TEODORO BENIGNO: THE AQUINOS / PRESIDENTIAL TEMPER
MANILA, August 13, 2004 (STAR) HERE'S THE SCORE By Teodoro C. Benigno - Where are they now? The Aquino clan, led by Cory Aquino, at one time loomed large over the nation after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino August 21, 1983. Without meaning to, without intending to, the grieving widow of Ninoy found herself in the hurly-burly of politics, a profession she disdained and greatly detested, and determinedly sought to avoid. Convent born and convent educated, shy to a fault, her outrage nonetheless over the murder of her husband led Cory willy nilly to the streets, leading demonstrations.She was the "Lady in Yellow" US President Ronald Reagan would later spot on television. Much later on, Mr. Reagan, unable to stop the turmoil in Manila’s streets asked his close friend Sen. Paul Laxalt to lower the boom on his "dear friend" Ferdinand Marcos. Never did so few words reverberate with so much meaning as Laxalt did what he was bidden. He told the Philippine president to "cut and cut cleanly".
The dictator’s jaw fell. Nobody ever talked to him that way. In a trice, he, Imelda, the whole family and Gen. Fabian Ver packed up, boarded US helicopters from Clark Field and headed for Honolulu. There Macoy landed like a bent and wounded albatross, peering almost half-blind, unsure of what awaited him. His disease lupus erytematosus was slowly devouring his body till, later, all that was left was shrunken flesh and bone. As he died, Imelda crooned over him.
Thus did Cory Aquino gain the presidency. Her six-year tenure was mixed but she was proudest of the fact "I restored democracy to the Philippines." Other Aquinos surged to the fore. They fought bravely and fiercely at EDSA. Agapito (Butz) Aquino at one time led street demonstrations with surprising courage, oratorio and élan. His Tarlac-to-Tarmac run was a streak of fire. So successful was Butz in the streets that at one time he ambitioned the presidency and asked me to coach him for a "mano a mano" presidental battle with the dictator. "Door to door iyan," he said.
Younger sister Tessie Aquino Oreta also belched in the "parliament of the streets". She was the most "atrebida" of the Aquino sisters. Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara eventually landed where she was most effective, coaching Cory Aquino during the presidential campaign, thrusting her image Ninoy-ward in streams of nostalgia. And why not? Lupita idolized Ninoy, even imitated his mannerisms. During those days and weeks and months, the name of Ninoy was magic, and the names of Marcos and Imelda were spat like spittle into the toilet bowl.
Paul Aquino, youngest of the clan, emerged to whip Cory’s senatorial 24-man lineup in 1987 to bayonet sharpness. The popular response was overwhelming with one slot only won by the opposition, the 24th at that. In came Juan Ponce Enrile, perceived by the Aquino loyalists as the hated gauleiter of the Marcos dicatoship . Needless to say, Cory Aquino and JPE were always at swords drawn. She had a lot of help in this fight from her AFP chief of staff, Gen. Fidel Ramos, eventually her defense secretary when she eased out JPE who at one time threatened "to do a Rambo" against her.
There were three other visible Aquinos at the time, one much more visible than the other, the third preferring the shadows.
There was Ballsy Aquino, the Aquino I liked best then, the secretary of the president, a balm to her at times unfairly besieged mother, an angel to everybody. There was, of course, Kris Aquino, incandescent and inimitable, irrepressible, who loved and lived life to the full, the exact opposite of her siblings who avoided publicity and preferred to be left alone. The moment Kris Aquino got into showbiz, I knew, I just knew she would be a loose bullet or a runaway flare. And cause her mother a lot of grief.
The third was Benigno Aquino III, Noynoy, who much preferred the company of his mother’s bodyguards, the Presidential Security Guard, than mess with his famous father’s legacy. Few know that father and only son never got along famously. That probably led to Noynoy’s virtually reclusive life until he agreed to run for Congress, under the impetus of his mother. But the junior was unlike the senior. He didn’t have the fire and the color of his father. He was the sibling who openly disliked Kris, didn’t talk to her for months.
The passage of the years had closed so many doors and bolted so many windows.
