During the last year of Cory Aquino’s presidency, people close to her floated the possibility of extending her term. They argued that since she came to power as a “revolutionary president,” she was, therefore, eligible to run for another six-year term.

Whenever the idea was mentioned in her presence, however, Cory would simply look out of the window to the right of her desk, ignoring the suggestion.

As her last executive secretary, I witnessed this scene several times, and it is this memory that comes to mind today as I contemplate the difference between that presidency and the present one.

In her six years in office, Cory faced many more challenges than any of the country’s leaders. As Ninoy once said, “I pity the next President after Marcos.”

On Cory’s reluctant shoulders fell the task of rebuilding a democracy in shambles—drafting a new Constitution, conducting free elections, installing an independent judiciary, restoring a free press, and pursuing peace with rebels and secessionists.

Most significant task

To Cory, however, the last and perhaps most significant task was to ensure the peaceful and orderly transfer of power to the next administration. This was the best way to safeguard our hard-won democracy, which five years later, was still quite fragile.

Cory left no room for misinterpretation. She knew that after more than two decades under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the last thing we needed was another leader desperately clinging to power.

So, during her last State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 1991, she announced the formation of a transition team that would make sure the turnover of power would be as smooth as possible.

This is in stark contrast to this week’s SONA, which left the country’s two major newspapers in disagreement as to whether stepping down is at all in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s plans.

Transition team focus

In 1991, Cory directed me to lead the transition team, and she promptly signed an executive order to ensure funding for the project. It had been 26 years since Diosdado Macapagal turned over the reins of government to Marcos, so we had no established procedures to follow.

I decided, along with Secretary Chito Sobrepeña, who was then head of the Presidential Management Staff, to send Undersecretary Jose Tale to Washington to study the turnover processes of the United States.

The result was the first-ever comprehensive program for presidential transition in the Philippines.

We identified three areas to concentrate on. First was the continued management of ongoing political and economic issues in the first half of 1992, which was supposed to ensure that the next administration would not be saddled with potentially explosive issues at the beginning of its term.

Second was the provision of technical and administrative assistance to the next administration. Third was the documentation of the accomplishments and legacies of the Aquino administration.

Organizational, special reports

Each department and agency prepared Organizational Transition Reports for their successors containing achievements, work yet to be done, and problems that may arise.

There were also Special Transition Reports that tackled national security, economic issues and other critical matters like government corporations, agrarian reform, and reorganization.

But today? It looks like most Cabinet officials are too busy campaigning under the guise of advertising their agency’s achievements.

Red and blue books

Another interesting output of the transition team was a “red book” and a “blue book.” The red book was a list of all political appointments that can be made by the incoming President.

The blue book, on the other hand, was a database of all career executive service officers whose positions were supposed to be permanent. This was meant to ensure continuity and stability of government operations.

Today, civil service officers face a situation wherein unqualified people are appointed to permanent positions, while qualified career officers are appointed in acting capacities to positions that should have been permanent.

This is ironic, considering that a strong government bureaucracy is a primary requirement for a parliamentary system of government.

Series of books

For the third track, the transition team prepared a series of books on the Aquino administration. These included the President’s Report, along with individual reports as well as videos on key areas like policy, decentralization, antipoverty and other aspects of governance.

These were distributed to schools, libraries, embassies and media agencies. Leafing through them again, I realize that much of what Cory did as President went unheralded, given how allergic she was to the idea of doing things for show or for PR purposes.

There are photos of her with children, with the sick, and with victims of disasters, which never made it to the front pages of newspapers.

For today’s approval rating-hungry incumbent, this would have been unthinkable.

With grace, leadership

Cory was drawn into power against her wishes, but she accepted her role and her responsibility with humility, strength, and simplicity. And when it was time to make her exit, she did so not just with grace but also with leadership.

I can only hope that those who come after her follow her example.

(Editor’s Note: Franklin Drilon served as labor, justice and executive secretary during the Aquino administration. He was elected to the Senate in 1995 and 2001, and served as Senate President from April to November 2000 and from 2001 to 2006. He is a member of the Former Senior Government Officials, a group that has been highly critical of the Arroyo administration.)