Gloria and Cory: A Study in Contrast by Conrado de Quiros

"Corazon Conjuangco Aquino came to power by being the Asian Joan of Arc, the housewife who rose from obscurity and stormed the ramparts of tyranny. When those ramparts fell, others tried to seize the crown, chief of them, Juan Ponce Enrile, who figured that his change of heart at the 11th hour had given him a claim to it. The public did not buy it and gave the mantle to Cory.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power by hiding behind the skirts of Cory and Sin while the battle raged, and emerging when the smoke had cleared to claim the throne. It was the nation’s misfortune that Cory and Sin did not read the signs early on. Cory gave up her office when her time was up, like she said she would. She could have gotten around the constitutional ban on a second term on some pretext or other, but she did not. She believed in giving a good example; she believed that the democracy she helped restore rested on institutions and not on individuals, on the people and not on messiahs.

Her example was lost on her protégé. Gloria said she would not run again because if she did she would bring upon this country “never-ending divisiveness.” She lied about the first, but she told the truth about the second. Cory is held in the highest esteem abroad, having achieved world-class status by birthing the political phenomenon of People Power, which countries like Burma are desperately trying to imitate. When she adds her voice to the universal call for Aung San Suu Kyi to be released from house arrest and for the Burmese junta to hold free elections, the world applauds and Suu Kyi herself is eternally grateful.

Gloria has achieved world-class status by turning the Philippines into the most corrupt country in Asia and the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

Cory is loved by her people, and though she is no longer the political force she once was (the loss of Sin has diminished her), she continues to command respect where politics meets morality. She has stepped into that role without trying.

Gloria is loved by, well, her family and pets. As to the rest of the country, Pulse Asia’s latest survey sufficiently shows how Filipinos feel about her: three out of five of them distrust her, the other two probably being deaf and mute. Elsewhere in the world you get ratings like those, whether you are the legitimate leader or not, you slink away in shame and never show your face in public again.

Cory will not hide her plight from the nation, telling it she has colon cancer. Of course, she has also asked the nation to respect her privacy and not inquire too closely about her condition or the medical regimen she means to go through. She is a profile in courage.

Gloria will not tell the nation that it is being ravaged by a cancer of her making. Of course, she keeps asking the nation to give her more time to find the cure, when an instant one can be had by her disappearing from view. She is a profile in outrage."

– Conrado de Quiros, Inquirer

To read the full article, please click main title or here. To read opinion maker Conrado de Quiros' other essays, please click here to go to Philippine Inquirer's column "There's The Rub".