Cory Aquino has elected to retire. The once still relevant, still respected voice in Philippine politics is now muted. Obviously, she supports President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but will never say so out loud. Obviously too, she has bled profusely from the wild, woolly, wacky and wayward ways of Kris. But try as she may, Kris is that legendary greased creature from the Land of Oz. She will hold still for perhaps five minutes, but escape even if held down by all the King’s horses and all the King’s men.
Butz Aquino? He has become – tragically – a traditional politician. The glamor has disappeared, the name has become just any other name in the lexicon of politics. Butz attached himself to Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s failed presidential bid, which Ninoy Aquino would have frowned upon. Gahd! Once upon a time, almost a full night, we talked about the possibility of his being president. Lupita even assured me Butz had a fast learning curve. Bejesus!
Tessie Aquino Oreta likewise veered in the direction of Joseph (Erap) Estrada, stuck to him like Madame de Pompadour to Louis XV, even as earlier she was elected to the Senate. She earned her controversial niche in history by dancing her tasteless, vulgar jig after the Senate majority voted against opening the second envelop in the presidential impeachment proceedings. Lately, instead of another run for the Senate, she chose to be Mother Superior to Fernando Poe Jr. in his bid for the presidency, a gamble that went pfffft.
Lupita Kashiwahara is somewhere, everywhere. She comes and goes like a wraith when she manages – which is often – to convince hubby Ken Kashiwahara, that she is needed in the Philippines. Ken indulges her. I understand GMA during the campaign was her understudy as to image. They say that if GMA’s smile now is more sedate, more mobile and no longer pasted on like a wafer, it’s because of Lupita’s ministrations. Lupita could make a gargoyle look like a lamb. Her abiding fault was that her voice went rat-a-tat and sought to dominate all the time. I once sought to engage her services as my deputy press secretary, but Cory wasn’t in any manner impressed. I understood.
Paul Aquino, a phantom operator like Lupita, was pointman in the political stable of presidential candidate Raul Roco. But he didn’t stay long. Paul, a verbal firebrand – his only likeness to Ninoy – just couldn’t (I was told) fit into Raul’s mid-octane campaign team. His razzle-dazzle behavior wasn’t exactly in the mold of Raul’s studied and cautious personality.
I thought the name Aquino would endure the test of time.
Ninoy was a giant. I figured one, two or three of his descendants would bear his name to the mountain-top, and there hurl thunderbolts that would shape history. They haven’t. The Filipino people he died for have disappeared somewhere in the mists, no longer thundering to his name. The Aquinos who entered public life, aside from Cory, never raised the bar or tried to. Why? I suppose I’ll never know. Next time, we’ll write about the Marcoses.
* * *
When you’re surfing TV and, suddenly you see a posturing, petulant president with her voice raised a dozen decibels, you’ve got a show. That was President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo two nights ago throwing a tantrum.
First she was sore at one of her presidential assistants, Dody Limcaoco, for messing up the seating arrangement. She was up on a table with Vice President Noli de Castro, and she figured she was quite a distance away from her audience. She wanted the people up close. The presidential tonsils inveighed against – Limcaco, implying in no uncertain terms that he was clumsy and for his male bigness and tallness, he was an oaf underserving of his job. Or words like that.
Next, GMA lit on the subject of – you know what? – beso-beso. No more beso-besos from the crowd, specially the men, she harrumphed. Had they no respect for her, for the presidency? Where did they get the gall to kiss her on the cheeks?. GMA flared as only she can flare, the face slit in a dozen pointed knives. So woe to him or her who henceforth would smack her with a beso-beso.
To make sure everybody understood, GMA chose her words carefully, ceremoniously, and like a curling cobra hissed that only her husband, Mike Arroyo, had the right to kiss her. Got that? Everybody got that and you could hear a pin drop.
Know what? GMA was right. She is president, chief of state, head of government, commander-in-chief. Anybody who plants the beso-beso on her has to be real rude. I used to before. But now that she is president, I remain on the ground and she is entitled to her pedestal. It was also that way with Cory Aquino. Once she was in Malacañang, the Cory appelation disappeared. Yes, Mrs. President?
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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