Hi everyone,

A year ago, no one expected us to be where we are today. We expected a different fight with different candidates and different issues. The death of Tita Cory has changed all that. It’s turned into a wake-up call for all of us. We’ve lost a hero, yes, but we didn’t want to lose what she stood for: a Philippines with leaders who place country above self, who respect the rights of all; a Philippines where justice is not just an empty word.

Tita Cory’s death has forced us to confront how badly our country has been governed by the present administration of GMA, how far we’ve strayed from our dreams as a nation. I’m sure that you’ve seen our people’s helpless anger expressed in survey after survey. It’s as if the nation wants to cry out at the top of its tired lungs, “tama na, sobra na!”

It’s true that we’ve been forced to bury our old plans and to make sacrifices (and believe me, that was not easy!) But what do you do when you sense that the times, that the country demands it? So we did something new in Philippine politics. In just a few months, we were able to create a new campaign, a new tandem not based on electoral arithmetic like the others.

No expert would have advised this a year ago. Yet here we are: not by careful design, but because the people put us there. Now that May 10 nears, we once again place our trust in the people… in YOU, as you mark your ballot for the future of this country. Rest assured that when the time comes that an Aquino-Roxas administration is given the chance to serve, that trust will be returned a hundred-fold. We will work for one thing only: to make the years from 2010 to 2016 a time of change, a time of hope… a much desired time for renewal.

Ever thankful for your support,
M.

“The inquiries into Senator Mar Roxas’ loyalties border on the absurd. He has long been part of the true opposition, and is no less than the President of the Party that is the most vocal critic of the corrupt Arroyo regime.

“Mar is the last person whose agenda and alliances should be subject to scrutiny. He served when he was asked to serve, and his intentions and actions have always been for the people, above all else. Ang taumbayan ang tanging boss ni Mar Roxas, at hindi niya kailanman pinalagpas ang pagkakataon na makapaglingkod.

“Ito ang dahilan kung bakit isinantabi ni Mar ang kaniyang planong tumakbo bilang pangulo at nagbigay-daan sa pagtakbo ni Sen. Noynoy Aquino. Nakita ni Mar ang pagpapatuloy ng laban nina Ninoy at President Cory ay higit na maipapagpatuloy ni Noynoy. Dahil dito, mismong si Mar ang nagsilbing daan sa pagpapatuloy ng laban para sa tunay na pagbabago. Iyan ang palatandaan ng isang tunay na lumalaban para sa bayan.

“This is in stark contrast with so-called oppositionists who have served only their own selfish interests, or who have secretly formed alliances with the administration in order to prolong the status quo of horse-trading and transactional politics. Kung oposisyon ka lamang sa bukambibig at hindi sa gawa, para ka nang gobyerno ni Gloria; nililinlang mo ang taumbayan.

“There is no doubt that Sen. Mar Roxas, along with Senator Noynoy and the LP, shall continue the legacy of democracy and genuine reform.”

Maraming salamat. Sa sobrang init na dinaramdam ninyo, ayan, umapoy na bigla ang ating confetti. Palakapan ninyo ngayon ang sarili ninyo!

Mga kababayan, nandito tayo ngayon—di malayo sa kung saan milyung-milyun ng ating mga kababayan ay nagtipon para manindigan laban sa pang-aapi; para harapang hamunin ang diktaturya: “gawin na ninyo ang gagawin ninyo, pero hindi kami aatras sa inyo!”

“Give us back our freedom! Give us back our dignity as free men, and leave us to make the best we can of our country!”

Nandito tayo ngayon, naka dilaw: kulay ng tapang at pag-asa. Kulay ni Tita Cory. Palakpakan ninyo ang EDSA!

Nandito tayo ngayon, handang tapusin ang minsang sinimulan ng EDSA.

Malaya na tayo ngayon. Ngayon, gagawin natin ang tunay na dapat gawin para ang mamamayang Pilipino ang siyang manaig dito sa ating sariling bansa. Ito ay para sa inyo at sa ating lahat: mahirap at may-kaya, bata at matanda, ang OFW at ang na-iwan niyang pamilya rito.

This is our country and we will get it back.

Every generation has its EDSA, just as every pasyon and Calvary has its Easter Redemption. In our grandparents’ time, our countrymen, in the millions, gathered in smaller groups to fight the Japanese invader. It took lots of courage. They faced much bigger risks. But their spirit and their sacrifice laid the groundwork for our country’s liberation.

In our parents’ time, our countrymen tried to build a progressive nation, raising it up from the wreckage of war to the heights of progress. The Philippines—our beloved country—was better off than all our neighbours combined.

