Cardinal Sin – media man

Early in the evening of Saturday, February 22, 1986, Cardinal Sin picked up the phone and said: "Get me Radio Veritas."

He waited.

When he had the studios at Fairview, he said: "Please put me on the air. I want to say something."

A few moments later, the announcer said: "Your Eminence. . . . you’re on!"

The Cardinal took a deep breath. Then he said into the phone: "I am calling on all of the children of God in Manila. . . . .Come out to Edsa!. . . . .Our two good friends, General Fidel Ramos and Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, are entrenched in Camp Aguinaldo. Tanks, and truckloads of soldiers, heavily armed, are moving in on them. We must get between these two forces. We must have a buffer of peaceful civilians to prevent violence and bloodshed. We must do this to prevent armed conflict. . . . . I am calling on all of the children of God in Manila. . . . .Come out to Edsa!"

Two million people came out.

It was the most remarkable movement of people in the whole history of the world. It was two million independent decisions – made by priests, by Sisters, by seminarians, by executives and laborers, by housewives and maids, by cripples, by street vendors, by grandmothers.

They came out to Edsa in chinelas, in T-shirts, in wheelchairs. They came out carrying rosaries, and crucifixes, and statutes of the Virgin Mary. Children came out, carrying teddy bears and dolls.

They stopped the tanks. They stopped the truckloads of soldiers. They stopped the artillery and the helicopters. It was the first revolution in history to be run by radio. It was the first revolution in history that was watched at close range, on TV sets, in New York, in Paris, in London, in Rome, in Rio de Janeiro, in Melbourne, in Nairobi, in Moscow, in Beijing.

It was a turning point in the whole story of civilization.

What made it unique – and this was certainly the secret of its success – was the way the Cardinal did it. Before he phoned Radio Veritas, he phoned the Pink Sisters. He said to the Superior: "Mother, get all your nuns into the chapel, and have them pray before the Blessed Sacrament, with arms extended. . . . . Pray for peace in our country. . . . . .Pray that the grace of God will fall on us now!. . . . . And do not eat until I tell you!"

Then he phoned the Carmelites, and the Poor Clares, saying the same thing. Only after this did he take the phone and say: "Get me Radio Veritas."

The Cardinal called out the people, but the power on Edsa was the grace of God, coming to us through the Virgin Mary. Two million people were touched by grace. Two million people were touched by the hand of God.

We could feel it!

And all over the world, on the TV sets, they could see it!

Cardinal Sin used radio as a channel of grace for the Philippines, for Asia, for the world.

Big Bill Tilden said once, of tennis playing: "You have to look at the tennis racket as a natural extension of the arm." A Basque coach said, about teaching football: "You have to teach the boy to kick that ball before he learns to walk!"

Cardinal Sin was that way with media. He used the microphone the way an ordinary man uses a knife and fork at dinner – as a natural, necessary thing. He sat down before the television camera the way a housewife goes to the kitchen sink to wash the dishes – a natural, necessary thing, if you are going to lead the children of God anywhere, in our day.

He accepted media as a natural, necessary tool, placed in our hands by God. The documents from Rome say this. . . . . Cardinal Sin did it.

His sense of timing was superb. He concentrated on the burning issue of the moment. His press releases always came out on the front page, because he was talking about things which were front page news. He had his finger on the pulse of the common man.

In his television appearances, his greatest asset was his smile. Even when the subject was stormy, and filled with emotion, he was relaxed, and cool! His eyes twinkled, even before the smile. The interviewer found it hard to be angry, and the ordinary citizen – watching and listening – felt that the Cardinal was telling the truth.

Demosthenes, who is looked upon as the finest orator in the world, said that the main quality of a speaker must be: "the appearance of sincerity." Cardinal Sin had this.

He believed in the power of drama. When we were sitting together at table, on the morning that the Apostolic Nuncio announced the canonization of Lorenzo Ruiz, he turned to me, took me by the arm, and said softly: "Jimmy. . . . .we need a play on Lorenzo Ruiz!"

Months later we presented this play, in the great audience hall of John Paul II in Rome. Eight thousand Filipinos were laughing and crying. Flash bulbs were blazing all through the show. Even the performers were in tears. And they gave us a standing ovation for eight minutes after the performance. Then John Paul himself congratulated each of our actors, personally.

It was a magnificent event, conceived and launched by Cardinal Sin. He did this with "400 Years in 40 Minutes", which went around the world, and made the front pages in Europe, at the International Eucharistic Congress in Lourdes. He did this with "The Bridge", on Mateo Ricci. . . . . .with "The Gentle People", for the National Eucharistic Year. . . . . and with "The Lady", which ran for almost 200 performances.

The Cardinal believed in media, on all fronts: radio, television, press, film, advertising. His positive approach was crystallized in the Catholic Mass Media Awards. In Manila, the advertising man dreamt of receiving the CMMA trophy from the hands of Cardinal Sin. When this happened, it was the high point of his career.

Once there was a meeting of judges, for the Catholic Mass Media Awards, at Villa San Miguel. Chino Roces, chairman for press, was really worried. It was during martial law. He said to Cardinal Sin: "Your Eminence, the press committee will submit our decisions early, so that you can go over them. Some of our awards might be controversial. They might draw fire from the government. And if anyone is going to suffer from this - it will be you. So we will submit our decisions, and you can modify them, in any way that you see fit."

Cardinal Sin was quiet for a full minute.

Then he said: "No. . . . No. . . . I will hear the decisions when they are announced on the night of the awarding, like everybody else." He leaned across the table, and took Chino by the arm. "I have confidence in you. . . . .That is why you were chosen as a judge. . . I know that your decisions will be honest. . . . I will support whatever you decide, sight unseen. I do not want to censor your decisions."

Chino looked at the Cardinal, and grew at least three inches. From then on, the press committee worked like slaves, meeting for six hours straight, session after session. Chino said: "The Cardinal trusts us. . . . . .We have to be worthy of that trust."

In his long career as a press man, those quiet words of the Cardinal were probably the highest tribute ever paid to Chino.

Cardinal Sin not only believed in media – he believed in media men. There are not many leaders like that, on the face of the earth.

He was a media man.