Larawan mula sa
http://kapisanan.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/cory-as-comic-book-heroine/
SALAMAT AT PAALAM:
Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino
(1933-2009)
Michael Charleston B. Chua
Unibersidad ng De La Salle Maynila
Pangalawang Pangulo, Philippine Historical Association
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa inyong lahat, lalo na sa Panginoong Diyos, at ikinararangal ko na ginawa niya akong Pilipino na katulad niyo.”
-Cory Aquino
Nilisan na tayo ni Tita Cory!
Ito ang maling balita na natanggap ko mula sa isang estudyante ko habang ako ay naglelektura noong 24 Hulyo 2009. Sa araw na iyon, marami ang umiyak. Mali ang balita, pero may nasilip akong bagong pag-asa sa sama-samang pananalangin para sa kalusugan ng dating pangulo. Noong hapon na iyon, nakasakay ako ng taxi sa Vito Cruz nang makakita ako ng isang padyak na may malalaking dilaw na ribbon. Naiyak ako. Hindi pa pala nakakalimot ang mga tao.
Kanina, sa ganap na 5:48 ng umaga, ang aking kaibigang si Ayshia ay ginising ako sa telepono ng isang masamang balita—Nilisan na tayo ng tuluyan ni Tita Cory sa oras na 3:18 ng umaga. Nakapaligid ang kanyang pamilyang nagdadasal ng rosaro, sa ikalimang misteryo ng Hapis.
Habang isinusulat ko ito mula dito sa Tarlac, at maging sa Maynila, makulimlim at panaka-naka ang ulan, maging ang langit ay nagluluksa sa kanyang pagkawala.
Bilang isang batang lumaki sa panahon ng Kapangyarihang Bayan (People Power), inspirasyon ko si Tita Cory. Sinisigaw ko ang kanyang pangalan sa tuwing may helikopter na dumadaan at dinadala ko ang kanyang larawan. Una ko siyang nakamayan sa pagpaparangal sa kanya ng Ramon Magsaysay Award noong 1998, muli sa Katedral ng Maynila sa misa para sa mga biktima ng 9/11 noong 2001, at sa marami pang ibang pagkakataon. Nakapanayam ko na rin siya noong 2003 at sa kabila ng pagiging pormal at makikitang pagpapahalaga sa distansya at pribasiya, naging mabuti ang kanyang pagtrato sa amin at pinadama niya na espesyal kami sa kanya. Kamakailan lang, nagpaunlak din siya sa aking kahilingan na pirmahan lahat ng aking mga libro at memorabilia ukol sa kanya. Simple lamang siya.
Ang nais kong maalala kay Gng. Aquino ay ang simpleng nilalang sa kanyang kaibuturan. Ang simpleng nilalang na sa iba’y maaaring tawaging ang bata na nasa loob natin, na sa kabila ng komplikasyon at mga kakulangan ay nagpapadayon pa rin, hindi natitinag.
Naaalala natin ang simpleng maybahay at ina na hindi naisip ang panganib ng diktadura, at naging tinig at tanglaw ng nakakulong na kabiyak, ang bayaning si Ninoy Aquino, at ng isang pamilyang nangungulila sa haligi ng tahanan.
Naaalala natin na matapos mapaslang ang asawa noong 21 Agosto 1983, sa kabila ng pagnanais na magkaroon ng mapayapang buhay, tinanggap niya ang hamon na maging lider nang kinailangan ng ipantatapat sa makapangyarihang diktador. Nanaig ang simpleng nilalang sa loob niya, na sa kabila ng kakulangan ng karanasan, sinunod niya ang kahilingan ng milyong tao na tumakbo bilang pangulo, at sa panahon ng Kapangyarihang Bayan noong Pebrero 1986, tinawagan siya ng mamamayan na itatag muli ang bandila ng demokrasya sa bansa.
