By Rey Ramirez

As someone who has known Mike over three decades, I feel the urge to speak up for him at every opportunity, if only to parry the unwarranted blows he has taken over the past few years. It’s been a bitter turnaround of public perception for Mike. I still recall the time when he was greeted with cheers in his public appearances as an opposition congressman; at that time, people were rooting for him for sticking out his neck on popular issues of the day. The media extolled him as a politician of principle, and rightfully so, because for anyone who has really gotten to know him, Mike is without question someone who would stand up for what is right.

But while principled men comprise a mere few, principled men with great hearts are even fewer. Mike is part of this latter category. And while I admire this about Mike, his genuine desire to help out has regretfully become an easy target for those against the current government, to the detriment of his reputation. It is worth noting that in most of the accusations leveled against him, Mike’s sincere concern to offer a helping hand had been unfairly portrayed as an underhanded ploy to cover for the current administration.

In a bid to help Udong Mahusay in 2003, he was accused of trying to silence a witness of Senator Ping Lacson on corruption charges against Arroyo. Not a lot of people know that Udong’s brother Jojo has long worked as a driver for Mike; and it was in fact Jojo who requested Mike to intercede. Mike readily obliged after Udong relayed to Jojo that he feared for his life.

And again in 2008, meeting Jun Lozada under the watch of the La Salle brothers, Mike out of earnest concern for a former colleague who admitted having no cash at hand, gave P50,000. The gesture was hastily dismissed as an attempt at bribery. But if one stops and rationally thinks about it, a mere P50,000 cannot seriously be considered a bribe.

I understand that most people have become skeptical about any display of kindness these days. We live in a time when an act of kindness or generosity is met with suspicion, as if everyone has a hidden agenda of taking back the favor when the right time comes. And although cynics are sure to sneer at this—I can vouch for this: Mike had always been one to extend a helping hand.

When he was still a Quezon City councilor, people from his district would come to his house seeking help. I recall that his mom, Tita Florence, would always get frustrated upon looking for her grocery purchases and finding them gone, only to realize later that Mike had given them away to those in need of food. He was still single then and I know that his wife Julie, during their first years of marriage, also had to put up with these surprises.

One instance that truly defined the kind of person he is for me happened back when we were in Grade Six. One afternoon, we were studying in the library when one of the heavyset boys in class suddenly kicked our table--a classic case of a bully’s cry for help. Of course, I didn’t know that back then and I knew better than not to pick a fight with someone larger than I was. After all, what would our parents, who were very active in the PTA, do when they learn that we were sent to the office to their disgrace?

Mike stood up to this bully; even then, he knew he had to fight for what was right at the risk of our parent’s scolding (which was the worst thing imaginable for us at that time). I heard the bully say, “suntukan na lang,” to which Mike’s immediate reply was “oo ba.” I think it ended there—mere posturing. No face off ever occurred.

Later that school year, the same bully would accidentally knock off a flask in our science class. As per school policy, the student who breaks school property should pay for the damaged item. I guess Mike was precociously socially aware and knew that some of us were not as well off as others. I was surprised when he suggested that we pay for the broken flask. “Tulungan natin. Hati tayo.” I hesitated, of course, still recalling the incident in the library. But I guess his kindness got the better of me. We paid for the broken flask, 50/50, with our allowance. And the three of us became friends since then.

Mike and the bully would meet again as adults. Upon knowing that he was looking for a job, Mike hired this estranged classmate as his aide without hesitation. That’s the kind of person Mike is, and no matter what people have been saying about him, I’m proud to call him my friend.