A Full Life--The Memoirs of Teofisto Guingona, a Patriot

I had the excellent opportunity to read the memoir of a Patriot today. Reading it brings back memories of those times when Filipinos stood for something beautiful--not because of politics nor money--but about ethics and good-old ideological principles.

Ethics, ah, that's new. Nowadays, we look at politicians in the same mold as we look at hooligans. We can't seem to find something good or something moral about them. For us, there's nothing ethical nor beautiful about politics. Politics is dirty. Politics is all about money. Politics is something abhorrent, even despicable. And ethics is something aesthetic, not political.

Guingona's milieu is something different, even dreamy. It was the golden age of Philippine politics. It was a time when our country was finding our identity, our own place under the hot global sun. It was an era where we are looking for some pillar to stand on.

This humble man from Agusan was fortunate enough to shine side by side with all those legal, political, economic and ideological giants of our age. He shone in a different light. He belongs to those luminaries but his light shone more brightly than them.

Those whom he had the pleasure of meeting and befriending all betrayed the People's Cause when their time came to govern. When they held the fate of the Nation in their hands as policy-makers, their true colors showed. They forgot why God put them there, not to steal billions from us, but to help us.

Not Teofisto Guingona.

He stood for the people's cause. His voice rang loud when the tentacles of dictatorship plunged this country into the abyssmal pits of chaos and delusion. He fought side by side with men of substance when it was not the time to do so. He suffered in poverty when most of his friends prospered under the blessing of a Madman.

He went against the grain because it was right, it was moral and it was his duty as a Filipino to do so.

Guingona was a true-blue rebel. He rebelled when everybody was trying to rationalize irrationality. He struggled when everyone says it's okey when in fact, it was turning totally nasty and brutish for the People.

Guingona fought for the rights of the Christians and the Muslims. He understood their pain.

Guingona struggled against tyranny, oppression and poverty. He saw the world not in rosy-colored lens, but with clear spectacles hardened by the ultra-violet light of reality.

He stood like the Atenean he is, a blue eagle, standing proudly in that landscape of dark clouds and an almost deserted Philippines. Now, he's the last of the Mohicans. His contemporaries have all joined the heavenly pantheon of heroes. But, I pray that the Almighty still prolong the life of this man, since the People still need him.

I had the pleasure of meeting the man.

During the managed turbulence of EDSA Dos, I ate lunch with him, along with some generals. It was in his modest home in New Manila. When we were eating, he asked me about things related to the struggle, for which he replied, " you can fool the people sometimes, but you can't fool the people everytime."

He referred to me as a bright man and told me that if I'm ready to be jailed should we fail in what we're doing. Without nary a flinch, I said yes. I've been jailed before when I militated against the Military Bases Agreement, along with PAG-IBIG president Miro Quimpo and former Chief of Staff Mike Defensor. Like Guingona, I stood against the grain. And even at this ripe age of 37, I am still at it, hoping that the time will come when the People, the true owners of this land, govern this country through a Council of their choice.

Guingona will remain an inspiration to a new generation of Patriots. I am quite certain that in the next few months or years, a new breed of Patriots will emerge and form a New Class--the creative class. This creative class will rewrite history. This time, it will be a glorious one when the People will become the masters of their fate, not the slave of the State.

For you, my Patriot, we will honor you by continuing what you fought for--a New Philippine Revolution.