Soledad “Choleng” Dato Hidalgo, the author’s mother, wrote weekly articles under bylines: My Two Cents’ Worth, From My Vantage Point, Perspectives, and With Hue and Cry for Naga Times, Bicol Tribune, Bicol Mail. She was also the author of feature articles in magazines like The Bicol Digest, BICOLANA Magazine, other dailies, and commemorative souvenir programs. Her writings remain relevant and interesting to this day. Telly Hidalgo How has taken it upon herself to serve as custodian and curator of her mother’s works. To prepare for this article, she gleaned through her mother’s columns about the momentous events leading up to and after August 1983 when an assassin’s bullet felled Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino. The memorabilia are like a looking glass through which she peers at the past in the eyes of her mother. The month of August brings to mind these days of remembrance: Ninoy’s death, August 21, 1983 and Cory’s death, August 1, 2009.

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August is a month of contrasts, blending rain and sunshine. It also heralds an event that many Filipinos of Cory’s generation – and those who cherish that memory – will always commemorate with deep reflection. This event brings to mind countless pages of our collective memories, dating back to that fateful day in 1983 when a gunshot echoed across a tarmac. The subsequent investigations, filled with technical details, became fodder for media coverage, yet the impact remained profoundly personal for many.

The sound of that gunshot has been muffled by the passage of time, with four decades having twisted and turned in various directions. However, it remains vividly alive in the pages of my mother, Soledad (Choleng) Dato Hidalgo, a writer from Naga City. As I leaf through the yellowed pages of her clippings, I uncover details that we may have missed or were too young to understand at the time. Her generation’s thoughts and reflections, particularly among her peers in the local scene, are captured within these pages.

What were they thinking? How did the intelligentsia of Naga perceive the events unfolding before and after 1983?

Before 1983, the Philippines endured a decade of Martial Law. I caught glimpses of the happenings in this Opposition stronghold, painted in many shades of resistance. How did Choleng react to the imposition of Martial Law? In her own words, she might have sought an escape route had she known that the press would be the first target!

In her piece “The Power of Media,” she described how media was viewed in the US and oppressive states like Russia and Indonesia. She wrote: “When Martial Law was declared in the Philippines, the first thing that was done was to gather the writers for a seminar on responsible press.” She named prominent national writers and those from Naga City. “After a few months they were all liberated and silenced for some time. Not so with Luising General maybe because he is getting old and does not care one way or the other.” Some continued “in veiled and uncertain terms.” Others survived by raising quail and vegetables, waiting for better times.

Ninoy was of a different caliber, known for his nerve and courage. He was often compared to JFK. When Ferdinand Marcos rose to power in 1965, Ninoy became his nemesis, exposing the Marcos gimmickry of infrastructure, edifice complex, and beauty pageants through his brand of journalism. “Ninoy was the first Filipino to perceive the hollowness, the hypocrisy, and ruthlessness of this Filipino leader.” His assassination, following his long imprisonment, exile, and return, “has awakened the dormant nationalism among Filipinos” both at home and abroad.

What was it like in the first five years following these tumultuous events? The question was raised in the article “Did Ninoy Die in Vain?” After the euphoria of the longest funeral and the yellow ribbon mass gatherings – reminiscent of Leni Robredo’s magical pink rallies – there remained an inexplicable blank wall that could not identify the perpetrator, although “everybody knew.” A similar blank wall confronts us now with the 2022 elections that brought the Marcoses back to power.

Did Ninoy Die in Vain?

On Ninoy’s death anniversaries, many of his followers in Manila continued to celebrate the yearly observance with meaningful words on his bravery. The catchphrase “Hindi Ka Nag-iisa” reverberated in mass gatherings, evolving into the “Aquino cult” and forging many alliances. However, the powerful counterforces among Marcos loyalists could not remain hidden. During the 4^th anniversary of Ninoy’s death, Cory was already grappling with a reeling economy and high gas prices. From the outset, loyalists were well-entrenched in the political arena, from Enrile to Ramos and Erap. “In the Lower House, there were Aspiras, Ronald Zamora, Escudero, Lobregat…others.” It did not help that Cory was taunted as a simple housewife, incompetent, and “walang alam.”

It must have pained this writer to pen these words, as she admired Cory and Ninoy deeply. Perhaps with some regret, she traced the rise to power of Juan Ponce Enrile: “His experiences on the way up had toughened him to become a man of strong character, more than enough to become a leader of a nation in distress, if morally guided.”

On a plaintive note, she wrote “Justice for Ninoy…” hinting at what could have gone wrong. Five years after Ninoy was shot at the tarmac, “his wife who is now President of the Philippines…. Is not able to seek justice for her dead husband…. Yet it is very evident that she is so concerned with human rights violation such that she is letting loose the very people who are destabilizing her administration and masterminding insurgency in our country today.”

As an adjunct commentary from a follower who has witnessed the last thirty-five years since Choleng’s demise – and fifteen years after our beloved Cory’s passing – we can only view the irony that would have resurrected these two ladies with vigor had it been possible, as the same powerful forces they fought have crept its way back, meticulously planned from a playbook hatched post-EDSA.

Header image of Ninoy Aquino’s funeral march from Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City to Manila Memorial Park, Parañaque,. Around two million people joined the funeral. (credit: Philippine Star)