DISPELLING MYTHS: INSIDE DOY LAUREL'S DIARY
By C.D. Bonoan
AS ONE OF THE PRIME MOVERS of the February Revolution, Cardinal Sin had a proud boast. He claimed, many times over, that he - and he alone - was responsible for convincing Doy to yield in favor of Cory Aquino as presidential candidate of the opposition during the 1986 snap elections. Very few, of course, doubted his claim. But six years later, in 1992, Doy Laurel himself presented a different version of those events.
For the record, here is Doy Laurel’s telling account of the circumstances that impelled him to make that "supreme sacrifice," as recorded in his personal diary he had kept from June 12, 1985 to June 30, 1992, relevant portions of which he made public in Neither Trumpets Nor Drums.
"ONE-ON-ONE WITH CORY
"To avert a split, I met one-on-one with Cory six times from November 3 to December 7. I was already the official presidential candidate of the UNIDO at the time and I was already on the campaign trail. But I went out of my way to meet with her because I did not want to see the opposition divided.
"Our FIRST meeting was at her house on Times Street on Saturday, November 23 at 5:00 p.m. I told her she should not run. "Let me do the fighting, let me take the blows," I said. "You should remain our symbol - above and beyond the fray." But she did not answer. It was obvious that she was being coached by a hidden group of advisers.
"We met a SECOND time at her house. Again, she said nothing.
(Here Cardinal Sin mediates between Cory and Doy. Still, no decision.)
"Our THIRD meeting was held at the residence of Cardinal Sin at Villa San Miguel. In fairness to Cardinal Sin, he did not ask either of us to withdraw. All he said was "only one of you should run. If you will both run, the people will be sad. If only one of you will run, the people will be happy - because the opposition will win." I agreed with him.
"Our NEXT meeting was at my house. I told Cory that she should not run without a racehorse. The only racehorse of the opposition was the UNIDO because only the UNIDO had been accredited by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). She would not answer. Again, no decision.
"Our FIFTH meeting was held at the house of Vicente 'Teng' Puyat in Quezon City. Present were my brother, Sotero, Cory's daughter, Balsy, and our host Vicente "Teng" Puyat. Let me quote from my diary on December 4:
"Cory's Proposal
"Today, Cory confided to me that she is not really interested in the presidency. She said she just wants to be the instrument to remove Marcos. Since she does not know anything about running a government, she wants to entrust the running of the government to me. She offered me the Prime Ministership and promised to step down after two years. She offered me 30 percent of the Cabinet, the remaining 70 percent to be appointed only after prior consultation between us. All these were written on a piece of paper which she initialed, item by item, on the left margin of the document. I AM KEEPING THE DOCUMENT FOR POSTERITY.(Emphasis added)
THE HARDEST DECISION: "CAN I TRUST HER?"
The Laurel diary continues on that fateful day Doy had asked for more time to decide. This after Cory Aquino promised, among other things, that there would be power sharing once the Marcos dictatorship was overthrown. Early the next morning, on December 5, 1985, Doy left for his beach house in Matabungkay. He had to make the hardest decision in his life. Dripping with omens, he scrawled in his diary:
"I knew Ninoy well. His word was good. But I do not know Cory well enough. Can I trust her? Will her word be as good as Ninoy's? Or she is a mere extension of her family interests and her hidden advisers?"
At this point, Doy prayed for enlightenment. "I prayed as I have never prayed before. Foremost in my mind, irrespective of the the sincerity of Cory Aquino, was the termination of the dictatorship and the restoration of democracy. I asked myself: what would Papa do if he were in my place? How would he resolve this issue? I recalled Papa's own sacrifices. I remembered that he gave way to Ramon Magsaysay in 1953. It is now my turn to make the same sacrifice? But is Cory as trustworthy as Magsaysay? Can we gamble on her?" (Entry of December 5, 1985)
The following day, Doy went back to Manila and met with Cory, this time at his house. Doy, the undisputed leader of the active opposition and presidential standard bearer of the UNIDO - the largest and most organized party in the country at that time - told Cory that he had decided to give way to her. His only condition was that she had to run under the UNIDO banner.
