The ‘Yellow Friday Movement’ in Davao was a historic contributory factor that bound anti-government sectors in the 1980s in the resolve to bring down the martial law regime. A figure prominently linked to the campaign was Soledad ‘Soling’ Duterte, wife of a former Davao governor, a Cabinet secretary under the first Marcos leadership, and mother of a future president.
Soledad’s involvement in street parliamentary is a well-recognized influence. She joined protests and was hailed as a catalyst for change. She was also offered to contest the mayorship under Zafiro L. Respicio, the city’s officer-in-charge, but declined, citing age as reason. She instead recommended her son, Rodrigo, whom the Nacionalista bloc eventually endorsed.
But her crusade for good governance did not end with Corazon Aquino’s ascendancy to the presidency in 1986. She remained vigilant and continued her advocacy for economic progress. But when things took a sharp turn against all expectations, she stood up to launch the Pulso ng Bayan,’ a byproduct of another martial-law campaign and called on the resignation of Aquino.
On December 28, 1990, in a bid to let the steam off and make known her sentiment against the Aquino oversights, Soledad issued a statement strongly urging the President to abdicate her position and pass it on to her successor, vice-president Salvador H. Laurel. She made this very clear in a press statement she issued that day:
‘The country is facing the worst economic crisis that has fallen on us, Filipinos. Never in history did we ever have the series of calamities from disastrous typhoons to destructive earthquakes which flattened many of the buildings in Luzon. The highest price of fuel we ever have which never happened even during the 20 years of Pres. Marcos has finally brought us down to economic ruin.
‘While we do not blame you President Aquino for these happenings but it is now a fact that we need a leader who can maneuver to the right direction to save the country from economic collapse. We are therefore appealing to you as a kind President to step down and let Vice President Laurel carry the work of nation building. He has been in public service for quite a long time. We shall experience a new hope to a new leader until the election of 1992.’
The call for the resignation was the wick that launched the ‘Cory Resign Movement’ in Davao. It commenced a year after the first Aquino administration was beset by coup attempts led by Col. Gregorio Honasan II, the same guy who, before his win as a senator, fled to Davao after a nationwide manhunt was launched against him for leading the anti-government putsches.
The call for Aquino’s resignation actually predates Soledad’s campaign by two years. On August 13, 1988, Laurel, in a four-page letter to the President, accused Aquino of corruption and competence, and asked her to step down, saying:
‘The time has come to tell our people with humility and candor that the presidency itself is the problem – because the task requires a higher level of competence – in the face of the advancing communist insurgency, the breakdown of law and order, the resurgence of widespread corruption, the [paralysis] of political will and the growing desperation of our people.
‘We need a leadership that does not only preach boldly, but sternly and courageously enforces public order and public morality … without regard to the toll levied upon one’s popularity. That leadership you have promised, but have failed to deliver to our people.’
A month earlier, Laurel, a boyhood pal of Aquino’s late husband, quit as foreign secretary and declined to serve in any Cabinet post. Pundits, though, trace his displeasure to the abolition of the prime minister post, which he assumed in 1986 after being appointed to the position.
