Ninoy Aquino holiday

Today is the 9th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino, who before being assassinated in the Manila International Airport said, "The Filipino is worth dying for." I can’t think of a better way of commemorating the day than by paying homage to the other candidates of the Lakas ng Bayan Party that ran with Ninoy at the height of the Marcos regime in the April 7, 1978 elections. Ninoy, of course, led the list of candidates, but he was in jail.

The other candidates were Jerry Barican, Alexander Boncayao, Feli Cabigao, Juan T. David, Jimmy Ferrer, Neptali Gonzales, Teofisto Guingona, Trining Herrera, Primo de Leon, Cesar "Chito" Lucero, Ernie Maceda, Antonio Martinez, Monching Mitra, Charito Planas, Nene Pimentel, Nap Rama, Noli Santos, Soc Rodrigo and Ernesto Rondon. That was the election that climaxed into the all-night noise barrage, the first open display of People’s Power. All the Laban candidates undoubtedly won in the election. But it was a mock election under the Marcos dictatorship. So none of them sat into office and some were even arrested and jailed.

We find it very ironic that only two days ago, Ateneo de Manila University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. told a group of 2000 student leaders at Teacher’s Camp in Baguio that Manila was lagging Asian countries because unlike its neighboring countries it has failed to produce the quality of leaders needed in our times. The Philippines was the second most economically progressive country in Asia since the Spanish times. After two decades of Marcos rule, we became the second poorest country in the Orient next to Bangladesh.

According to Fr. Nebres, we plan well but we can’t implement our own plans. He attributes this to the fact that we have not had leaders like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia or the King and Queen of Thailand. Nebres said that Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore had exactly the same plans as the Philippines. The great difference was that they could implement those plans. We couldn’t.

What is a leader? Here is Eric Hoffer’s definition. "The leader personifies the certitude of the creed and the defiance and grandeur of power. He articulates and justifies the resentment dammed up in the souls of the frustrated. He kindles the vision of a breath-taking future as to justify the sacrifice of a transitory present. He stages a world of make-believe so indispensable for the realization of self-sacrifice and united action."

In short, it has to begin with a vision, which is the dream that we have for our nation. "Visions", Stephen S. Wise said, looks inward and becomes aspiration. Vision looks upward and becomes faith."Where are the leaders who will provide and implement that vision?