Executive
House, Manila
Salvador H. Laurel
was Cory Aquinon’s vice-president and running mate in 1986 snap elections.
Laurel wrote Aquino on August 13, 1988 to signify his intention to leave her
administration. The letter below is featured in the book of Cecelio T. Arillo “Creed
and Betrayal”. This also appeared in the opinion section of February 19, 2014
issue of the Manila Standard Today new
Republic of
the Philippines
Office of
the Vice-President
August 13,
1988
Dear President Aguino:
I write at a time of deep anguish
for our people. And so I shall not burden you with undue sentiment. I shall go straight to the point.
You and I were called by Providence
to serve at a turning point in our history. Our call to service was unique. We
had sought our people’s vote in an election, but they gave us something more
bloodless revolution that was to astound the world. At EDSA we forged a
covenant with God, country and people.
I have tried to live by the
covenant, Because of it. I have kept faith with your presidency. Even when it
was not possible to discern its purpose. Like many concerned Filipinos. I too
had my doubts. But the ardent hopes rekindled at EDSA made me decide to give
you my bast arm to help you lead our people to better times.
But it did not work out that way.
And so after temporizing for 18 months. I was compelled to resign as Secretary
of Foreign Affairs on September 8, 1987. At that point “Fundamental Differences”
had grown between us that went to the roots of political beliefs and moral
principles which determine our conduct and performance as “servants of the
people will and the people’s well being: Indeed, we seemed stand on opposite
side of the ideological conflict. But being the possible harm that our sudden
separation then could inflict upon the nation. I decided at my own expense, to
mute this differences and to hold my peace. I did not join the opposition.
Now I feel I must write this
letter to you and I do so with a heavy heart. For you and I have gone through
much hardship and danger together in our lonely fight to restore democracy in
our country- and there are feelings thoughts and memories that press for
utterance.
But the true state of the nation
must be told. And the painful truth is that the nation has gone from bad to
worse, while you choose to stand aside in the puerile hope that the problems
would simple solve themselves. The new moral order” to which we were solemnly
committed has been perverted. It has became a haven for assassins and a dean
of thieves. Corruption, betrayal of the public trust and other high crimes have
been laid at your door, including a complaint for impeachment, which your chief
ally in Congress has already consigned to the archives.
We promised our people morality
and decency in government. What do we have instead, the very possible, it is
now openly admitted by many, including your former solicitor-general and some
of your own close relatives in Congress, That the stench of “Accumulated
garbage”- I’m quoting your own first cousin, congressman Emigdio Tanjuatco, Jr.
– rises to high heaven: that the past years of Marcos are now beginning to look
no worse than your first two years in office. And the reported controversies and
scandals involving your closest
relatives have became the object of our people outrage.
We promised to “break the back”
of the insurgency. But what is the reord? From 16,500 NPA regular when Marcos
fell, the communists now claimed an armed strength of 25,200 of which 2,500 are
in Metro Manila, the churches and the media but your government, above all, and
now “affect” 20 percent of the country’s
42,000 barangays, according to official statistics.
In the fight against the
insurgency, the Nation particularly our Armed Forces, expected you to provide
the leadership, and to give decisive, clear and consistent orders. But you have
chosen instead to behave like an innocent bystander, as though the insurgency
were the sole concern of our soldiers, their widows and orphans. At the height
of our people’s euphoria in 1986, very few dared to question your unilateral
decision to release the communist detainees declare a ceasefire and hold peace
talks with the National Democratic Front. But it has since become clear that
these unilateral acts of your’s have provided the biggest boon to the communist
revolutionary movement. Yet, in your speech one of your most important
achievements, your feeling of the communist detainees, with special emphasis on
Jose Maria Sison, founder of the communist party of the Philippines.
In your recent State of the
Nation address you told your people that you have already broken the back of the
insurgency.
The truth that the peace and
order situation is much worse today than when you came into office. It is now
the number one problem of the nation.
From city to countryside, anarchy
has spread , There are anarchy within the government, anarchy within the
ruling coalesced parties, and anarchy in the streets. These require your
direct intervention. Yet you continue to ignore this problem.
On a number of occasions I have
proposed that you convene the National Security Council and the Council of
State to deliberate and,if possible, take a common stand on the many critical
issues confronting the nation. You repeatedly rejected all these proposals
claiming that they belong to your exclusive “prerogatives” as President. And therefore
you alone will decide them. You insist on holding in the hallow of your hand
all your options for national survival, yet you refuse to adopt needed policies
and programs that detail those options.
Despite my limited
access to you, which beI tried
to focus your attention on the need for a well-defined program of government.
Such a program was made available to you by UNIDO (United Nationalists
Democratic Organizations) from the very start, when it made you its
presidential candidate. But in total disregard of all political norms, you
completely ignored the party platform, refused to acknowledge your obligations
to the party that sponsored your bid for power, and tolerated all open or
underhanded assaults against it.
If I have held my peace until now in spite of your decision to
ignore me altogether and to listen instead only to the counsel of those whose
political, economic and social interests are more congruent with your own, it
is because my sense of responsibility for this new government goes much farther
back in time. It was I who, although already nominated for President by the
UNIDO National Convention in June 1985, offered you, not a million signatures
on a petition, but a solid, pre-existing political structure that would assure
you of victory and a chance to fulfil the hopes and dreams of our suffering
people.
While I accept my share of moral responsibility for having
helped place your administration in power, that responsibility must be
proportionate to the actual opportunity given me to participate in the
decision-making process. That opportunity was close to zero.
It pains me to have to write this letter to the beloved widow of
my childhood friend, Ninoy Aquino. But the truth must be told and I cannot
avoid addressing this letter to a lady who happens to be President of the
Philippines and who as such, cannot escape responsibility for the gross
misgovernment of our Republic.
Let me conclude with a trite but crucial reminder:
THE COUNTRY MUST COME FIRST AND NO SACRIFICE IS TOO GREAT FOR IT!
The responsibility to take the essential step to ease the nation's suffering is yours alone and I would not wish to usurp it. But if, in your conscience, you feel you must now make the supreme sacrifice by stepping down from the presidency and call for an immediate election to enable our people to choose another leader for these critical times, I want you to know that I am ready to make that same sacrifice with you.
Should you, however, choose to remain in office and continue to misgovern the nation, I will have no choice but to forthwith disassociate myself completely from your government. I will be able to serve our country better by speaking out freely for the national interest and always for the sake of truth, justice, freedom, and democracy.
Sincerely yours,
Salvador H. Laurel
For a brief period following the EDSA Revolution in late February 1986, Laurel became the only person in Philippine history to hold the posts of Vice-President, Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister concurrently. He was a major leader of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization, the political party that helped to bring about the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
Laurel was the fifth son of Jose P. Laurel, the President of the Japanese sponsored Second Philippine Republic. He was born to a family whose illustrious lineage spans generations of nationalists who distinguished themselves as public servants. His grandfather, Judge Sotero Remoquillo Laurel, was both a delegate to the Malolos Congress in 1899 and Secretary of the Interior in the first Philippine revolutionary government under President Emilio Aguinaldo.
He died from lymphoma on January 27, 2004, in Atherton, California.
Source:
1. Greed and Betrayal by Cecilio T. Arillo via Corrent Philippines Movement (https://goo.gl/MxHKeP)
2. Doy Laurel's letter to Cory Aquino, Manila Standard Today, February 19, 2014 (http://goo.gl/EtilAr)
