MORE THAN a noble light of human rights, he was today’s counter cultural hero. Very few can come close to the political example he had set. Even by any stretch of the imagination, Robin Padilla absolutely does not qualify.
As the eulogies poured in over the death of the
sharply elegant Rene A. V. Saguisag, Padilla the Rodrigo Duterte and Apollo
Quiboloy rights defender, butted in with another inanity: “I consider him my mentor.”
“Pag siya ang nagsulat ng isang
opinyon, kailangan mong basahin nang mabuti at ulit-ulitin upang masigurong
tama ang iyong pagkaunawa sa kanyang akda.” Let’s put things in
order and show Robin Padilla the essential Rene Saguisag that this nation has
lost.
First, Saguisag did not want to
go through another Iglesia Ni Cristo endorsement. Cory Aquino wanted Saguisag
to succeed her (“But I would always change the subject,” he said). He was her
presidential spokesperson after the Edsa revolution. She saw in Saguisag a rare
gem for democracy that the post-dictatorship badly needed. She coaxed him to
run for the senate in the first senatorial elections of 1987. Saguisag landed 9th place in a line of twenty-four winning
senators.
Saguisag was said to frequently commute to the senate
by taxi and was known to shun the free catering for senators paid for by
taxpayers’ money, bringing his own lunch. When his term ended in 1992, he
declined reelection.
What happened? In an interview he
gave on June 1, 2016, Saguisag described himself as “an accidental public
servant serving a providential president.” He gave Cory one condition: that he
will step down with her in 1992. “I would not want to go through certain of the
things I had to do for fear of losing, like going to the INC.”
“Lawmaking is very serious
business. Ngayon may nakapasok doon kasama ng partidong pinagbili ng sukâ.
Not just anybody can be sent there. The
senate is not a part-time hobby.”
Second, he regrets not having ousted Rodrigo Duterte from
San Beda for shooting a law school classmate. Saguisag was then a professor of
law at his alma mater. “I voted to expel him but was outvoted by the priest and
the dean. They felt sorry for him since he was already a senior. It was decided
to just let him graduate but not allow him to march at the rites.”
Saguisag said that Duterte treated life as cheap and
did not have respect for human rights and human dignity. “He probably thinks he
could get away with anything. That’s what’s happening now. Thousands are being
killed.” He said this incident showed early the “trigger happy” attitude of
Duterte.
When Duterte’s attack dog Jose Calida who was his
solicitor general said in July 2016 that police should kill more criminals,
Saguisag’s was one of the contrary voices. “Do we still prove and have a trial
as part of due process? Useless, it seems to me.”
Saguisag said Duterte was “not
only super executive, super court, super legislature, and a one-man
constitutional convention. Once he speaks, tupi lahat (everyone obeys).”
Third, Saguisag gave the most mocking commentary
against Duterte for the surreptitious burial of the dictator Marcos at the
Libingan ng mga Bayani. The full statement reads like a declamation oratory:
“In the end there really is no one to blame but you
Mr. Duterte. Your incorrigibility is your worst trait. You have yet to learn
Philippine history.”
“To favor one family over thousands of martial law and
human rights abuse victims is insulting to say the least to them and their
families. You wouldn’t even listen to the leftists in your cabinet; they who
likewise suffered immensely during those dark days. And for what? To curry
favor with the Marcoses? To fulfill a campaign promise? Because your father
served in the Marcos cabinet?”
“I believe your title is President, not King. You
demand respect but seem to be incapable of giving any. We elected a leader, not
a ruler, and you can’t seem to tell the difference. You took an oath to defend
the Constitution but from your actuations since taking office you seem to be
testing your new found powers, from your pronouncements about imposing martial
law, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, to having to ‘innovate the law,’
what ever that means.”
“Be very careful about crossing the Filipino people
sir. In millennial speak, Don’t Us! The Philippines is bigger than Davao; you
cannot bully your way thru any decision you make and expect no consequences.”
“This is not an Aquino-Marcos thing as you so wrongly
configure it to be. The former president has so far been quiet on the issue
despite the goading and bashing of your hordes. If you have any decency left in
you, listen to the people’s cry. Listen to reasonable men, not your inner
circle of suck-ups and sycophants.”
“Words have consequences, and how you tread from
hereon may have dire ones for you.”
Rene Saguisag’s light will never die. (VERA Files. The views in this column are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.)
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