The courage of faith

Al Sikes

Reflections on the rise of Corazon Aquino

Rarely have I had such an enjoyable and interesting dinner. While in Manila in 1988 on government business, I joined my friend Agapito “Butz” Aquino at a dinner celebrating his birthday.

Butz is the brother-in-law of Corazon Aquino, who died of cancer on August 1. At the time of the dinner Ms. Aquino was president of the Philippines. She had displaced its autocratic president, Ferdinand Marcos, in the aftermath of what turned out to be a relatively peaceful revolution. While the revolution had many causes, the trigger had been the 1983 assassination of Butz’s brother and Cory’s husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, as he was returning to his country from exile to contest Marcos.

Butz occupied a unique position; he was the brother of a martyr and the brother-in-law of the President. He was also a powerful senator and a popular political figure. He was in great spirits that evening and indulged his American guest with a story that was well known to his other friends. He must have told the story numerous times, but the revery that accompanied its retelling seemed fresh to me.

Butz had been a leader in the “People Power” revolution that overthrew Marcos and brought Cory to power. He had been instrumental in organizing street marches and rallies, and in particular became a compelling symbolic figure in the four-day revolt that culminated on February 25, 1986. That night he told how the popular revolution gathered force as thousands and then tens of thousands journeyed to Manila to join the growing mass of Manilans who wanted Marcos out. Each day there were demonstrations in Manila’s central city, with Butz at the head of the forward phalanx.

On the day Marcos fled, Butz related, there were well over 100,000 people shouting for his fall. Marcos had dispatched the armed forces to break the will of the revolutionaries; troops were gathered behind tanks on cobblestone streets just off the square. General Fidel Ramos, who later succeeded Cory Aquino as the Philippine president, commanded the military.

As the tanks were told to move forward, Butz said, the people facing the tanks at the head of the crowds knelt in prayer. The tanks began to rumble forward. Butz called it the most horrifying sound he had ever heard. One can imagine—metal tank tracks rolling across cobblestone streets. “I wanted to run,” Butz said, “but I looked to my left and then to my right and there were nuns kneeling and praying. I couldn’t run; you know us Filipino men and face. How could I run while the nuns stayed?”

Just as his troops reached the front line of the resistance, General Ramos halted the tanks and joined the revolution. Marcos was out. Cory Aquino, the woman in the yellow dress, would replace him.

After her funeral, The New York Times reported, “more than 100,000 people thronged the streets of Manila as the body of Former President Corazon C. Aquino was driven slowly through swirling winds and rain for burial.” Butz was there, too. I am sure his mind must have often gone back to that extraordinary day in 1986 when faith in God animated courage that broke the back of an autocracy and gave Phillipinos a leader of grace and resolve.  

Al Sikes is Chairman of The Trinity Forum and former Chairman of the FCC.

2 Responses (comments are closed) • Features, Being Human, Leadership, Fri 28 Aug 2009