Tito Guingona’s fight for Filipinos

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, July 4, 2008

Everyone cherishes stories from their grandfathers. That’s why they’ll relish a story of the Philippines of the past eight decades as told by grand old statesman Tito Guingona. And he narrates the way grandpas do: in colorful detail all the hilarity and drama and blood and gore, but careful language of the venerable.

Fight for the Filipino is actually an autobiography. Guingona recounts his formative years; stints in the Constitutional Convention, political prison and government; and present role as national critic. But at each stage in life he situates himself with the country’s times. Birth on the 4th of July 1928 for early taste of American rule, on the run as a teenager in Mindanao jungles during the War, Ateneo studies during Liberation, social reformism as a young lawyer, struggle against martial law and for democratic restoration, and serving in the Cabinet, Senate and Vice Presidency. The ebbs and tides of the nation shaped him, as he endeavored to influence its destiny. Guingona writes of giving back to the Filipino what the country bestowed him.

The famous and notorious marked Guingona’s story and RP history. He played in grade school in San Juan with future political pals and foes, like fellow-senator Bobby Tañada and Joseph Estrada, whom he would help depose as President. High school initiated him to social issues with chums Terry Barcelon who became a Jesuit civic worker, Totoy Dans the transport minister, and Ting Roxas the banker-economist. Campus-theater took up much of college life, with Ateneo thespians Vic Silayan, Totoy Avellana and Vic Diaz, under the direction of dramatist Fr. James Reuter and classicist Fr. Henry Irwin. Law school professor Raul Manglapus pulled him into politics as campaigner for Ramon Magsaysay. From there he observed and met more movers and shakers: Jose P. Laurel, Carlos P. Garcia, Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Tañada, Jose W. Diokno, Joker Arroyo, Emmanuel Pelaez, Fernando Lopez, Gerardo Roxas. He learnt of high crime by Harry Stonehill, prosecuted drug lord Alfredo Tiongco and child rapist Romeo Jalosjos, and tussled with police-military generals, some still in the service today. He joined the campaign of and served under Diosdado Macapagal, fought Ferdinand Marcos who then imprisoned him, marched for freedom with and later joined the Cabinet of Cory Aquino, left the Senate to become Fidel Ramos’s executive secretary, bared Estrada’s jueteng connection, and teamed up with but later broke from Gloria Arroyo.

Sharp at 80 — the book launches today, his birthday — Guingona remembers intriguing and instructive twists of his and RP’s advance. At one point, show biz pals nearly convinced him to join the movies; he muses if it would have aided him later in politics as celebrity does now for many. President Manuel Quezon, fleeing from Bataan to Australia, had dropped by Lanao to give Guingona’s father, then-Mindanao Commissioner, final instructions and entrust two chests, one full of playing cards, the other with four million pesos. As Chamber of Commerce head in the ’60s, Guingona defied the Cold War and led a trade delegation to Moscow, where he encountered tall, handsome Russian Colonel Lansang, son of Huk leader Teodosio Lansang whom the American Liberation forces had hounded to exile. When President Arroyo unceremoniously sacked Vice President Guingona as foreign secretary, a man broached to him a plan to assassinate her, but was dismissed as vile. Guingona in the ’50s was a friend and fan of Fernando Poe Sr., whose son FPJ tapped him as presidential campaign strategist in 2004.

A third of the book dwells on 2001 to present — the Arroyo regime. He saw in it at first a chance to cure the dysfunctions of Philippine society, but later realized it was a worsening of traditional politics. Devotion to national interest and readiness to serve fellowmen characterized the pre-War years. Survival to the point of collaboration with Japanese invaders made Filipinos wary even of their neighbors. Post-War politics divided instead of healed and rebuilt the land. Greed began to taint the highest levels of power. The government that succeeded the one Guingona helped oust for corruption turned out to be blacker. He recounts Arroyo’s spineless foreign policy, bribery in the Impsa and ZTE deals, sellouts of Sabah and Spratlys, and killings of dissenters. He also shares behind-the-scenes vignettes of anti-graft and anti-abuse fights he led, like the Commission for Truth and his role in the “Pen Siege”. Chief Justice Reynato Puno opens the book with a foreword that Guingona uses titles — Sen., Sec., Amb., E.S., V.P. — not as ends but as means to win his life’s battle. Guingona closes it with a rededication to fight for his oppressed countrymen.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com