Muntik na silang magtagumpay. Ngunit parang kandilang hinipan at namatay, ang mga pangarap nila’y nag-laho nung nagka Martial Law.  Naging baril at dahas ang sukatan ng tama at mali.

Both our parents and we, our generation, jointly had its own EDSA.

Oh, it was something out of legend. With a cast of millions, our country played out a drama never seen in history – a battle between good and evil; giving and taking; between guns, goons and gold on the one hand, and plain guts on the other.

Hindi na kailangang ilista ang mga nangyari. Nakaukit na ito sa alaala ng ating lahi.

Hindi na kailangang idetalye ang kabayanihan ng mga nagtipon upang humarang sa tangke at harapin ang pang-aapi. No need to recall the countless, selfless deeds, big and small, of so many unknown, ordinary people who together achieved the extraordinary!

Together, we declared and we made happen the words first uttered by Moses to Pharoah, and Cory to Marcos: LET MY PEOPLE GO!!!

Ngayon, nandito tayo sa EDSA natin at ng ating mga anak. Ngayon, nandito tayo, upang sabihin sa mga desperadong maluklok sa puwesto; sa mga nagpupumilit na manahin ang trono para sa sarili nilang interes: Tama na! Sobra na! Hindi kami papayak! Lalaban kami!

Huwag laging kayo na lang: pagbigyan niyo naman ang tao.

Hindi natin ipinaglalaban na tayo naman. Ang ipinaglalaban natin: ang TAO naman. Let every Filipino taste the Filipino dream: Harinawa’y matikman ng bawat isa sa atin ang inaasam na pangarap ng bawat Pilipino.

Eto ang eksena sa aking isipan: sa loob ng isang bahay na gawa sa materiales Fuertes, si tatay, kakauwi lang galing sa trabaho. Si kuya at si ate, naka-uniporme, galing sa eskwela. Si lola/ masiglang nilalaro si baby. Buong pamilya, magkasama, masayang magkasalo sa mesang sagana sa pagkain, at sa tahanang puno ng pag-asa.

Basic to this is a government that is really of the people, by the people; and NOT for the cronies of the people in power. To them, we say: “give our country a chance, to be all that it can be, all that it was, and all it deserves to be – prosperous, proud and truly free.

Some people think they have the right to take power and run this country to the ground. Well, there is no such right. The only right is the right of the Filipino-people to a better life.

May mga gustong ituloy ang kanilang ligaya, ang ligayang naggagapos sa atin sa kahirapan. Ang sigaw natin : Hindi kami papayag! LALABAN KAMI!!!

Ito ang ating pagkakataon. Ito ang pagkakataon ng ating henerasyon.

Hindi ito magiging madali. Hindi ito i-aabot sa atin. Kailangan nating ipaglaban ito. Ngayon ang simula ng ating EDSA. Ang EDSA ng ating henerasyon.

Iilang tulog na lang, maitatama na natin ang mali. Ma-i-tuituwid na natin ang baluktot, Mailalagay na natin sa ayos ang ating landas. It is time. It is our time. Our time to make a difference. It is our time to show what we are made of, to SHOW what being a Filipino is all about.

It is our time to prove: WE ARE WORTH DYING FOR.

May 10 is more than an election. It is our Revolution. Ito ang Rebolusyun natin: para sa totoong kalayaan, sa totoong katarungan, sa totoong kaunlaran.

It is our People Power Revolution for everything that our great country can be. Ito ang ating People Power para sa kadakilaan na karapat-dapat-lang para sa ating lahi.

Mga minamahal na kababayan, lalaban po tayo! Maraming salamat, magandang hapon, mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino.

Hi everyone,

In 1985, the thought of being involved in politics was far from my mind. But after just one year, I found myself campaigning for a person that would eventually take the first steps to heal this broken country. I speak, of course, of our beloved Tita Cory Aquino. It’s her birthday today and this is my own little way of paying her tribute.

She turned out to be our Joan of Arc – an unlikely heroic figure that represents hope, dreams, deliverance from oppression, and yearning for decency in a corruption-infested government. Because of her, I took a leave of absence from my job in New York to immerse myself in a “bara bara” campaign in Iloilo and Panay Island. When I say bara bara, I mean that it was a people’s campaign. There was no money involved here. It was about the people wanting to become Cory-supporters in every sitio, barangay and town. Back then, the issue wasn’t about debt-servicing, GDP, or local industries… It was about trust. In a government that lied, cheated, and killed, here was Cory Aquino, housewife of a martyr, who said: “Enough is enough. We deserve better. And we will take our country back.”

