Ike Zaldivar, a gentleman and politician

Last Thursday, when I was writing my column about “Ninoy, Cory and Evelio” I called up Antique Governor Sally Perez to check on some dates about the role of the late Evelio Javier in the Cory Aquino for President Movement, she mentioned to me that she and her sisters were at the Makati Medical Center because her brother, Ike, was “not well”.

Ike was Enrique Zaldivar, also former governor and representative of Antique. He served as ambassador to Brunei during the Estrada administration.

Ike was one of the accomplished children of the late Supreme Court Justice Calixto Zaldivar, the executive secretary of President Diosdado Macapagal.

Last Saturday, when I arrived in Manila from Antique, I learned that Governor Ike had passed away and his remains were at the Philippine Independent Church Cathedral on Taft Avenue. He will be laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque on Wednesday after a 9 a.m. mass.

I will always remember Governor Ike for his kindness and gentlemanly manners. So different from most of the politicians I know.

When I and a number of Manila-based reporters descended in Antique to cover the assassination and burial of Evelio Javier, he was a source of calm and sobriety in a tense situation.

He not only took care of our security but also our personal needs. I remember him arranging for me to see a doctor for my swollen leg caused by an infection from a dog bite. (From San Jose, on the way to Caticlan, Aklan where we were going to meet Javier’s remains from Manila, I passed by our house in barrio Guisijan in the town of Laua-an. Our dog bit me. Since I had to join the media vehicle, my mother just gave me ginger root which I rubbed on the wound. Luckily, the dog was not rabid.)

He has also hosted my friends (including Yvonne Chua of VERA Files) when we took a vacation in their beach resort in Pandan. He even brought us to Boracay, when the island was still pristine and uncrowded.

A few years ago, I visited him in his home in United Parañaque and we compared notes on surviving cancer. He, from cancer of the lymph nodes, and me from ovarian cancer.

Together with Evelio Javier, Ike introduced a progressive kind of politics in Antique which was then controlled by Arturo Pacificador, a Marcos loyalist.

Related to my column last Friday, a blogger, Tongue-Twisted posted Ike’s tribute to Evelio, his predecessor:

Where there was sloth, he gave labor;

Where there was silence, he gave speech;

Where there was timidity, he gave courage.

And finally, where there was death, he gave his life.

***

A friend, Fr. Danny Tabuyan, sent me these reflections by Precious L. Javier, widow of Evelio Javier. Precious is based in Los Angeles, U.S.A:

“I first met Ninoy Aquino during the elections of 1971. Ninoy Aquino came to San Jose, Antique to proclaim my husband, Evelio B. Javier, the official candidate for governor of the Liberal Party. Much earlier in Manila, after Justice Calixto Zaldivar and his son, Congressman Enrique Zaldivar presented Evelio to Ninoy Aquino as the Antique candidate for governor, Ninoy Aquino asked the Zaldivars, “Mukhang batang bata pa itong kandidato ninyo. Kaya kaya nitong maging gobernador?”

“I was teaching in Manila, at the University of Santo Tomas at that time and had gone home to Antique to attend the proclamation rally. I went back to Manila the next day with Ninoy Aquino’s group in his chartered plane.

“When Evelio became governor, each time he was in Manila, he would always meet with Ninoy and Gerry Roxas in the Senate.

“In July of 1980, we left for the US. Evelio wanted to carry on his fight for the restoration of democracy in the Philippines to the US. He wanted to join the opposition already there, Ninoy and Raul Manglapus, in bringing to the attention of US policy makers the true state of democracy in the Philippines. There was strong US support for the Marcos regime thinking there was no viable alternative leadership in the Philippines, including the perception that anybody who opposed Marcos was a Communist and anti-US, and thus, it was in the best interest of the US to prop up Marcos ‘their man.’

“Evelio was able to qualify for admission and a full scholarship for a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at Harvard’s J.F. Kennedy School of Government. When we got there, Ninoy was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for International Affairs.

“Ninoy and Evelio often went to daily Mass at St. Paul’s Church at the Harvard campus. They would also get together when Philippine opposition leaders would visit Boston. We lived near the campus and once in a while Evelio would take me with him to Ninoy’s office at the Center for International Affairs.

“One night, I was so terrified by my dream. I saw Ninoy and Evelio shot one after the other as they went down the stairs of Harvard Memorial Hall. Harvard Memorial Hall was built to honor the memory of all Harvard students who fought in America’s wars.

“It was during this time when I first met Cory Aquino. I still remember the day, March 2, 1981. Sen. Aquino, Sen. Manglapus and my husband were speakers during the evening forum sponsored by the Institute of Politics on the state of democracy in the Philippines at the Harvard JFK School of Government. This was followed by a few more meetings.

“In February 1986, Cory and I met again at the Ateneo Chapel. My husband’s remains lay in state at his dearly loved Jesuit mentors’ place. We, two widows, got to talk and shared a little more about each other during the two days we were at the Ateneo for the Masses.

“Let me share a dream I had during those times. A few days after we buried Evelio, the night before the children and I were going back to the US, People Power started. When we arrived in Los Angeles, I turned on the TV to watch what was going on in the Philippines. I was very tired and I fell asleep for a few seconds on the couch as I was watching the coverage of People Power. I dreamed that I was watching People Power unfold on TV. I saw jubilant people on the streets. I saw Evelio in a barong tagalog among the crowd. He was jumping up and down and waving his hands flashing his well-known election peace or “V” sign. I woke up right away. I felt sad the dream ended too soon.

“I saw Cory again in March 1986 when my children and I went home for the Ateneo graduation ceremonies. The university had conferred on my husband posthumously the “Lux in Domino Award.” During the same trip home, my family visited Cory in Malacañang Palace.

“I also went to Berkeley and San Francisco, California to meet with her during her US visit at the early part of her term.”