Ninoy's 92nd birth anniversary

Senator Ninoy Aquino was born on Nov. 27, 1932, and yesterday was his 92nd birth anniversary.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

As I look at the current crop of politicians, it is disheartening to note that the overwhelming majority is composed of entertainers who have no idea of governance, members of family dynasties whose only credentials are their family names and people who are primarily in politics to protest vested interests. But when I am about to give up hope, I remember that there was a Filipino political leader who singlehandedly aroused the conscience of the Filipino people through his courage and martyrdom.

How can a single individual fight tyranny and inspire people to restore democracy to their nation? How can a single man restore pride to a nation and leave the legacy that the Filipino is worth dying for? There are very few stories in the Philippine saga as inspiring as that of Ninoy Aquino.

Today, one question often asked is what makes for successful government in a democracy.

There are many voices with different views that have tried to present coherent answers to this issue.

There are visionaries who believe the Philippines must first create a genuinely new social order before there can be a truly successful democracy. This requires removing the monopoly of power from the elite by granting the middle and lower classes equal access to economic and political power.

However, this process of transformation can be attained only after generations of education and reform. The shortcut has always been the axiom that every immediate change in the social order is inaugurated by a phase of revolutionary violence.