Corazon Aquino

Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino follows in the foot-steps of great ladies like Elenaor Roosevelt and Corretta Scott King, women who took on the great missions of their husbands and continued to chart a course for the betterment of people as their testaments.

In the soon to be published book Saints, Sages and Presidents: Media’s Impressions On A Life, there is an account of the story of Mrs. Aquino spearheading the revolution in The Philippines and bringing democracy to the Island nation.  I covered the story for CNN’s Big Story and beyond.

“Big Story was more than a program.  It was an instrument, guided by Sam Zelman, that gave CNN story coverage an in-depth brand identity and helped to shape the core strengths of the network.

Big Story was the programming instrument that galvanized the single thought that CNN truly told the most important story of the week effectively and without equivocation.

Big Story out performed newspapers and magazines accounts, even though it relied on Lexis-Nexis, newspaper and magazine print for much of its research.  Its pictures could take the viewer on the scene and those pictures underscored by deft research and production supplied the audience an undeniable experience and knowledge.  In short the program served to promote CNN’s news prowess in the marketplace.

One such Big Story program that positioned the CNN brand well spoke about the waning days and the eventual collapse of the regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.

CNN had already stayed on the story longer than any of the networks and then it capped the coverage off with a thirty-minute retrospective that spoke to CNN’s core message, “News Information is the Star.”

The drama that played out over days, was captured in precious documentary style, up close; from showing the protests over a stolen election by Marcos to the negotiations between US emissary Philip Habib in the Reagan Administration to avert an all out revolution.

Three questions formed the backdrop of the suspense:  Did President Reagan request that the longtime U.S. ally to step down? Did President Ferdinand Marcos decide on his own to abdicate power to save his country from ruin?  Did Presidents Reagan and Marcos agree to safe passage to Hawaii as a way for the embattled dictator to leave his post?

I came across an editorial in the Washington Post newspaper written by Richard Holbrook and an article in the New York Times by Barbara Crossette that served to augment and broaden the perspectives of the program’s coverage concerning the removal of Marcos; we begin with Holbrook:

“How could it have happened?  How could Ronald Reagan, of all people, end up telling Ferdinand Marcos that he would have to give up the presidency of the Philippines to a group of rebellious military leaders and a woman who, 75 days ago, described herself as a housewife?

How did Marcos, at the end of a lifelong relationship with America, find himself in a public confrontation with a conservative president who, he had thought, would be his best friend in the White house since Lyndon Johnson?

Should anyone take credit, other than the Philippine people?  Did the U.S. finally learn something about dealing with dictators on the decline, or did we simply luck out?

The clearest thing that can be said about the Reagan policy is that, despite its occasional impression, it worked—perhaps a better outcome than in any similar crisis in postwar American history.  Why?  Several reasons are evident:

• In the Philippines, there was a democratic alternative to the traditional choice between the strongman and the radicals—a key difference between the Philippines on one hand and Iran, Nicaragua and South Vietnam on the other.
• After a rocky start, our Philippines policy gathered bipartisan support, with a conservative president following an ultimately liberal policy while incorporating the symbolism and ideology of his own past.  The Democrats not only supported Reagan but also for the most part left him room to maneuver.
• The administration benefited from the relative un-involvement of Reagan himself, which left his aides free to craft a policy that could respond quickly to events—a foreign-policy approach that might best be described as “ad-hoc ism.”
• As the end neared, there was consensus within the administration, across ideological lines that Marcos could no longer govern effectively.  This consensus checked the usual inter-agency bickering.
• Marcos’ fall came quickly, before the American right could regroup around an alternative to Marcos, or a catastrophe in Manila could produce second-guessing in Washington and the usual finger-pointing recriminations.
• Marcos self-destruction on American television, while Corazon Aquino, after a slow start, captured the imagination of the American public.  Television increased the immediacy of The Philippines crisis in the United States and the sense that the U.S. had a stake in its outcome.

Barbara Crossette wrote in a special to the New York Times the heart-felt sentiment of the country’s new President, which Big Story captured on video, the power of words and pictures of the demonstrators were undeniable in this presentation and the New Eden (Free Nations) stood to be well informed because of it.

“They streamed along boulevards and back streets today, bearing balloons and icons, guitars and firecrackers – hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of jubilant Filipinos heading for a park on the shores of Manila Bay to join in a mass of thanksgiving.

But the unprecedented public outpouring of joy became something more, something new; a celebration of a week in which this nation believes it showed the world the meaning of democracy.

‘When they write and talk about these events,’ President Corazon Aquino said of the revolution that brought an end to the 20-year rule of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, ‘you can proudly say, I was there.  I heeded the call to protect the friendly rebel forces.  I put my bare hands on the ranks.  I faced bayonet-wielding and tear gas throwing troops.’

‘All these and many more, my friends, are our moments in history,’ the President told the cheering throng.

‘On the streets of New York, I have heard that people are being stopped and congratulated for being Filipinos,’ she said.

‘I think we have taught the world how to make a revolution,’ Francisco S. Tatad, one of the country’s leading political columnists, said in an interview  ‘This whole experience rewrote the textbook of democracy.  We have demonstrated the power of active nonviolence, perhaps distilled by prayer.’

‘Proud to be Filipino’ is the catch phrase of the week.  It appears on T-shirts, in countless newspaper columns, in conversations.

‘I am sure that Ninoy is smiling at us now,’ Mrs. Aquino said, using the nickname of her late husband, slain at Manila Airport as he was returning from exile in the United States.  ‘We have proven him correct, that the Filipino is worth dying for.’

And, if you didn’t read the accounts, CNN was there.  Determined to write itself in history by telling the story, without glitz or glamour, capturing events like never before by making good use of technology, cameras on the ground capturing sights and sounds of revolution, sound journalism, the written and oral accounting of pillar to post activism and mission focused.

Tell the story of this South China Sea multiple island nation struggling for internally for external identity and freedoms.  The only big payday was being there.  Be present as a witness, an observer while allowing plenty of room for viewers to experience the impossible become possible; a deeply entrenched dictatorship dissolve becoming fodder for yellow carnations, representing the bright hope of democracy.’

Burt Reinhardt, then president of CNN, called me on the telephone to extend his appreciation to everyone for our coverage.  Good job. Let everyone Know.”

Today in her passing the free world says good job Mrs. Corazon Aquino for igniting the flame of Democracy throughout Southeast Asia.

In the category “Seed of My Seed, Flesh of My Flesh,” less than a year after her death, Mrs. Aquino’s son Benigno Aquino III is set to carry on the democratic works of his father and mother. By popular vote he was elected president of the Philippines in 2010.