AS SEEN ON TV
Tipping point
I was in Davao waiting for my plane back to Manila on the Saturday dawn when Former President Cory Aquino passed away. An hour after her family made an official announcement, I checked Facebook mobile and on my wall alone, a good 3 pages of condolences and personal tributes to Cory already posted! Double the number of posts on the FB super wall, like no one slept through the night!
The more senior Facebookers posted personal recollections of Cory from the time her husband Ninoy Aquino was killed to her presidency and the years thereafter.
The younger ones paid tribute to Cory in more “abstract” terms, having been unborn then or just too young to remember anything of the Cory years. They may not recall the woman but they spoke about what she stands for just as clearly: Hope for the country. They were moved by Cory’s story as much as their parents were.
During Cory’s wake people lined up for hours outside La Salle Greenhills and Manila Cathedral. Outside the Aquino home in Times Street people lit candles, offered flowers, balloons, yellow ribbons and left small notes of sympathy. Others just paused and said their prayers. The scene is reminiscent of the death of Princess Diana years ago and Michael Jackson’s demise very recently. Inconspicuously present in Times Street are parents, perhaps introducing Cory to their children for the first time.
In Makati, people showered Cory’s funeral cortege with the signature yellow confetti. There were as many “old people” as there were school children, college students and young professionals.
Amazingly, the youth started caring again. What made them?
After EDSA 1 and 2, Philippine society traversed the dangerous path to indifference. Jaded by unfulfilled promises of the country’s succeeding leaders the people nurtured their disillusionment over the culture of corruption in the government. Many who have accepted that things cannot change have even left the country or changed citizenship.
Cynicism was high and hope for the country and the Filipino, plunging. And this rubbed off on the youth. They only began to care when they saw their parents caring again. Showing emotion and paying small personal tributes to Cory has been an effective way for the older generation to rekindle the youth’s interest in the country’s social and political affairs.
When was the last time we did something as a nation?
Filipinos in general have stopped reacting to anything recently. The sense of community was lost, as opposing political agendum and the drive for personal gain divided the country. The lack of role models among the country’s new leaders also left our youth no one to emulate.
There was even a time in the recent past that people power failed. Some cynics say there will never be any occasion that could bring Filipinos back in the streets.
Up until another Aquino died.
Death has unified this country once with Ninoy’s passing. Filipinos are again setting aside differences to pay their last respects to Cory. Although mainly the crowds in La Salle, EDSA, Manila Cathedral and Sucat Parañaque are just out to sympathize with the Aquino family, many of them may have also hit the streets for other reasons.
Filipinos usually go to the streets when they have had enough of something.
During EDSA 1 they rallied to fight the Marcos regime and its abuses. EDSA 2 saw the ouster of Former President Joseph Estrada who was mired in widespread corruption charges.
The Cory funeral cortege is not exactly a street revolution. But the sight of people in the streets united in mind, heart and spirit is an assuring thought that Filipinos have not lost passion for matters that are really important.
When and where it truly counts, Filipinos can be back in the streets, with a vengeance! (Comments or suggestions are welcome. Email: stanley.palisada@gmail.com)