Naaalala natin ang simpleng pangulong hindi naghangad na mapag-ibayo ang kanyang kayamanan, gamit ang kanyang kapangyarihan. Hindi nabahiran ng anumang alegasyon ng personal na korupsyon.
Naaalala natin na matapos niyang ilipat ang panguluhan ng mapayapa noong 30 Hunyo 1992 sa kanyang kahalili, sa unang pagkakataon mula 1965, hindi nagpahinga si Tita Cory. Ang simpleng nilalang sa loob niya ay nagpatuloy na tumulong sa bayan, sa pamamagitan ng Aquino Foundation at sa mga pakikibaka para sa mabuti at maginhawang lipunan.
Sa mga nakaraang buwan, naalala naman natin na itinuro niya kung paano tanggapin ang kamatayan, at kung paano ialay ang kanyang mga pagdurusa sa pananalangin para sa bayan. At maging sa karamdaman, at ngayon sa kamatayan, patuloy niya tayong pinagkakaisa.
Anumang pagkukulang at isyung kinaharap ni Tita Cory, nahihigitan ito ng kanyang karakter at kabutihang-loob. Ginawa at sinabi niya ang sa tingin niya ay tama, at ang simpleng nilalang sa kanyang kaibuturan ay patuloy na pinanghawakan ang pag-asa at tiwala sa mga Pilipino.
Sa kanyang pagkawala, muling magugunita ang Kapangyarihang Bayan kung saan siya ang naging simbolo ng pagkilos ng 2 Milyong Pilipino na naging simple sa isang pagkakataon at ipinakita ang lahat ng maganda sa Pilipino. Muling makikita ng kabataan ang kadakilaan ng kanilang bansa at lahi na sinisimbolo ng isang simpleng maybahay.
Purihin ang Diyos at nabuhay at nakasama natin ang isang Dakilang Pilipina, ang Ina ng ating demokrasya, naging Ina ng Bayan.
Patay na si Tita Cory, pero ipinasa niya sa atin ang pag-asa sa mas maginhawang Pilipinas. Buhayin natin ito sa ating puso, isipan, at gawa.
Patay na si Tita Cory! Mabuhay ang simpleng nilalang sa bawat Pilipino…
1 Agosto 2009, 9:43 NU
Lungsod ng Tarlac
Tingnan din: http://michaelxiaochua.multiply.com/journal/item/207.
Isang sanaysay ni Xiao ukol kay Cory na isinulat niya noong siya ay 16 na taong gulang pa lamang: http://michaelxiaochua.multiply.com/journal/item/25
THE LADY IN YELLOW
An essay by Michael Charleston B. Chua, 16 years old
“This is my message for Mr. Marcos and his puppets:
Do not threaten Cory Aquino, because I am not alone!”
-Cory Aquino, January 1986
Night of August 30, 1998, I found myself around fascinating people at the lobby of the Cultural Center. I have just witnessed the presentation ceremonies of the 40th Ramón Magsaysay Awards. I just learned that the Nobel Prize of Asia has been awarded to names such as The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Akira Kurosawa among others; great or small, I all look up to them, but no Magsaysay Awardee had inspired and affected me much, that she changed the course of the history of a country and changed my destiny forever. And she’s my kababayan too.
Then, I just saw her, up at the staircase. She wasn’t wearing a yellow dress though, like she usually does when I see her on TV. I tried to reach her to congratulate her for the prestigious prize she won. At last, she turned to me and I shook her hand. It was one of the finest moments of my life, I touched history herself—Corazón C. Aquino.
Cory’s family, the Cojuangcos, was one of the most prominent families of our province, Tarlac. She was married to a handsome-looking young man from a political family—Ninoy Aquino. Incidentally, the Champion of the Masses, then President Ramón Magsaysay, was their godfather.
