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The credit grabbers and rewriters of history
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2010-07-13
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It’s bad enough that most Filipinos do not know the historical truth. It’s worse when a current event like the recent Noynoy Aquino ascendancy is already being rewritten. By no means is this a rare occurrence. I’ve seen it happen after EDSA I and EDSA II.
I organized and led the Cory Media Bureau for the 1986 Snap Presidential Election campaign and so I know each member of the team. On February 26, 1986, the day after dictator Ferdinand Marcos was flown by the US to Hawaii, I got the shock of my life when I walked into the Cory Media Bureau. There was a phalanx of female receptionists that met me at the entrance to our office, asking me who I am and what my business in going there is.
“What?!” I exclaimed. “Just who the hell are you?!”
They replied that they were receptionists of the Cory Media Bureau. It was then when I lowered the boom. I said: “No, you’re not with the Cory Media Bureau. I’m the head of the Cory Media Bureau and if you all do not evaporate in three seconds — you’ll all land in jail.” They were nowhere in the JC Cojuangco & Sons Building premises in less than three seconds.
As I was also the then Chairman of COPA (Council on Philippine Affairs) which launched the Chavit Singson Juetengate Expose, I knew who were the players that contributed to the making of EDSA II. When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) took her oath as the new president on January 21, 2001 at the EDSA Shrine, easily 90% of those on the stage had nothing to do with the making of EDSA II. In fact, easily 50% of those who were on that stage were still with the ousted president, Joseph Estrada, two days earlier.
A book about EDSA II was rushed by a columnist and it’s not surprising that many portions of that book would qualify as fiction. These were the versions of the pretenders to the making of EDSA II. Surprisingly, many of the real makers of EDSA II were never interviewed and the narrations of the few who were interviewed were not published.
The same situation is happening again. Some of those who almost brought down the Noynoy Aquino presidential campaign are now resurfacing to write their version of “How the Presidential Election of 2010 was won.” They were among the dead weights who were then running the campaign when Senator Manny Villar eroded Senator Noynoy Aquino’s over 20% lead to just a 2% margin between them. Now, they’re attempting to marginalize the heavyweights that replaced them and saved the day.
Of course, it is to be expected that they will write fiction about their so-called contributions to the making of the 2010 Philippine President. If it is not fiction — it is a gross exaggeration or distortion of the facts. We must just hope that President Noynoy Aquino recognizes these efforts as manifestations of intellectual dishonesty and will not make the mistake of entrusting an important government position to any of them.
I am not exposing this attempt to peddle fiction in order to claim any credit. I feel secure knowing what I’ve contributed to engineer this leadership change in our country. I feel secure knowing that it was my August 9, 2009 column that started this Aquino Phenomenon, as it is now called. Consistent with my advocacy to promote the historical truth, I feel compelled to expose the machinations of these credit grabbers.
That the Filipino cannot move forward is because the Filipino does not know the historical truth and the evolution of those oppressive dynamics that bought our country to the sorry state we’re in. We’re like medical patients who are suffering from complications of diabetes but could not address and manage these complications simply because we’re unaware that we’re diabetics.
Over the last three months, we witnessed the pathetic attempt of the GMA regime to influence the expected judgment of history on her nine years of residence in Malacañang Palace. Spending all those millions in useless TV ads which Filipinos are not inclined to believe anyway would have been better spent funding GMA Gawad Kalinga Villages.
In these presidential victories, those who really won many of the important political battles remain unrecognized. This happens because of the professional credit grabbers who cleverly hover around the presidential candidate — grabbing the credit for what the real warriors have won in the political battlefield. Limited by what the presidential candidate can see, the deserving are neither recognized nor rewarded and the credit grabber — a thief by nature — gets to enjoy the spoils.
Many of those who engineered the victory are not even keen on getting a government post. To them, a simple recognition, acknowledgment or appreciation would have been more than enough gratification. However, it is altogether another matter to see a credit grabber steal the laurel or the reward that is due them.
Filipinos should keep a close watch on these credit grabbers if they manage to get an important posting. Today, they’ll steal the credit from the real engineers of the poll victory. Tomorrow, they’ll likely be looting the national treasury.
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