The nation mourns Noynoy's death, but valid questions on his term in Malacañang dogged the media. As the Yellows nurture any necropolitical opportunity, the Filipinos buried either a hero or a heel.
THE unexpected death of former President Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III last June 24 more than shocked the nation, and in a country now preparing for another divisive election, this event can never be just a family matter for the Aquino-Cojuangcos that deserves privacy.
Aquino died in his sleep in the morning of Araw ng Maynila, due to renal disease and diabetes. He was 61.
In a matter of hours, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms along with the traditional media composed of newspapers, radio and TV are dominated by Noynoy materials. Commentary, eulogies, criticisms and platitudes swamped the media, coming from a motley group of people and institutions, from President Rodrigo Duterte to US President Joe Biden, from the European Union to the United Nations, from the Yellow camp to the DDS, from Rappler to Jay Sonza and Luminous.
PNoy was a colorful character to dissect, and like all leaders worthy of the name, President Aquino in life and in death, was the subject of great love and praise for a group of people, and of incendiary vitriols from others. Such is the fate of leaders of men in history -- Muhammad, Mao Zedong, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Stalin, etc.
The customary message of condolences has been issued by President Duterte addressed to PNoy's siblings, family and friends. Duterte said: "Let us take this opportunity to unite in prayer and set aside our differences as we pay respects to a leader who has given his best to serve the Filipino people."
Duterte's statement of condolences to Ballsy, Pinky, Viel, and Kris included a recognition of the Aquino family's "history of fighting for democracy." Said the President: "I express my deepest sympathies to the Aquino siblings as well as to all his loved ones, friends and supporters, in this period of sadness. May you take comfort in the knowledge that he is now in a better place with his Creator. His memory and his family's legacy of offering their lives for the cause of democracy will forever remain etched in our hearts."
The Catholic church, meanwhile, has long been a close associate of the Aquinos, and so the most colorful platitudes came from the clergy. Archbishop Socrates Villegas, at the Ateneo de Manila mass, said: "Eulogies have been written and spoken and shared, but the best eulogy tribute we can pay to our dear President Noy is to bring back, recover, preserve, safeguard and never again compromise our dignity as a people and the decency of our leaders as servants, not bosses."
Villegas affirmed that "the sincerest form of tribute to President Noy is to relive his life lessons of decency and ethical leadership, recover honor and dignity in our private and public lives."
Fr. Albert Alejo, S.J., who divides his time in gospels and politics, noted that PNoy attended the UP mass on the 1,000th day of detention of Sen. Leila de Lima. He noted that the former President "had many questions about God, he had questions about faith, and problems with the Church and with priests like me, and probably even with Jesuits." People remember that Aquino fought the Catholic church when he pushed for the passing of the Reproductive Health Law.
One thing you can praise PNoy with is his penchant for calling out people, airing his thoughts in public engagements, criticizing his perceived enemies to their face, personally. In his message during Pope Francis' courtesy call in Malacañang Palace in January, 2015, Aquino hit Filipino bishops and priests for tolerating alleged "abuses" committed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. PNoy also criticized Noli de Castro to his face, when he was invited by ABS-CBN to an affair. PNoy also did not mince words in hitting Tony Lopez, saying he will not attend any FOCAP event with Lopez there.
PNoy told the Pope to his face and to the faces of the cardinals and bishops: "There was a true case of faith when many members of the Church, once advocates for the poor, the marginalized, and the helpless, suddenly became silent in the face of the previous administration's abuses, which we are still trying to rectify to this very day."
This is very true, for what can you expect from the godly cabal of Bacani, David and Cruz who -- as news media and Arroyo's Malacañang alleged -- solicited and received brand-new Toyota Fortuners and other SUVs from President GMA to be used in their "barrio trips to visit the poor?"
Indeed, PNoy lived a full and happy life. Soc Villegas was correct in pointing out that "his silence after his presidential term was a silence of dignity. As he brought dignity and honesty to his service to the nation as our president, he preserved that dignity after his retirement."
But it is quite a stretch when the genuflecting Villegas likened this silence to "the quiet nobility of the Lord Jesus before Pilate."
For here's the other side of coin. "For the Motherland" reposted Choly Abilla Cabanban's question -- why if Noynoy had serious renal problem and diabetes, "how come he was allowed to skip dialysis twice? How come no nurse or doctor attending him when his health status was very, very critical?" Cabanban rooted these questions from an interview with Pnoy's driver.
The FB post claimed a tragic, not a peaceful, death for a rich former President with no siblings, nurse, doctor, priest or friend by his side to check if he got his life-saving dialysis session.
And then, there's Jay Sonza. He checked with the Philippine Statistics Authority and found out that PH economic growth was 3.7, 3.2 and 4.2 percent in 2010-2016 when Aquino was in power. This is very far from the reported 6.5 to 7.5 percent reported by the media, who credits Aquino for the good performance of the economy during his time, Jay noted.
Sonza also likes to mention the graft-laden impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona who penned the dispersal of Hacienda Luisita to the farmers; the bloody dispersal of the hacienda's protesters, the Lianga massacre in Surigao del Sur, the notorious Dengvaxia vaccine scandal that killed some 200 children, the LRT 1 and Laguna Lake dredging scandals, and many more.
We did not even mention here Pnoy's engagement with the matter of the South China Sea, which he lovingly referred to as the West Philippine Sea -- an issue that deserves another cover story for Opinyon. (With a report by Diego Cagahastian) #