'No bystanders in fight vs graft' | The Philippine Star >> News >> Headlines

'No bystanders in fight vs graft' | The Philippine Star >> News >> Headlines

'No bystanders in fight vs graft'
By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated August 02, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (41)


President Aquino delivers a speech beside a portrait of his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino (left photo), following a Mass marking her first death anniversary at the St. Benilde Gymnasium of La Salle Greenhills yesterday. ERNIE PEÑAREDONDO
| Zoom MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday asked the Filipino people to join the campaign against corruption and not be bystanders in the fight.

“The clamor for our people for change is so deep and so widely expressed that none of us can afford to be bystanders. Each of us has a duty to fulfill our social contract with the Filipino people by putting the interests of others before ourselves,” Mr. Aquino told the crowd that gathered at La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City to remember the first death anniversary of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

Mrs. Aquino, in her trademark yellow dress, led the people power uprising that ended the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Her death on Aug. 1 last year propelled her son to the presidency.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, a close friend of the Aquino family, celebrated a special Mass for the late democracy icon yesterday morning, which was attended by the President, his family and political allies. “We can only end poverty if we fight corruption, and this is where everyone has a major role to play,” Mr. Aquino said. “It can be done in simple ways, by showing common courtesy to strangers, by paying taxes, by following traffic rules and by disposing of our waste properly. We can do even more by reporting any wrongdoing that might be brought to our attention. Let us challenge ourselves and our leaders to brave the straight path.”

In remembering his mother Aquino, who was a senator when Cory died of colon cancer a year ago, said the love and sympathy from the people gave them strength to bear the loss.

“It is still quite difficult to grasp how one person’s death could have such a huge impact on our nation in such a short time. For those who came before us and taught us by words and deeds how to love, live and believe, it is our duty to bear that torch forward,” he said.

“Cory Aquino was one extraordinary woman who in so many milestones in her life had already made the impossible possible,” the President added.

He acknowledged that were it not for her death, he would not have run and became the country’s 15th president.

Mr. Aquino urged the Filipinos to emulate his mother and be “fair, just and sincere” to be able to help rebuild the country.

“Her long struggle against cancer was over, and with it, I thought, the hope that she embodied for our country. What we did not expect was that in the coming days, our feeling of loss would reverberate throughout the nation,” he said.

“That true expression of love for our mother soon evolved into a renewed hope for our long-suffering nation,” Aquino said.

P-Noy: Rebuilding is not an easy task

In his speech, Mr. Aquino said he had already laid out some of his administration’s plans in his State of the Nation Address - from public-private partnerships to the laws needed to be passed.

He also called on the people not to take for granted the little changes that they could do for the country.

“There is real and growing interest from various sectors in our efforts to rebuild and to expand. The challenge is to convince those who want to support us that we are in our intentions to help our country. We can do this, if we live our lives trying to emulate Cory Aquino’s example in our service to our country and to our fellowmen,” Aquino said.

He reminded that the job in rebuilding the country is not easy “because there are others who are still fighting for the wrong they had woken up to.”

“But I won’t waste the trust and the opportunity to push for sensible changes,” he said.

A better country

And although he is just starting his term of office, President Aquino said yesterday he would “retire” in 2016 and need not be reminded about it as he vowed to work hard to leave a better government and country.

Aquino was responding to the call of Bishop Villegas for him “not to forget June 30, 2016” and make it easy for his successor.

Cory is best remembered for staying clean while in office and her grace in stepping down and turning over power to her successor.

Villegas was also obviously taking a dig at former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was accused of “lying, cheating and stealing” and trying to perpetuate herself in power through Charter change.

“The part where I should turn over the country to my successor in a good (condition), of course that is our mission, to fix the (government). Isn’t it that from the start, when I was being asked whether I would run or not, I said if that was our fate, we would have to be the ones to fix, plant and let the others sow, then that may be it,” Aquino said.

“And you know, maybe a reminder is not needed, maybe on my part, this is a reassurance that by 2016, my burden is over, I can already retire,” he said.

As regards Villegas’ statement that “may” he be the country’s “available bachelor-president, the President said he would have to clarify that one.

“I’ll be seeing him a little later. I’ll ask him specifically what he meant by that. What is clear to me is that my focus is I did take on this responsibility. I think I have demonstrated it in the past (that) before I embark on anything else I finish my duties and my obligations. I take very high consciousness of my responsibilities and obligations,” he said.

Aquino said that part might have been taken seriously so he might need to talk to the bishop about it.

“He might say the more important (message) is that I should leave a fixed (nation), I should not punish my successor, maybe that’s the gist, the one with more sense,” he said.

Whole nation pays tribute

Huge television monitors were set up around the De La Salle gymnasium, the Mass bringing back poignant memories when tens of thousands of people gathered to pay their respects after the democracy icon succumbed to colon cancer at age 76.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Zamboanga City also offered a Mass for Mrs. Aquino led by Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo Valles.

“The Filipino people were gifted by the Lord during the dark and difficult days with the person and leadership of President Cory,” Valles said in a statement posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

He said when he thinks of Mrs. Aquino, he is reminded of how good God has been to Filipinos.

“She showed us how love of God and love of country can be lived in our lives as individual Filipinos and in our collective life as a nation,” Valles said.

Cagayan de Oro City Archbishop Antonio Ledesma also led a Holy Mass at the St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral for the late former chief executive.

Ledesma said he is praying that the late president’s legacy “live on in the present administration.”

While there were no special Masses offered for Mrs. Aquino in Iloilo, she was remembered in Mass intentions at the Our Lady of the Assumption parish and the Carmelite Convent, according to the CBCPNews, the official news agency of CBCP.

Isabela de Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said nine parishes under his diocese likewise offered Mass for Mrs. Aquino.

Masses were also offered at the St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral in Calbayog City.

Ordinary Filipinos also trooped to the Loyola Memorial cemetery where the democracy icon was buried beside her husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, the anti-Marcos namesake of the current president.

Fondly called Tita Cory, Aquino was a housewife until her husband was gunned down by assassins at Manila airport upon arriving from the United States in 1983 to resume the political fight to oust Marcos.

Marcos had declared martial law in 1972 and cracked down on all opposition figures including Ninoy Aquino.

Ninoy was later allowed to leave for medical purposes, but used his exile to attack Marcos, whose rule was marked by massive rights abuses and corruption that left the national coffers virtually empty.

In the wake of the killing, the opposition united behind the widow of the martyred Ninoy and she reluctantly agreed to lead them.

She ran for president against Marcos in the 1986 snap elections. Rampant election cheating by Marcos forces triggered the people power revolt that toppled him from power and installed the housewife as president.

During her six years in office, Aquino restored democracy and earned a reputation for honesty, modesty and religious piety.

“She remained detached and unaffected by the trappings of power and prestige. God alone for Cory was enough,” said Bishop Villegas.

She quietly stepped down in 1992, but had continued to remain an outspoken anti-corruption advocate until her death. - Helen Flores


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