United we stand—remembering a hero

The current political scene reminds me of a historical parallel that deserves to be recalled for lessons that might be learned.

Strangely, this parallel also involves a Marcos and a woman, both candidates for president. In November 1985, on the 13th year of his dictatorship, the late Ferdinand E. Marcos was interviewed on the American Broadcasting Company’s “This Week with David Brinkley.”

I remember watching that show 37 years ago. The American journalist who interviewed Marcos (not David Brinkley) asked the President if he believed he still had the support of the Filipino people after 13 years of martial law and no election.

Marcos’ pride was stung and he took the bait. Of course, he intoned in his most impressive stentorian voice, “I still have the support of the Filipino people, and right now I announce that we will have an election this year to prove that.”

Given the opportunity, Filipinos braved the guns and goons of Marcos and expressed their long pent-up emotions at the polls. My family, like most Filipino families at the time, was engaged in the campaign—writing letters, producing leaflets, making telephone calls, donating hard-earned pesos, visiting homes, and praying for Tita Cory, as we called her then. Under martial law, we could not organize neighborhood Kakampink rallies. But we had yellow ribbons and attended the huge Cory rally at Rizal Park.

At the start of our “yellow campaign” against Marcos, however, we had a problem similar to what is happening now. Who was going to lead the campaign against the dictator?

There were two candidates. One was the widow of former senator Ninoy Aquino, Tita Cory, the housewife who had no professional qualifications for the job, but had the emotional support of the loyal followers of her martyred spouse.

The other candidate was more politically savvy and professionally qualified. He was a seasoned politician and a freedom fighter—Salvador “Doy” Laurel. Laurel’s fiery speeches during martial law exhorted people to fight to restore democracy. He organized the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (Unido) to fight the dictatorship, drawing into its ambit prominent opposition leaders at the time. He was endorsed as Unido standard-bearer in the snap election.

Initially, Cory Aquino endorsed Laurel in her speeches before opposition assemblies. Five months later, however, she declared her own candidacy, causing a major crisis in the opposition—a rift that could cause its downfall and ensure a Marcos victory. Public clamor had persuaded Tita Cory to run.

Doy Laurel was in a dilemma. Run, and both of them would lose. But give up his ambition? After what seemed like an eternity of negotiations, he agreed to run as her vice president, provided they ran under the Unido banner. And the rest, as they say, is history. In my book, Salvador H. Laurel, is a true hero. He taught us then that united we stand (against a Marcos especially), divided we’d fall.

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Crispin Maslog is a science columnist for SciDev.Net. A former copy editor of Agence France-Presse, he taught science journalism at Silliman University and the University of the Philippines Los Baños.