P'Noy

Only 15 meters separated me from the Philippine President today. Mere 3 hours separated me from witnessing a bus bombing in the heart of Manila.

The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the corporate-led development organization I work with since 2006, celebrated its 40th anniversary today. A gala dinner was organized at the Dusit Hotel on the corner of Ayala and Makati Avenue, just a few hundred meters away from the bombsite at Buendia Avenue.

At 2pm, while the preparation for PBSP’s Gala event was in full progress, an 81mm mortar shell blew up in a bus along Buendia Avenue, killing five people and injuring many more.

President, Benigno S. Aquino III, was a keynote speaker at PBSP's evening event. “P’Noy”, short for President Noy, worked for PBSP after the assassination of his Father “Ninoy” Aquino at the Manila airport while returning from exile. That was in August 1983.

The widow Corazon Aquino was elected president after Ninoy’s death. It would have been her 78th birthday today. She passed away late 2009 just a few months before the elections, which made her son president of the Philippines. The country mourned in yellow. Yellow became the symbol to show opposition to Ferdinand Marco’s dictatorship, which peaked with Ninoy’s assassination.

Little did I know about the bombing incident when I approached Makati at around 3pm. The traffic along EDSA Boulevard was as bad as always, maybe a bit worse. The rumor spilled via text message and street vendors that a bus blew up earlier somewhere up the street.

The president delivered his speech with a 2.5 hour delay. Nobody minded the wait and I guess everybody would have understood him canceling his attendance! Instead, he visited the bombsite before standing by his speaking commitment. He went to the hospital to speak to the survivors off the incident after delivering his speech about the social and economic progress he envisions and will support during his administration. The spirit of the Aquino’s lives on.

Picture: Janina Wohlgemuth