RP: After Ninoy’s assassination 25 years later

We have shown empathy, understanding and brotherly love to our dear friend Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez, but now is the time to call a spade a spade regarding the plight of his adopted son, Joavan, whom I consider the cross that Mayor Soc has to bear. It has come to the point that I must explain this to Brod Mayor Soc in a spiritual sense; after all, just like me he is a staunch Defender of the Catholic Faith.

That Brod Soc never ceased to evangelize and praise and thank the Lord by his continued preaching of the Word of God on radio and correcting the misconceptions or wrong interpretations of what is written in the Holy Bible opens him up to what we call a Spiritual Warfare. Because the wily Evil one dubbed Satan couldn’t shake the faith of Brod Soc, he targeted Mayor Fernandez’s weakest spot, his love for his son Joavan, who now has gotten himself involved in what could possibly be a charge of kidnapping.

Joavan’s misdemeanors and misadventures have taken its toll on his father being Mayor of Talisay City. For this Mayor Soc is now officially on leave so he can give his full attention and focus on his son’s problem. I urge Brod Soc to do what he needs to do about his prodigal son, because his credibility is also on the line.

Why has Joavan continued to embarrass his father? This may be traced to the inaction of Talisay City Station Police Chief Romeo Perigo who was probably too scared to act against the son of the Mayor. As the old saying goes, “For evil to succeed, it is enough that good men do nothing!” That’s exactly what happened in Talisay City, where good men like Mayor Soc and the Talisay Police Chief did nothing.

Central Visayas Regional Police Superintendent Ronald Roderos should transfer the Talisay Police Chief Perigo for his acts of omission. As the top watchdog of the law, Perigo could have prevented further damage to Joavan if only he acted swiftly, but he didn’t do anything and now things have gone from bad to worse.

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Today is the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. that historical incident that broke the camel’s back and put the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship on the defensive and eventually on the run. Wow! It’s been 25 years already. Sadly for the Philippines, we may have removed those unlamented years of Martial Law, but we haven’t moved forward to a better governance.

Twenty five years later, we have another Aquino in the Senate, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the son of the late Ninoy Aquino who lamented that nothing much has improved in our country saying, “I am saddened that instead of moving forward after 25 years, it seems that the country has moved backward.” Perhaps Nonoy should be reminded of the statement of his father when he was still alive when he said that he pities the Presidents after Pres. Marcos is out of office; unfortunately, Ninoy didn’t know that it would be his wife who would be the next President after Marcos.

I have always said that Tita Cory took on the Presidency without any experience in politics, though she belongs to a very political clan. Under her watch, she removed everything that had to do with the Marcoses, even opted not to live in Malacañang, but in the Arlegui mansion, which we later found out was subjected to oppression by the Marcoses as the house was taken from the family who owned it by force. Yet, Tita Cory pretended not to know that she moved to a house that caused is owners a grave pain because the thugs of Marcos confiscated this property in the middle of the night. If she stayed in Malacañang, at least it was officially a government-owned property.

Like I said, Pres. Aquino did the exact opposite of the Marcoses, except for two major issues: One, her retention of that Marcosian thought, “Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa” (which he obviously copied from Napoleon Bonaparte). The other, she made her own version of the Marcos Land Reform Program called the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which today has also failed as it was confiscatory. The landless took away the lands of people who for many years worked on their land and in return, they were paid in loose change!

Worse, Hacienda Luisita was exempted from land reform. Hence Tita Cory lost the opportunity to be a leader by good example. Her worst contribution is the creation of the present Constitution, when it would have been better to return back to the 1935 Constitution and amend it. Now we’re talking about charter changes because things were not done properly.