Cory's Era of Unity

While waiting for my class to end and Nath's class to start, we started talking about Cory's passing. Cory was a former student of St. Scholastica's College, so it was easy to feel the sadness around the campus. Yellow ribbons were strewn everywhere, and there was an early morning mass said for her soul.

One thing that struck me about what Nath said was this: parts of our era - Cory included - are slowly ending.

We were children of the 80s. Eventhough we were too young to understand what People Power was or the impact of Ninoy's assasination, we were there when it happened. So this entire experience, along with Cory, was part of our life and our lifeblood. It was something we shared with a whole generation, and I feel so blessed and fortunate to be part of something as life-changing as this.

Not surprisingly, our conversation steered towards the songs of that era. And this one, "Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo", really captured the sentiments of that time. After People Power, people were even more proud to be Filipinos. I remember that in one of the Academy Award shows, Jane Fonda even greeted the Filipinos by holding up the Laban sign and sent out a message to "the People Power of the Philippines."



While watching this video again, all I can think of was: "Gosh! We were part of that." Our old house in Morato was near Channels 2 and 7, so when the entire People Power revolution was happening, we were right in the middle of it. My siblings and I would stand around Mario's to see what was happening during the day, and at night, we'd sleep in the sala because Lolo was afraid that we'd be hit by stray bullets should an encounter ensue.

Mom - being the gracious hostess that she usually is - would even prepare sandwiches and give them to the people who were there, participating in this revolution. Somehow, that image is seared in my mind - Mom carrying a silver tray full of sandwiches wrapped in white sandwich bags, and we'd help her distribute it. Aside from the return of democracy and the banishing of a dictator, that was what People Power - and Cory - meant to me: Unity.

She was the glue that bonded people together, and for a moment, people forgot their differences, social classes, political leanings, and just worked together for one common goal. And as Cory passes away, that's my only wish and prayer for her. That the Filipino people - as a whole and as a country - remember and continue to fight for what Cory stood for.

Unity.