25 Jan 2011. 78 birthday of former President Corazon C. Aquino. A simple ceremony giving tribute to her was celebrated at Malacanang Palace. Following is my humble tribute written in August after her “Peoples’ Funeral.”
The outpouring of international adulation to our beloved former President Cory is seemingly endless to this day and hopefully beyond.
Almost everything about her has been said and written. People are extolling her values. Her virtues. Courage. Honesty. Humility. Integrity. Love. Morality. Motherhood. Simplicity. Sincerity. Warmth. And many more; yet above all, as the Mother and Saint of Democracy, as the World Icon of Democracy.
Contaminated with the current nationalistic fervor, this retired OFW and a septuagenarian by November, Lolo Ome here becomes prouder as a Filipino. The personal obligation to offer Cory a simple tribute becomes heavier in the passing of days since the 1st, this instant. But Lolo Ome has been at a lost.
Where do I begin? What should I say? Where, When, Why, and How should I start?
Voila! Pushing the memory button to the limit, Lolo Ome at least recalled from the recesses of his seasoned citizen’s mind an English poem gauging man’s virtue. “The Measure of Man,” the poem read from The Mason’s anniversary magazine in the late sixties at the office of the 1st Deputy Administrator of the defunct Philippine Veterans Administration.
Here is Lolo Ome’s Tagalog translation made four decades ago. This is my simple tribute to Tita Cory; this instant – being our country’s national language month.
ANG BATAYAN NG KAHALAGAHAN NG TAO
(The Measure of Man)
HINDI Paano siya namatay?
KUNDI Paano siya nabuhay?
HINDI Ano ang kaniyang tinubo?
KUNDI Ano ang kaniyang ibinigay?
ITO ANG BAHAGDAN SA PAGSUKAT
NG KAHALAGAHAN NG TAONG NILALANG
MAGING SINO PA MAN. . . . .
HINDI Ano ang kaniyang katatayuan
Sa ating lipunan?
KUNDI May puso ba siyang ginintuan?
AT Paano ginampanan
Ang kaniyang bahagi sa mundong ibabaw
Na Diyos ang nagbigay?
Siya ba ay may mabuting payo
Sa kapuwa nilalang
Nagbibigay sigla
Papawi sa lumbay?
HINDI Ano ang kaniyang Simbahan?
O Pananampalataya sa buhay
ay ano kaya naman?
KUNDI Siya ba ay nakipagkaibigan
Sa mga kapuspalad, higit na nangangailangan?
HINDI Gaano kahaba ang mga salaysay
Na isinasaad sa mga pahayagan?
KUNDI ILAN ANG NALUNGKOT?
ILAN ANG NALUMBAY?
NANG SIYA AY PUMANAW!
Nagpupugay, Tita Cory! Muli bilang pag-gunita sa ating buwan ng wika.
In your death, the nation mourns. Throngs upon throngs of mourners in your “Peoples’ Funeral” clearly show that the real lady Tita Cory has been truly the epitome of “The Measure of Man.”
Roman Romeo G. Nagpala, Brgy. Looc, City of Calamba in Laguna, 71; former government PRO, now a retired OFW with Bechtel International projects in the Middle East and the South Pacific.
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