During those days, one couldn’t help but be inspired. But even before she became Cory the President or Cory the Hero, I had the privilege of knowing her just as Tita Cory. And as many will tell you today, she wasn’t just this larger-than-life symbol on a poster. She was the kind of person who’d lead by example, who was sincere, who was credible, and who stood her ground despite the odds, imbued with a strong but humble faith. She told me once that, “people may or may not like you [for standing your ground], but they will respect you and trust you.” I’ll always remember those words.

Tita Cory was able to change the country because people respected and trusted her. She might not have been able to achieve all of her goals: partly because she stoutly refused to use her powers to the hilt, believing it was more important to give an example of restraint and propriety; and partly because healing a broken country is a work of decades, not of a few years. And it is a task for all of us… that’s why, after her term, she continued to work patiently but with a clear vision to safeguard our democracy, our values that hold society together.

She has passed on and left us this task. Today, we remember what a gift we had in her. It is a bittersweet memory for me who was privileged to know her not only as a political leader, but as a close family friend, a wise and warmhearted woman, whose death has left a painful hole in our lives. In honoring her memory, all of us are called to work for the things she held dear, to do the right thing by our conscience, our fellow human beings, and our country.

Thank you Tita Cory.

M.

For many months, we have believed that we will serve our country best by helping elect Mar as president of our Republic. We still hold that belief because we did not embrace it without ample evidence of Mar’s great capacity to lead our people. We know that Mar has the heart, mind and disposition to become the president our country never had thus far.

We still believe Mar is our country’s best chance for a great president, but maybe not in 2010.

I had wished that Mar decided differently. However, I am beginning to realize, through the pain and disappointment, that in fact Mar’s decision is simply consistent with what we know of and admire in him. First, he took the pro-active responsibility of directly grappling with the issue of another potential presidential candidate within the Liberal Party. Second, he decided to act, not as the LP candidate for president, but as president of the LP. Third, he decided to give way at the cost of his own candidacy to someone he is convinced is the best candidate at this time of our nation’s life. This is the kind of self-less and visionary leadership we have always believed were the stuff that made us all Mar-tians. No good deed is ever wasted and Mar had done a good deed for our nation.

Tita Cory had a gift. She was able to move many to act according to their best lights, to rise above their habits and limitations, and to embrace the higher calling of serving the country, particularly at moments of national crises. This gift gave us the snap elections in 1986 and the people power revolution that it spawned. Amazingly, Tita Cory’s death last August 1 became another showering of this gift to move people to rise above indifference, cynicism and confusion and once more embrace engagement, hope and clarity. Tita Cory’s passing awakened the dream of servant leadership within Noynoy. And Tita Cory’s passing made Mar an even bigger person than he is by giving up his own dream of a Mar presidency for a much greater dream of restoring the virtues of Tita Cory’s good governance to our country ravaged by GMA’s 9 years of abuse and corruption. Tita Cory’s gift keeps on giving as hundreds, thousands and eventually millions of our fellow Filipinos, including ourselves the believers and followers of Mar, rise and restore the blessings of good government to a country that hungers and thirsts for it.

We can now begin to see the big picture that Mar saw last week. Noynoy has the potential to galvanize the many different circles that Mar’s campaign had been laboring to lead. Noynoy can reach the broad, true and committed anti-GMA opposition, defined by their principled resistance to GMA’s bad governance rather than their partisan disaffection with being shut out from patronage of that bad government. Noynoy has also the potential to move many dedicated reform communities that have not yet recognized how crucial 2010 will be to their important causes and advocacies. And most important of all, Noynoy can galvanize the large segments of our country that long for the virtues of Tita Cory in our government, the enduring virtues of integrity, sacrifice, simplicity, and sincere dedication to faithful public service. These are virtues that Mar upheld, but in this time and place, given Tita Cory’s recent passing, these virtues may be more easily recognized and affirmed by our people in a Noynoy presidency.

We are all deeply disappointed that this belief in the goodness of a Mar presidency, which we have held for many months, we will now have to hold on for many more years before its eventual realization. But we are also heartened by the recognition that our trust in Mar was not misplaced, and we derive much satisfaction in sharing with Mar this sacrifice of setting aside our common dream for the sake of a larger dream for the nation we all love and seek to serve.

For many months I had this dream of 6 years of Mar’s presidency leading a resurgent Philippines. I am not giving up that dream but I am trading up to 12 years of a resurgent Philippines, first under another Aquino presidency, and then under another Roxas presidency. The best dreams always take much longer to realize.