I am a senior citizen, which means I was a student when Ferdinand Marcos Sr. established his dictatorship in 1972. That dictatorship fell in 1986 via an uprising, but I continued fighting for societal changes and was first arrested in 1987.
I still had fire in my belly when politicians marginalized by Marcos' rule staged a comeback under President Corazon Aquino. I grew up idolizing some of them. In my first year of college, I met students from Mindanao eager to wage armed struggle against the dictatorship. In our naivete, we thought we could do that by procuring guns. We sought out people who could provide them.
When former senator Jose W. Diokno spoke in Cebu, our group sought an audience with him. Diokno advised us to seek out the social democrats or national democrats, and noted that the Free Legal Assistance Group could provide legal help if anyone got arrested.
I also idolized Aquilino Pimentel Jr. with his gravelly voice and was surprised when he claimed to read my columns in SunStar. I studied his speeches and realized that substance is everything. Pimentel was from Mindanao, while Cebu had the Osmeñas: Sonny, Emilio or Lito, and Serge. Of the three, I enjoyed listening to Sonny's speeches in English or Cebuano.
Cebu became the bastion of political opposition when martial law was loosened in 1978 due to international pressure. Marcos held an election for the Interim Batasang Pambansa, and the only opposition group allowed to win was Pusyon Bisaya from Central Visayas. I came to idolize Cebuano lawmakers like Hilario Davide Jr., Napoleon Rama, and Natalio Bacalso.
Nowadays, the center of gravity for politicians has shifted to Mindanao because Cebu has failed to produce the same level of political opposition as during and after martial law. In the House of Representatives, Cebu districts are represented by lower-caliber personalities. Consequently, Cebu hasn't produced a leader popular enough nationwide for non-Cebuanos to vote for in the Senate. That's why I call the years during and immediately after martial law the 'golden years' of Cebu politics.
I cannot tell if those golden years will return. But that was a time when the country's politics was severely tested. That brand of Cebu politics may only resurface if the country faces severe testing again.
