The queen of Da King shows how to govern
A TODAY editorial
Yesterday, the opposition found itself, certainly not at the head, but surely in the midst of an army or an electorate of some two to four million strong. And it was clear that the widow Susan Roces leads this army or can dispose of these votes as she showed, with icy composure and a near-perfect timing and control.... [I]n the end, the 'revolving conspiracy' that a tired old man at the Department of Justice had warned against did not materialize. And all because the one person who lost the most from FPJ's passing had made the right call at every turn and showed how to govern the ungovernable. read on
A touch of class
Conrado de Quiros for Inquirer News Services
I don't know if FPJ would have made a good president. I do know that he would have given this boorish nation some lessons in good manners and right conduct. I do know he would have given this jaded nation a reason to believe the exalted shall be humbled and the humble exalted. I do know he would have given our much-cheapened lives a touch of class. read on
FPJ: The last of his kind
Ben Lim for TODAY newspaper
FPJ's death shattered all optimistic fantasies of the masses about their dreams of a brighter and better future. There is no question about it, 'Da King' did not turn politician just to win the election. He started and ended his political career by putting a stop to political hypocrisy and pretense. read on
Religion, cinema and politics
Randy David for Inquirer News Services
Some observers have compared FPJ's funeral with that of Ninoy Aquino's in 1983. The crowds that attended the two events were comparable; FPJ and Ninoy were both heroic figures, but the similarity ends there. Ninoy's funeral was a political event that acquired religious meanings. FPJ's funeral, in contrast, was a religious moment that acquired political undertones. read on
FPJ wake should have been in Cebu
Rudy Romero for The Daily Tribune Online
The make-up of the crowd that I queued with last Saturday destroyed the stereotype about the kind of Filipinos who admire FPJ and supported his candidacy in the May 2004 elections. By no means were the men and women who shuffled with me along those Santa Mesa heights streets all representatives of the D and E income classes.... FPJ's critics, particularly in the business community, were dead wrong in thinking that Da King's candidacy found support only among the inadequately less educated people of this country. read on
Susan Roces: New nightmare of Macapagal-Arroyo
William J. Esposo for Inquirer News Services
To have [FPJ's] widow, a highly respectable woman like Susan Roces take up his fight certainly makes a double whammy of a nightmare. An Establishment whose very legitimacy is questioned and whose economic management leaves much to be desired should find the Susan Roces phenomenon a real problem to worry about. read on
Filipino
Conrado de Quiros for Inquirer News Services
The physical smells were certainly worlds apart. The crowd that filed past Ninoy smelled money and privilege, starch and cologne. The crowd that filed past FPJ smelled of earth and sandals, tenuous lives and fragile dreams. It was the rich and powerful with a sprinkling of the masa that turned out to grieve for Ninoy.... It was the poor and downtrodden with a sprinkling of the rich and powerful that turned out to grieve for FPJ.... read on
A failed system
Luis Teodoro for TODAY newspaper
As for the obvious differences between Ninoy Aquino's death and Poe's, the differences are only in the details. Poe was certainly not the victim of a political assassination as Aquino was. But he was no less the victim of a political system whose partisanship was as evident last May as it was during the martial law period. read on
The immortal FPJ
Randy David for the Philippine Daily Inquirer
WHEN a man as popular and as deeply-loved as Fernando Poe Jr. dies, we can be sure that many will try to claim him as one of their own. But FPJ always knew where he belonged-with the masa. Da King is not dead; he lives in their consciousness. read on
Back to Democracy Files
