A dearth of statesmen

“What is the difference between a statesman and a politician? A statesman does what he believes is best for his country, a politician does best what gets him reelected.” — Mikhail Gorbachev

The death anniversary of the last of the great Philippine senators passed unremarked earlier this month, his birth anniversary will be celebrated soon. He was a gentleman who excelled in terms of statesmanship; a lost art if there ever was one in the Philippines. Selfless leadership, action and foresight are poorly represented virtues among our politicians.

On January 29, 1914 in Bulacan Francis ‘Soc’ Rodrigo was born — he was related to two notable Philippines heroes in Marcelo del Pilar and Gregorio del Pilar. He passed on January 4, 1998. He was a man who led a life fully dedicated to God, country and family. He was the very last of the old group of senators when senators were elder statesman. Unlike today, where very little prestige is associated with the Senate or the Supreme Court.

He was a gentleman of the old Tagalog school. We often hear of people who fight for principles, or at least say they do. But we rarely encounter people who actually live up to the principles they espouse. In our long association with Soc, we can say that he was such a man; a yes, it is a rarity and something we cannot often say. That is the foundation of a statesman, and of statesmanship: honesty, integrity and being principled.

We remember Soc from our time in Laban; our closest association was in 1978 when we organized the group. The Liberal Party, unanimously decided that they would not run during the election because they knew it would not be a real election. Ninoy Aquino agreed wholeheartedly, at first. He then had what he called “a second think.” He needed a party to run and he asked ‘Soc’ and myself to organize one; this was Laban. To those who remember, the culmination of that election was the noise barrage, which historically was the EDSA Revolution in embryo. The Laban candidates won, but instead of taking their positions, were arrested and jailed. Under Marcos’ dictatorial rule, Soc was imprisoned three times (1972, 1978, and 1982). Like his illustrious relatives, he is, in fact, one of our modern-day heroes. Ninoy fondly called him, “The Cardinal.” He certainly had the cardinal virtues — prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.

January 21 marked the birthday of three delegates to the Malolos Congress and signatories of the Malolos Constitution. They are Leon Ma. Guerrero, the journalist and botanist; Jose Salamanca, the elected representative from Cavite; and Alberto Barretto, a lawyer who represented the Masbate and Ticao provinces. What we forget, too often, is that like the greats of American history (George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, etc), the signatories of the Malolos Constitution were the Fathers of Philippine Democracy. They should be respected and remembered as such.

With the passing of Soc Rodrigo we did lose the last of the great Philippine statesmen senators. The passing of President Corazon Aquino marked the loss of a great stateswoman. So many people in our history, like “Soc” and others during Martial Law, the Malolos signatories and other revolutionaries, were principled individuals who had believed in something greater than themselves: the Philippines. They risked life, limb and liberty to fight for that belief. While we may have a dearth of living statesmen, we do not lack in historical statesmen.

Real statesmen become symbols of a call to service and the act of putting country before self. This, we lack and it is to our great detriment. Too many of our politicians and leaders today look to the self first and country last, in other words backwards. We, as a country, will never improve if this equation does not change. Great men have walked Philippine soil, while remembering them, we should learn from them.