THE rump Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano this month compared his political challenges to the struggles of the martyred former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
Unable or unwilling to air his platitudes in the halls of the Senate, where he was at the short end of a leadership shake-up, Cayetano turned to his favored venue: Facebook Live, where he can say whatever he wants without fear of being contradicted on the spot.
In his Independence Day message, Cayetano highlighted Ninoy Aquino’s high-stakes struggle against authoritarian rule and corruption, emphasizing how he braved immense personal sacrifice and military imprisonment for democracy. Cayetano invoked Aquino’s spirit of resistance — raising the iconic “Laban” sign, with thumb and forefinger forming the letter “L” — to frame his own battles, ostensibly for Senate “independence.”
The pushback from groups affiliated with the late senator was fast and furious.
The August Twenty-One Movement, organized in response to Aquino’s assassination in 1983, said Cayetano’s comparison was “laughable,” “highly insulting” and “delusional,” and called on him to resign.
The Liberal Party said Cayetano’s dispute over internal Senate rules and leadership positions was a far cry from Aquino’s fight against systemic fascism, massive corruption and a complete lack of democratic accountability.
In a lame response to this criticism, Cayetano said “no family holds a monopoly on his [Ninoy Aquino’s] name, because no one holds a monopoly on heroism.” He also argued that he has every right to identify with the “struggle for truth.”
The rejoinder falls flat, given Cayetano’s long history of shameless political maneuvering and his defense of the fascist administration of Rodrigo Duterte, whose policies resulted in the death of thousands in his bloody war on drugs, and who used government agencies to shut down media critics.
This produces so much cognitive dissonance, he might have been better off holding the “L” to his forehead.
But all is not lost. With some well-placed and well-timed actions, Cayetano could still come across as a courageous defender of the truth. Here are a few practical suggestions:
1. Go to prison for seven years. When President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law on Sept. 21, 1972, Ninoy Aquino was the first person arrested. He was brought to Fort Bonifacio and later held in solitary confinement in Laur, Nueva Ecija. Some time for self-reflection may do Cayetano some good.
2. Go on hunger strike. To protest the injustice of being tried by a military tribunal rather than a civilian court, Aquino went on a punishing 40-day hunger strike, surviving on nothing but water and salt, dropping from 180 to 120 pounds. He ended it only when his family and church leaders begged him to stay alive. Similarly, Cayetano could be induced to stop his hunger strike — after his sister, also a senator, asks him “Kumusta ka na? (How are you doing?)” while dabbing at nonexistent tears.
3. Be sentenced to death by firing squad. The military tribunal eventually sentenced Aquino to death by firing squad on trumped-up charges of murder, subversion and illegal possession of firearms. The international outcry was so massive, Marcos had to suspend the execution. Of course, we cannot guarantee there will be a similar outcry for Cayetano.
4. Run for office from prison. From his prison cell, Aquino ran for a seat in the interim parliament under the newly formed Laban party. The night before the election, Manila residents staged a “noise barrage” — honking horns and banging pots to show their support — and give voice to the strong anti-Marcos sentiment. Maybe Cayetano can try this over Facebook Live. After all, he supported online voting for senators so that his fugitive colleague Sen. Ronald de la Rosa, wanted for crimes against humanity, could still join Senate sessions while on the run from the law.
5. Go into exile. In 1980, Aquino suffered severe chest pains in prison. Reluctant to let his chief rival die in a military camp, Marcos permitted Aquino to travel to the United States for a coronary bypass. He spent three years in Newton, Massachusetts, as a fellow at Harvard University and MIT, and traveled across the US giving lectures, rallying the Filipino diaspora and warning international leaders about the critical economic and social state of the Philippines. Cayetano would surely win some brownie points here with a three-year absence.
The last action may be a bit too drastic. In 1983, against the warnings of friends, family and even members of the Marcos administration who told him his life was in imminent danger, Aquino returned to the Philippines and was shot in the back of the head on the tarmac, right after being escorted by soldiers off China Airlines Flight 811 at the Manila International Airport.
Cayetano might want to give martyrdom a hard pass. On the bright side, he could win some more PR points by simply staying away.
