Lessons from Tita Cory

“I don’t have any formula for ousting a dictator or building democracy. All I can suggest is to forget about yourself and just think of your people. It’s always the people who make things happen.”
– Corazon C. Aquino (1933-2009)
The whole nation mourns the loss of an irreplaceable and most beloved leader. No words could describe the grief that consumed every prayerful Filipino after news broke out that their dearest Tita Cory has passed away.
Even the sky seemed to weep, torrents of rain fell, but it did not deter the Filipino spirit from braving increment weather to give what’s due to the icon of democracy.
But our bereavement should not end, not even after Tita Cory is finally laid to rest. Not for as long as our governance is in shambles, dysfunctional and divided. Not while the issue of a constituent assembly still hangs thick in the air and the possibility for yet another tyrannical rule is in the offing.
With our grief, memories of EDSA and People Power come flooding back. With our sorrow, the indomitable spirit rises once again to continue the fi ght for democracy. Let Tita Cory’s legacy be our inspiration to move forward, united once more as guardians of freedom instead of a nation disheartened and discouraged by her demise.
In a poem written by the late great senator, Benigno Aquino, Jr.,(a poem read by Tita Cory herself during her final State of the Nation Address in 1991) he said “I am burning the candle of my life in the dark, with no one to benefi t from the light. The candle slowly melts away, soon its wick will be burned out and the light is gone. If someone will only gather the melted wax, reshape it, give it a new wick, for another fl eeting moment, my candle can once again light the dark, be of service one more time, and then goodbye. This is the anguish of good men. That the good they do will come to nothing. That pains suffered in obscurity or sacrifi ces made away from the sight of men amount to the same and mock the man or woman who bears them.”
From this, Tita Cory gleaned new wisdom. “None of the good that we do is ever lost. Not even the light in an empty room is wasted. From Ninoy’s burnt out candle and thousands like it, in cells throughout the garrison state, we gathered the melted wax and made more candles to burn not as long in such loneliness, but much more brightly all together as to banish the darkness and light us to a new day.”
Let the sacrifi ces made by Ninoy and Tita Cory not go for naught. Tita Cory’s fl ame may have been extinguished by her departure from the physical world, but our individual candles should continue to burn, bright and unfaltering.
The fl ame of our nationalism has been relit, revived by our unity in prayer while she was still with us, suffering through her own physical agony. This time, let our earnestness, vigilance and piety be for our freedom. Ituloy natin ang laban ni Tita Cory para sa ating demokrasya. (AJPress)
( www.asianjournal.com )
( Published on August 5, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A6 )