Cory and Noynoy Aquino: A year, a month

This Sunday we commemorate the sad demise last year of our Tita Cory, or former President Corazon C. Aquino, the good lady who inspired our People Power phenomenon, and who remarkably had one more gift to hand us when she passed away. Indeed, the spiritually hopeful among us can say that a door closing could mean a window opening. And while it may seem ghoulish to imply that a death could turn out to be a blessing, that is exactly what happened when Tita Cory bequeathed us her son. Noynoy Aquino became our President because many of us believed in his inherited sense of decency as well as his sincerity. He has now served a month in office. We who voted for him can still say we did right by our instincts, by our own hopes and dreams for positive change. Today we can still happily say that he has done right by us, thus far, that the man on whom we placed our trust has been fulfilling our hopeful expectations. Of course a month is such a brief span of time, especially when it involves a job that by its very nature seems ever an uphill climb. He can stumble on the long hard road ahead. And so with bated breath do we choose to cheer him on; we believe this is better than to drag him down with precipitate hoots.

Noynoy Aquino, then 26, assists his mother Cory encourage civilians guarding ballot boxes at Makati City Hall in the tense days following the February 1986 snap election. Twenty-four years later, he would be freely elected in a democracy his mother helped restore. Photo by Howie Severino.

We are not naive. We are not cock-eyed optimists. But we prefer to evaluate reality with the bright lens of hope. Thus we remain convinced that with this man at the helm, our country of fractious voices stands a better chance of turning a corner and seeing the light of day. It's been a long dark night of abuse we have suffered. Anything better than the last decade would be an infinite step up the ladder of good fortune. But if this President continues to impress us with earnestness and goodwill, with faith in hard work, then it will be a continuing bonus of lasting change that we will be elated to pass on to the next generations. When President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III stepped up to the plate at noon of June 30, we wished him and all of us well. His first words were stirring. Unlike the perpetual naysayers in our midst who expect a speaker to say exactly what must address their own agendas, we thought it was enough for us to hear that abuse of privilege on the road would end — as a good symbolic signal to start a caring kind of governance. Despite the touted, mythical honeymoon of a hundred days expected from media, pesky was the welcome given our President and his official alter egos and subalterns. Much was made of a reputed booboo in the wording of a Memorandum Circular and the refusal of the presidential spokesman to have words thrust into his mouth by an aggressive newspaperman. The jocular way the new Education Secretary referred to media — as not exactly being helpful when it pressed for confrontation — was pounced upon as arrogance. And when the retained Foreign Secretary sounded peeved when confronted by a lady reporter whose agitated manner is often seen as abrasive, then a seminar on proper media relations became the order of the day. Well and good. Government officials have to recognize and learn to tolerate the arrogance and overbearing manner of the Fourth Estate. As far as Cabinet appointments went, there has been general acceptance. Clearly, the names that gained the most approval were those of Leila de Lima for the DOJ and Jesse Robredo for the DILG. Ping de Jesus, still remembered for his clean, effective term with the DPWH, was seen as a fine fit for the DOTC, another large and complex department prone to corruption. Many new names couldn't raise eyebrows, except for Lito Alvarez as Customs chief, with word quickly going around, especially among golfers, on how he had just been suspended as an Alabang club member for "cheating" in a tournament — a no-no among gentlemen players. Denials and explanations were issued. The apparent violation was essentially circumstantial — so went the defense as expressed by both Alvarez and his apparent backer, incoming DOF secretary Cesar Purisima, who is known to have contributed substantially to Aquino's election campaign funds. Golfers still bewail the appointment, but so far the President remains unmoved by the appalled gentlemen. The same broadsheet reporter who had riled spokesman Edwin Lacierda on Day One at Malacañang spiked up a supposed "furor" over the presence of four Abads in government. But the obvious credentials of all four, and testimonies supporting their character as individuals and as a family, could not be shaken by any attempt to raise a public issue. Besides, Butch Abad is well known for his probity and decency. His wife Dina was elected to Congress. Daughter Julia served as Aquino's chief-of-staff when he was senator, and has obviously gained the trust and respect of the President, who asked her to head the Presidential Management Staff. Lastly, son Luis was appointed as his chief-of-staff not by Aquino but Sec. Purisima, who obviously believes in the boy's merits. After all, graduating summa cum laude from Ateneo is nothing to scoff at. Meanwhile, PNoy remained steadfast over eschewing wangwang use on his daily forays from Times St., even when there was reason to hurry. He met several times with the military, assured them of an end to their politicization, expressed the need to beef up their ranks. He traveled far to the north to condole with widows of soldiers slain in ambush. So far he has yet to conduct any other visit to any province. Soon we should see the kind of welcome he will receive from Visayans and Mindanaoans. For now they recognize the need for him to set his government solidly in place. The President displayed a modicum of pique at the failure of Pag-asa to give accurate warning on a typhoon's course. This has led positively to cognizance of the need for more substantial funding for the weather agency, indeed perhaps to address all requisites regarding the levels of our science applications. Came the day of the SONA and again some sharpened knives were ready to be wielded. But President Aquino stirred all supporters anew with his "truth-telling" in Filipino — a recitation of sample anomalies that bedeviled the preceding administration, capped by the revelation on the sorry state of our national coffers. It all seemed to follow up on the consensus that sundry landmines had been conveniently left in place by his predecessor. But sagely, he shifted tone from the dismal headshaking and told us we can still rise from these perfidies. He shared instances of optimism on what can be done — as long as his partners in government steered clear of "tongpats." True, he didn't cover all ground in his speech, and quick were the detractors, from the new opposition to the usual caviling leftist sector, that he didn't mention this or that, or provided a legislative roadmap. There will be time for all those. More essential is the fact that in his first month of office, President Aquino enjoys the highest rating of trust and approval ever — from 85% to an astounding 90%. It only goes to show that most Filipinos relate to his sincerity in having to deal with manifold problems — out of respect for his office, his countrymen, his own person, and the family that raised him. It is what constitutes his abiding desire to pull the people he leads out of that hole of hopelessness. Detractors may claim that the data fed the President were wrong. Militants now demand the distribution of free rice since the NFA is drowning in questionable over-supply, as well as an end to any suggestion that MRT and LRT rates be raised as a bow towards pragmatism. Midnight appointments still have to be dealt with. Artists and culture workers still await a presidential word or any signal that they, too, will benefit from momentous change. There will be time to address all these, some even well beyond his first hundred days as President. But it is clear to most of us that in his first month on the job, PNoy has continued to buttress our faith in the propitious gift his mother left behind when she left us, only a year ago. - Krip Yuson, GMANews.TV