Sainthood Exposed

Excerpt from the Preface: Even though I truly mean no disrespect, it is risky to criticize a saint. Let it therefore be understood at the outset that I believe President Corazon Aquino to be a woman of piety, intelligence, courage and dignity, and a President whose demeanor, if not policies, has earned the Philippines deserved prestige in the world. I wish her well despite serious misgivings. I was never an admirer of Senator Aquino, whom I knew from 1963 to 1973. Though I conceded that he was brilliant, I found him a demagogue, a Filipino political in the traditional mode, and one dangerously cooperative with the Communists. Cory Aquino and many of Ninoy's close friends believe him to have undergone a spiritual transformation in prison, being converted to Jeffersonian democracy and Gandhian non-violence. Their ideas demand respect, but as the following pages will attest, I do not share them. At the deepest core of Ninoy's being, I believe, was an unquenchable passion to be crowned the Number One Filipino, a goal which evaded him in life. By his martyrdom, however, he succeeded in setting in train the events which destroyed his antagonist, President Marcos. I therefore honor Ninoy as a brave man, and I acknowledge the greatness he acquired by his immolation.