lichauco (I believe he’s Ninoy’s brother-in-law) said that when Ninoy returned, yellow ribbons were indeed tied or placed on cars at the then Manila International Airport (MIA) and on some conspicuous places there, which Ninoy never got the chance to see since he was assassinated.

Upon Cory’s return from Boston to bury Ninoy, she was able to know about the public’s outrage over the killing of her husband. That was evidently seen at the wake and during the funeral—the biggest ever in Philippine history—where roughly two million people escorted Ninoy to his final resting place.

When the opposition drafted Cory for its official candidate in the snap presidential election, she obliged and adopted the color yellow and the "L" or Laban sign for her campaign symbols. She wore yellow dress in the whole duration of the campaign period. The color yellow which became the symbol of protest united even more not only the opposition but the entire Filipino people.

Thus, the color yellow which in my high school days used to stand for “jealousy” radically changed its meaning to being a symbol of protest and courage.

Recently, however, in its dramatic return to the world stage, the color yellow, still ascribed to and identified with Tita Cory, became a symbol of love and affection as the whole nation grieved and mourned the passing away of its most loved president and leader.