Para kay tita cory

Ang article na ito ay isinulat ko para sa Filipino newspaper dito.

SHARING HISTORIES 

The recent death of former president Corazon Aquino, lovingly called as Tita Cory by her countrymen, gave an opportunity for me to express to my husband how proud I am of being Filipino. You see, my husband is half-Filipino from his mother side. He learned all about the Philippine history from his uncle who was also active in the Filipino community. My husband was initially indifferent to the news of her death because from what he knew Cory was not that good a president. I said she might not be the best president we had in terms of the economy and other standards, since she was just a widow and was not really prepared to live a life of politics, but she was the last president who I can truly say inspired everyone to proclaim that they are indeed Filipinos.

We heard about the death of Cory through his mother and I was immediately in disbelief. I remember when the news of her sickness was announced, my own mom cried so I know that tears will be shed again.  When I left the Philippines early this year, Cory was rarely seen in public and if she was, she looked so tired and skinny but she would still wear her trademark yellow dress and a huge smile as if saying that she is indeed ok. She would always thank the people who were praying for her, which led to someone in the news to say that Cory is the most prayed for Filipino. I believe that she is, not because she was sick and she asked for it – but because the people truly loved her. This is what my husband learned when we talked about what Cory meant for the Filipino people.

At the day of Cory’s funeral, I was logged in the internet looking for ways how to watch it. Luckily, the two biggest tv networks in the Philippines were showing a live streaming of the news events in their websites. I watched the mass and was deeply touched by the outpouring of emotions. It was seen in the eyes of her children and grandchildren as well as in the faces of the people outside the church and on the streets. I cried listening to her youngest daughter saying her eulogy, of how it would take a lifetime for their family to be ok with her death. Seeing her funeral march brought me to my memory of the EDSA revolution. I was just 6 then and I didn’t know what was happening but I remember my father tying a yellow ribbon on the antenna of the car and all of us going for a drive. Everyone on the street was happy and horns were blaring in the tune of “Co-ry, Co-ry”. As I grew up, I learned more and I knew that this was a very important part of our history and I was proud of it. I told all of this to my husband when he came home from work. He watched the news with me and was astounded as to how many people there were in the streets. He could not believe that these many people will turn out and wait for hours to see a glimpse of Cory’s casket considering that it was raining on and off. But the Filipinos were out there on the street, some with umbrellas, some without and when asked why they were there, they all had the same answer – this is the only thing that I can do to show my gratitude for everything that Cory has done for the country. It’s as if they are replying to Ninoy’s famous line that the Filipinos are worth dying for – that Cory is worth waiting for. The funeral march was almost 9 hours long and I wasn’t able to stay up to watch Cory being buried. However, I was able to watch it the next morning with my husband remarking, before he left for work, that maybe the funeral march haven’t reached the cemetery yet and I might still see it. He said it with a sense of awe, and I learned later that he spent his lunch hour looking at the internet for information and pictures about the EDSA revolution. 

With Cory’s death, my husband and I ended up discussing about Martial Law and the subsequent EDSA revolution and coup attempts. He was devouring information about those events and he wanted to learn more. It made me glad that he was raised in such a way that he feels proud about having Filipino blood in him. Some Filipinos may well say the opposite, but he was embracing the fact that he is Pinoy and everything that comes with it. He wants to go the Ninoy Aquino museum, which I haven’t even visited myself, (of course he chided me with it saying – You’re a pinoy! You should go see it!) and the People Power monument. He wants to know where the places he has seen in the pictures are during the bloodless revolution. I can see the excitement in him as I told him what I knew and experienced back then. Sharing this part of history with him made it personal for both of us. Cory’s death, which is tragic, has given my husband and I an opportunity to learn more about each other, of who we are as individuals.

So Tita Cory, thank you for being the only president in living history that has truly united the Filipino people. And thank you personally, because with you being in the news, I am assured that I married the right man. A man who loves his Filipino side as much as I love being Pinay, and who can’t wait to go back and visit the Philippines. I know that in the future, we will be raising our kids the same way that he was raised – a Filipino by heart.