A fond farewell to a passionate patriot whose revolution still has not come

There has been a torrent of tributes to our Teddy Benigno – Teddy Man as everybody called him – so one more, mine, will appear redundant. But I didn’t have a column yesterday, so you’ll have to bear with my own thoughts on Teddy today.

Teddy didn’t go gentle into the night, as the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas keened in 1952, he "raged, raged against the dying of the light." Not the light of his own life, he was more generous than that: he raged, to the very last, against the dying of the light of indignation and anger against corruption and injustice in our land.

I believe his most painful disappointment was that the Revolution, which he saw as a necessity to sweep away evil, hypocrisy, humbug, and the "oppression" of our people never came. In his final months, he complained that he was surprised that the masses, whom he felt were the most oppressed, seemed not just to accept their plight, but were indifferent to it, and did not rush to the streets in furious protest or to the barricades.

One might disagree with the method he espoused, but everyone could agree Teddy Man was a passionate patriot, his brilliant prose flowing like poetry, his intellect both sharp and combative, a Spartacus calling on his fellow gladiators in the arena to rise up in arms, undaunted that many failed to heed his call.

One of his first columns if not his first column when he started writing for us in The STAR more than 16 years ago was, The Gathering Storm. The next one was The Gauntlet. The gauntlet was thrown down, the challenge, that violence against injustice and inequality was stirring in the land – 16 years ago. The storm has been gathering, in Teddy Man’s romantic book of prophecy, for 16 years. It still hasn’t broke.

In the verses of another poet, wrong rules the land and waiting justice sleeps. Yet Teddy’s Revolution has not erupted.

Sleep, Teddy: a warrior gone deservedly to your rest! Inspired, provoked is a better term, by your burning words we may yet have a Revolution – but hopefully, it won’t be one of violence, but a Revolution of the heart.

I remember vividly, how Teddy came to us in our newspaper. He was president Corazon C. Aquino’s Press Secretary, one of her brightest Cabinet members, a confidant of the late Ninoy, a veteran journalist distinguished in every way – and an old friend. One day he rang me up: "Max, mon cher," he started out in French. I picked up on this overture, and our entire telephone conversation was in French. He asked me the astonishing question: "Maxie, do I have a job with you?"

Amazed, I replied: "But Teddy, you have a job!"

"No," he sighed, "I am resigning. My question is: Will you give me a job? Can I write for you?"

Recovering from my surprise, I answered: "Of course, Teddy! We would be delighted and honored to have you! Can we make you Editor-in-Chief?" That was my snap offer, and I meant it.

"No, no, my friend," Teddy said. "I only want to write a column."

"How about daily?" I suggested.

"That’s too much – only two or three times a week," Benigno cheerfully said. "What you pay me, I leave to you and Betty". (meaning our Chairman of the Board, the late co-founder of this newspaper, and, by the way, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, too).

We agreed to meet the following day. That’s when Teddy told me of his disappointments – and why he was quitting the Cory Cabinet. In any event, he’s already, in the past, had his say on the matter, and he and former President Cory reconciled and have remained, up the last, the best of friends.

That’s how Teddy Man became our number one columnist, and a member of our STAR Board of Directors. We’re proud to have been associated with him, and having had him on our Team.

In his play, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare put into the mouth of Mark Anthony’s much-quoted funeral oration the following thought: "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft-interred with their bones." For once, I’ve always thought, the Bard nodded. Mark Anthony’s assertion is often untrue. In Teddy’s case, what was good will never be interred with his bones – it will live on – always.

Enough said. Teddy was a journalist whose vision went beyond words. He was a nationalist, whose nationalism is beyond cavil. He was a man of passionate causes – and of heart.

Go with God, Teddy! We bid you a fond Adieu!