Para sa mga Boss.

“I had a simple goal in life: to be true to my parents and our country as an honorable son, a caring brother, and a good citizen. My father offered his life so our democracy could live. My mother devoted her life to nurturing that democracy.” — President Noynoy Aquino

He was a man of paradoxes. He was a scion of one of the nation’s wealthiest landowning political families, yet he had an image of an incorruptible politician. He was heir to political royalty, yet he embodied a genuine diffidence to fanfare and flamboyance. He was a man of few words, yet his declarations carried prodigious substance. He largely received Jesuit education, yet he was secular in his approach. He was a reluctant leader, yet when he led, he gave it his all.

President BENIGNO SIMEON COJUANGCO AQUINO III may have meant a lot of things to a lot of people, but perhaps the one unimpeachable truth that his friends and foes — from whichever side of the political spectrum they belong to — can readily attest was his undeniable love for his country.

On one rare occasion where I had the incredible opportunity to engage in a tête-à-tête with him, albeit briefly, was during the formal awarding ceremonies of The “TOFIL The Outstanding Filipinos Awards” at Malacañang Palace in January of 2012, where I, as the awards national chairman of JCI Senate Philippines that year, was seated beside him. At that indiscreet instance — in my attempt to break the ice — I asked him how he was liking his job. “Frankly? I don’t,” he quickly retorted. That candid statement caught me off-guard. And before I could utter another word, he added, “You know, I never liked the trappings of the presidency. How would you feel when you’re always scrutinized under a fishbowl 24/7; when how quickly people criticize you without walking a mile in your shoes; or when your privacy is taken away from you? But, you know what? I would never be able to forgive myself if I will have to live with the knowledge that I could have done something and did not do anything.”

And while he proceeded to change the topic by sharing his technique in holding a wine glass properly and how to consume copious amounts of liquor without intoxicating himself during his countless obligatory social functions (“Eat lots of chicharon!”), those words about his lingering anxiety of history passing him by resonated deep within my collective subconscious.

Perhaps it was this anxiety that led him to do the things that he did: He made good governance and fighting corruption the centerpiece of his presidency. His “Daang Matuwid” was no mere political rhetoric: he implemented a full disclosure policy that set up a website that contained how local government units spent their funds. He went after ranking personalities linked to various anomalies. He pursued tax evaders, narrowed the budget deficit from a record level, and enabled the Philippines to clinch its first investment grade score from a major credit rating company. Moreover, he enacted a Reproductive Rights Law (RH Law) that made contraception readily available to the poor. He expanded a program that provided cash dole-outs to the poorest of the poor. He effectively sued Beijing over the two countries’ competing claims in the South China Sea. He institutionalized the K-12 program which radicalized education reform. And signed a 2014 peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front milf that eased decades of sporadic fighting in the country’s south. Among many others.

And despite his administration’s myriad of perceived missteps — The SAF-44 incident. The bungled Hong Kong tourist-hostage rescue. The MRT mess. The Dengvaxia debacle. The “tanim-bala” fiasco. The sluggish reaction to Typhoon Yolanda — it was undeniable that he served the country with honest leadership, decency and civility.

As a young “senior” at 61, his tragic passing obliterated what could have been a promising post-presidential career that might have seen better days for the nation he led. Years from now, his legacy will continue to spark a chronic, yearning noise, which could only be silenced by a more blaring clamor of a new generation of young leaders who are willing to take the same enormous risks and triumph again — all in the name of their “Bosses,” the Filipino people.

Salamat, Mahal na Pangulo. You did well. #ThankYouPNoy #SalamatPNoy