Surprisingly, she refused. "Cory could not see the point. She would not run under UNIDO," Doy noted in his diary.
"I CAN SACRIFICE THE PRESIDENCY. BUT I CANNOT SACRIFICE MY PARTY AND MY PRINCIPLES."
The clock was ticking fast. Cory Aquino’s refusal to run under the banner of the UNIDO was a stinging setback for the united opposition, and Mr. Marcos was only too eager to accommodate two opposition presidential candidates for the snap elections. Divide et impera! It was against such a backdrop that pushed Doy Laurel to the edge. He had to make a decision by giving the UNIDO and those who believed in his crusade a fighting chance. By now, the feisty Batangueno was determined, more than ever, to bring the UNIDO into a head-on clash with the Marcos juggernaut, the KBL.
On December 8, 1985, he called a press conference to announce the filing of his certificate of candidacy as official UNIDO candidate for the Presidency. A storm of applause broke out from the UNIDO leaders and their supporters. Not surprisingly, for in truth they were expecting Doy to announce the “terms of surrender,” but instead he was making a “declaration of war.” It was indeed a time of great excitement, according to one eyewitness account.
In his statement, Doy Laurel said: “I can sacrifice myself. I can sacrifice the presidency. But I cannot sacrifice my party and my principles. I cannot sacrifice the people who have suffered so much and worked so hard all these years, risking life, liberty, even honor, to put up a political machine that is now capable of toppling the Marcos dictatorship.”
That afternoon Doy Laurel went on to file his certificate of candidacy with the COMELEC. “I was surprised at the spontaneous reaction at the COMELEC. I was practically mobbed,” he noted in his diary.
This turn of events somehow gave Cory Aquino a time for reflection, and she soon realized the gravity of this development. Faced with a big dilemma, Cory changed her mind. The next day, Cory sent her emissary to arrange another meeting with Doy.
LUPITA INTERVENES FOR CORY
It seemed the unity talks had reached a dead end. By this time, Doy Laurel had already filed his certificate of candidacy with the COMELEC as official UNIDO candidate for the presidency. Doy said he had offered to make the sacrifice by agreeing to give way to Mrs. Aquino in the presidential race. “All that I asked,” he added, referring to his counter-proposal, “was that we both run as the official candidates of the UNIDO.”
Laurel’s move had shaken the Aquino camp. Informed of the announcement, Mrs. Aquino panicked and quickly convened a meeting of the Laban leaders at her residence on Times St. in Quezon City. The next day, December 9, after close consultation with her cordon of advisers, Mrs. Aquino reversed herself. To stave off Laurel’s bid for the presidency, Cory sent her sister-in law Lupita Kashiwara to arrange another meeting with Doy. Mrs. Celia Laurel, in her magnificent book titled Doy Laurel, gives us a vivid intimate account of her brief encounter with Mrs. Aquino’s emissary:
“Lupita was speaking rapidly to Doy as I entered the study. Doy had always been warm towards Ninoy’s sisters so I didn’t think anything serious was being discussed. Before I could say anything Lupita said, ‘I’m asking Doy to give way to Cory to unite the opposition.’ The idea shocked me and I immediately replied ‘If Cory wants to unite the opposition she should support Doy who is the proclaimed standard bearer of the opposition. She is the one causing the rift!’ Doy signaled me to stop and motioned for me to leave them alone.”
Aware of the political pressures that were building up, Mrs. Aquino saw Doy at the Laurel compound in Mandaluyong on the same day. Without batting an eye lid, Mrs. Aquino said that she had changed her mind. She was now willing to run under the UNIDO. To her credit, she also reiterated her previous offer, namely that she would only be a ceremonial President and Doy would be Prime Minister to govern the country with his Cabinet. In response, Doy said that he would think it over and decide before deadline that night. This crucial development had virtually placed Doy Laurel in a most difficult position as the leaders of the UNIDO were now actively campaigning for a Laurel presidency. But the final twist was yet to come.
