Three women and the funerals

Mr. Duterte has clearly neutered the brave men of the two chambers of Congress. The prime example is the Senate president, Aquilino Pimentel 3rd. Nene Pimentel, his father, fought Marcos at all fronts and at the most hostile of trenches. Ninoy Aquino once said that Nene Pimentel deserved to be president of the republic, post martial law. During the 1986 presidential campaign, Nene was the body man of the late Cory Aquino. A bullet for her would have to pass through Nene first.

When the EDSA Revolution broke out in February of 1986, we were resting at the hard floor of Sonny Osmena’s ancestral house in Cebu City. He was taking a break from guarding Cory Aquino while I covered Cory’s boycott plea (of Marcos’s cronies) to Cebuanos for the resurrected Manila Times. During those uncertain times, Nene bunked where he can. The struggle did not bring many comforts.