419er

By Al S. Mendoza

I HAVE A CONFESSION to make. Erap and I were born on the same day: April 19. Ah, we are 419ers.

Alas, our commonality ends there.

He is a celebrity and I am not.

He is rich and I am not.

He won a Famas best actor award and I have not.

He has many women and I only have one – Sol, the sunshine of my life.

And, yes, he was a former president of this republic and I am not.  N’yet, anyways.  I say that because in this world, nobody knows for certain what the future holds for us.

Erap, like Tita Cory, had   never thought he’d become president.  Even FVR. Maybe only Marcos and GMA thought they’d become president.

Erap had merely wanted to be a movie actor, which he achieved with much success.

Yet, he became president of the Philippines – without really trying.  His movie stardom carried him to the Palace.

Tita Cory had merely wanted to be a good wife to Ninoy Aquino, which she achieved with much success.  Yet, she became president of the Philippines instead of Ninoy.  Her being the grieving widow of Ninoy carried her to the Palace.

FVR had merely wanted to become AFP Chief of   Staff, which he achieved with much success.  Yet, he became president of the Philippines without really trying.  His being an Edsa hero carried him to the Palace.

All three were basically children of destiny.

Contrast them to Marcos and GMA and you’ll discover a bizarre difference: Marcos and GMA were children of ambition.

With ambition, you are driven to achieve a goal at all costs.  Machiavellian.  The means justify the end.

While ambition usually blinds, dream does not.

You don’t fulfill your dream, you take it in stride.

You fail in your ambition, you go berserk.  So, with Marcos and GMA as idols, you can’t afford to lose.

You’ll do anything, everything, to realize an ambition.

For the ambitious, he buys votes to win the election.  He cannot allow himself to lose the election.  That’s a no-no.

For the dreamer, he crafts impassioned speeches in trying to win the election.  He can accept defeat when it comes.

The ambitious does not try to win the election.  He wills to win it, period.

The ambitious will steal votes to ensure victory.  The dreamer will only dream of votes that are as fickle as the weather.

Ninoy had his impossible dream that in the end became an unreachable star: the presidency.

Marcos had his indestructible ambition that in the end devoured him: dictatorship.

The honest, upright and honorable will always finish last, will most likely fail.

 The dishonest, evil and power-hungry will always finish first, will most likely succeed.

In the end, though, whom will history treat kindly, and with a smile?

He’s none other than the person who had fought honestly and yet, he lost.  Ninoy and FPJ are prime examples.

Ninoy fought a great, honest and dignified battle against Marcos and yet, he lost.

FPJ fought GMA according to the rules and yet, he lost.

Like Ninoy, FPJ died without “seeing the dawn.” But death made heroes out of Ninoy and FPJ.  Not Marcos. And, if she doesn’t watch it, not GMA, too.

I was asked once: Is there a future?

I returned the question.

“There is no future,” came the quick reply.  “The future is only in your mind.”

When Erap and I shook hands after the Mass on April 19 at St. Peter’s Parish located at Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, I guess we never thought what the future held for us.  He is 69 and is a prisoner. I am almost as young as Ding Micua and am free as a bird.

In a not so distant era, when Erap wasn’t big time yet, he and I had raised glasses many a time. His favorite poison then was Old Parr.

There was that spontaneous thrill when he clasped my hand on Wednesday, saying, “Happy birthday, Al.”

When was the last time I shook the hand of a fellow 419er, I couldn’t remember anymore?

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