THE OPPOSITION UNITES: "IT'S CORY-DOY!"
Time indeed was running out. By eight o’clock that evening, Doy Laurel, the man who organized --- almost singly and using his barehand --- the only visible opposition during the depredations of Mr. Marcos, was about to make the sacrifice. “I considered myself expendable,” he would later say. “So when Cory refused to make the sacrifice, I had to do it.” This was Doy Laurel at his best – always the gentleman, a “muy caballero” even in game of warriors. Recounting this major event in the final formation of a “Unity Ticket” with Mrs. Aquino, Doy Laurel wrote in his diary --- entry of December 11, 1985:
"We agreed to meet again that night at the house of Maur Aquino-Lichauco in Quezon City where Dona Aurora was staying. I brought along Kuya Pito and Kuya Pepe. I wanted three of them to be present when I announce my decision. I told Cory that I was giving way to her. She was overwhelmed. When I extended my hand to congratulate her, she held it with two hands. She said: 'THANK YOU, DOY, I'LL NEVER FORGET THIS."
"Then she turned to my two brothers and said: 'ISULAT NA NINYO ANG ATING PINAGKASUNDUAN [You may now put our agreement in writing]. But Kuya Pito replied: 'HINDI NA KAILANGAN PANG ISULAT IYAN. LALONG MASAKIT LANG KAPAG IYA'Y HINDI NATUPAD [There is no need to write it down. It will hurt more if it is not fulfilled].' I told Cory that she had already initialled all the items we had agreed upon at the residence of Teng Puyat. 'I still have that piece of paper,' I said. "Palagay ko'y maliwanag na ang ating pinagkasunduan. Ang mahalaga'y ang nilalaman ng puso [I think our agreement is clear. What is important is what is in the heart].
'Let’s go,'I said. 'We have to beat the COMELEC deadline.'” (Emphasis ours)
As it happened, Cory and Doy rushed to the COMELEC and filed their certificates of candidacy - both under the banner of the UNIDO - at the eleventh hour.
In hindsight, the Cory-Doy ticket was a total victory for the opposition in ‘86, but sadly it ended on a somber note, especially for Salvador “Doy” Laurel. Asked many years later if he was sorry for making the sacrifice, given how things have turned out on both for himself and the country under Cory Aquino, Doy Laurel replied:
"I do not regret having made the sacrifice. What was probably wrong was that I gave way to somebody who did not bring about the changes which the people had expected. But if I did not give way to her and she ran, pareho kaming talo...So I don't believe it was a mistake that I give way to her. The act of sacrificing is never wrong; the mistake was in the choice of person one sacrificed for."
That was Salvador "Doy" Laurel, the selfless patriot who lived by a code of upholding the nation's interest at all times --- "Ang bayan higit sa lahat." And the rest is history.
C.D. Bonoan is presently the Curator of the Salvador H. Laurel Museum and Library.
Sources: Doy Laurel's (black leather-bound) diary, as preserved in the archives of the Salvador H. Laurel Museum and Library; Salvador H. Laurel, "The Vice Presidency: Mobilizing a Superfluous Excellency," The Post-EDSA Vice Presidency, Congress, And Judiciary. (UP Press, 1998), pp. 21 - 22; Celia Diaz Laurel, "Doy Laurel," published 2005; "Doy Laurel to Seek Presidency," Bulletin Today, December 9, 1985; "It's Cory-Doy," Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 12, 1985; Miguela Gonzalez-Yap, The Making of Cory. Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1987. Komisar, Lucy, Corazon Aquino: the story of a revolution. United States: George Braziller, Inc. 1987
