President "P-Noy" Aquino

The first time I ran into P-Noy was when I covered a political rally in Makati a few years ago.  By some serendipitous turn of events, I found myself behind the stage where all the big-time politikos were gathered.  I was the only photojournalist in that barricaded area.

While his mother Cory was on stage calling for GMA to resign, P-Noy seemed at ease off stage talking to common folks behind the barricade.  He was a senator at that time and quite a popular one at that, too.  Perhaps, his family name lends him a princely stature that Filipinos find endearing. And as I studied him a bit further, gut feel told me he had no aspiration to become President.  He was too good natured -- the Machiavellian trapos and their sychophants would trample him into submission. But my intuition eventually proved me wrong.  Behind that easy going facade is a formidable, intrepid spirit.

The second time I ran into him was one weeknight just before midnight.  While the taxi cab I was on was traversing the street towards home, right there on the corner was his sedan with the usual motorcycle escorts and another vehicle at the tail.  They were apparently heading back to Malacanang compound and stopped at the corner to wait for the green light.  I was both dazzled and impressed.  You see, at that particular time, there was hardly any traffic and the sidewalks were practically bare of pedestrians, yet they were adhering to traffic rules like ordinary citizens.  No whirring lights and no wang wang!  It was then I was convinced P-Noy is indisputably the genuine article.

Nowadays, P-Noy is enjoying a soaring 77 percent satisfaction rating according to the third quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations.  This is the highest he has received since 2010.  It is indeed an affirmation of people’s trust in him.

Moreover, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said, “The consistently strong numbers affirm the President’s mandate for change; they are tangible indicators of the people’s support for the difficult yet necessary reforms the President has championed since day one.”

A bit of trivia from Wikipedia:

In September 1972, P-Noy's father, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., who was then a senator and prominent opposition leader to President Ferdinand Marcos, was arrested for subversion. 

On August 25, 1973, he wrote a letter to P-Noy from Fort Bonifacio:

"The only advice I can give you: Live with honor and follow your conscience. There is no greater nation on earth than our Motherland. No greater people than our own. Serve them with all your heart, with all your might and with all your strength. Son, the ball is now in your hands."

Well, Mr. Ninoy Aquino, worry not, for your son is doing an exemplary job!

* * *

State of the Nation Address 

delivered by President P-Noy on July 23, 2012

at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives 

*

Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

Carlos Polistico Garcia

"We are called upon to decide on this momentous debate whether or not this land of ours will remain the cradle and grave, the womb and tomb of our race – the only place where we can build our homes, our temples, and our altars and where we erect the castles of our racial hopes, dreams and traditions and where we establish the warehouse of our happiness and prosperity, of our joys and sorrows."

Excerpt of President Garcia’s speech during a joint session 

of the Senate and the House of Representatives 

on September 18, 1946.

Carlos Polistico García was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist and guerrilla leader. He became the eighth President of the Philippines known for his "Filipino First" policy, which put the interests of the Filipino people above those of foreigners and of the ruling party.

Carlos P. Garcia was born on November 4, 1896 in Talibon, Bohol from a middle-class family that believed in giving children the best education it could afford. Garcia went through the Talibon Elementary School, Cebu High School, Siliman University for his preparatory law course, and Philippine Law School where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree.

In the law school, Garcia was holder of the Malcolm Scholarship Award for four consecutive years. He was among the topnotchers in the bar examination.

He taught law in Manila colleges, and then resigned to run for Congress in 1925. He was elected representative of the third district of Bohol and held it for six years; then elected provincial governor of Bohol for three successive terms.

He came to the notice of both President Quezon and Vice-President Osmeña, and was drafted as Nacionalista senatorial candidate in 1941. He won and he has been elected three times to the Senate until his election as Vice-President of the Philippines in 1953, leaving two years of his senatorial term unserved.

He served as President Ramon Magsaysay’s vice president. He became president of the Philippines from 1957 to 1961. He was among the founders of the Association for Southeast Asia (1963), the precursor of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

* * *

Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

*