President Noy, speaking before Harvard University's John F Kennedy’s School of Government, last Monday, told his audience that he has made a commitment to fulfill the dreams of his father, the late Benigno S. Aquino Jr, or Ninoy to us.
Like the Americans' Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Ninoy had a dream. And he died without seeing the fulfillment of that dream. Unlike John F Kennedy who became US President first, before his assassination, Ninoy never lived long enough to become Chief Executive. Nonetheless, his death made his widow President and later his only son too. That record may never be duplicated again in our history.
But to become President was not really Ninoy's most compelling dream. He had many, many beautiful dreams for our country and people. There are some lines in his favorite song "IMPOSSIBLE DREAM'' which says: '' To Be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause. And I know, If I'll only be true to this glorious quest, then my heart will lie peaceful and calm, when I'm laid to my rest. And the world will be better for this, that one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage...TO REACH THE UNREACHABLE STAR.'' One of Ninoy's impossible stars is social justice, which includes, among others, agrarian reform.
Insofar as agrarian reform is concerned, that indeed appears today as virtually impossible. The Hacienda Luisita is still in the hands of the landowners, despite the Supreme Court decision directing the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Code, which, by the way, was enacted into law during the time of President Cory Aquino. There are still thousands and thousands of sugarcane haciendas in Negros. And millions are still working not as landowners but as tenant and farm workers. Ninoy's dream may never see the light of day. His heavenly cause may never be achieved even after he '' marched into hell'' in the bloody hands of his assassins.
Ninoy understood and felt the pains of the peasants. Many of the peasants' leaders were his friends. It was Ninoy that Magsaysay tapped to go up to Mount Arayat and talk to Luis Taruc, the great supremo of the HUKBALAHAP that metamorphosed into a peasant liberation movement from its origins as guerilla fighters against the Japanese. Ninoy also got close to Bernabe Buscayno or Kumander Dante while detained in Fort Bonifacio. Ninoy's dream was also the dream of Joma Sison whom he always conferred with in the Fort. Buscayno and Sison were both released by President Cory in deference to Ninoy's wishes.
The way it looks today, President Noy, no matter how determined he might be, can no longer fulfill his father's dream. The socio-economic and political structures are too much for him to surmount. And time is running out. In most probability, the next President will not be sympathetic to Ninoy's dreams. President Noy will be an outsider of Malacañang after mid 2016.
And Kris Aquino may not be ready as yet to run and try succeeding both her mom and her Kuya, Ninoy's quest may remain forever an impossible dream. Sayang.