Years after Magsaysay, a dictator emerged to the throne at Malacañang—Ferdinand E. Marcos. Senator Ninoy Aquino became his foremost opponent. Marcos had him imprisoned when he declared Martial Law. Cory became, in Ninoy’s words, “sole support, source of comfort and wellspring of hope” for him when he was in prison for seven years and seven months. On her shoulder fell the pain of a wife of a political detainee. It was not only the Aquinos who suffered. All the Filipinos were denied the freedom of expression. Their right to be free was taken away from them and they lived in fear of the dictatorship, for anyone who dared challenge it would be taken away to be tortured or sometimes be killed.
Cory and their children joined Ninoy for three happy years in Boston. But inspite of that, he decided to sacrifice. He returned to the Philippines to talk Marcos into dismantling his dictatorship. He was the only hope…
Upon arrival, Ninoy was shot—dead!
With Ninoy’s death, the dictatorship thought that it was all over. It was their greatest mistake. With Ninoy’s death, a sleeping nation was awaken to the abuses of the regime. They mourned his death and throngs marched in his funeral. And they made the widow, Cory Aquino, their rallying symbol.
When Ninoy’s life ended, Cory’s fight began.
A million signed up for the little housewife to run for president against the strongman Marcos. She accepted the call: A fight between David and Goliath! Marcos questioned her qualifications, “She’s only a woman…What is she going to do when she becomes president?” Cory answered, “I admit that I have had no experience in cheating, stealing, lying or assassinating political opponents.
The people supported her all the way in the elections, but Marcos cheated and had himself re-elected. “Tama na, sobra na, palitan na!” Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, and General Fidel Ramos broke away from the regime on February 22, 1986. Marcos ordered their arrest but it couldn’t be taken out! Why not? The camps where the defectors were, which was situated along EDSA highway, became surrounded by two million people in the name of the housewife in yellow. By the sound of prayers and the shouts of “Coree! Coree!” the people blocked the menacing tanks of the regime. The turnaround of events now known in history as the “People Power Revolution”: Cory was installed as president after four days of peaceful protest by the people and Marcos fled to Hawaii never to return again!
Yes! Cory Aquino was the lightning rod of the first successful revolution without a drop of blood shed. People Power was the contribution of the Filipinos to the world. Yes! We inspired the downfall of the Berlin Wall, the destruction of the Eastern Europe Communist Bloc, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all carried out by the people without violence. Cory emerged as an international symbol of democracy.
RM Awards cited that when “she stepped down in favor of an elected successor…she had restored her country’s democratic institutions and its good name in the community of nations…. She governed with integrity and the devout intentions to do always what was best for the country and its people.”
The citation added, “No Asian leader of our time can claim as much.”
Many considered her presidency as a failure for, in their words, “little had changed with their lives.” And that People Power was inutile.
I just turned two when People Power happened, too young to remember. But I could never accept that Cory and People Power were a failure. I believe she was God’s simple instrument in pinning down a tyrant and in bringing back democracy for all of us. Because of that, she had changed the lives of millions of people, even of the next generation, and the world was inspired of that. In a more personal level, she made way for me not to experience the hardships of a cruel regime, and for me to freely express myself as a writer (Without suppression and censorship), that sole reason is enough for me to be inspired to protect and fight for this democracy even in simple ways.
Today, at 67, she’s still active in safeguarding democracy from those who would attempt to take it. Because she has the credibility and morality, people still listen to her or seek her advice. I believe that as long as Cory is alive, and we will carry on her fight, we would remain free!
She showed the world that if we would just be united as a people, we accomplish even the impossible. In her simplicity, she proved that even the simplest of us can accomplish great things.
Ninoy described her, “Looming from the battle, her courage will never fade.” With her courage, we were never the same again…
Cory paved the way in order for me to live free! She also made me feel proud to be Filipino.
I love Cory Aquino!
-16 April 2000
Palm Sunday
Isnag mabuting Anak ng Tarlac, maraming salamat Po sa iyong Paglilingkod sa Ating Bansa Madam President MRs. Cory Aquino..hindi ka malilimutang ng Ating mga mamayan. SUmalanagit nawa ang iyong kaluluwa.
