Now that the Arroyo administration has threatened to put up a monument for the late President Cory, first things first must be the rule of thumb, otherwise the monument will be anything but.

Generally speaking, a monument is a memorial beyond the physical likeness of the person.

It is a material discourse on the qualities that make that person rise above the level of the multitude.

Such qualities must be thoroughly researched and analyzed by a body of true-blue experts who must have known that person on various levels. No single sculptor can lay claim to being able to faithfully do justice to the person. Inputs must come from various sources. These are processed for purposes of highlighting the dominant quality, or qualities in order to present the person in the best light.

This calls, therefore, for a careful selection of true-blue experts coming, principally, from the behavioral sciences, social sciences, and the visual arts. Not necessarily in this order. If the person is a statesman—who is a cut above that of a traditional, or worse a mere politician—then political scientists in the academe must be included among the true-blue experts.

The true-blue experts must do their thing individually, and then meet regularly for counter-checking, reevaluating and finalizing research finds from their respective ends before reaching the dominant and final qualities of the person.

Members of the person’s immediate family must be consulted from time to time for the human angle that they are in the best position to give.

Specifically, the following count among the thoughts on the proposed President Cory monument.

The true-blue experts must address the following distances: professional distance, social distance, personal distance. For instance, how did President Cory conduct herself before various audiences?

Did she maintain her professional distance in terms of an “X” number of meters? What were her thoughts as a president? How did she regard the presidency? How did she parry unkind words hurled at her as president and the numerous coup d’ etat capers that all failed in grabbing power? And how did she allocate power? What did she do in order for such power to be judiciously used and not abused, etc.?

How did her genteel background work in her persona? Were there unguarded moments when her social station manifested itself that alienated her from specific social-cultural groups? How did she carry herself as one born to affluence and influence? If she tried to identify herself with the masses, middle class, or upper class, how did she do it? Was it exterior manifested through attire, make over, etc.? If it was interior, how did she subconsciously manifest it?

How was she as a person? How was she to Ninoy? To her children, in-laws, and grandchildren? To their tenants? To the men and women of the cloth? To the privileged? Underprivileged?

After the qualities have been identified, which one should be highlighted?

Next step: Hold a nationwide competition. This gives the Arroyo administration a wide range of interpretations by sculptors from which a final monument is chosen.

Some basic questions: 1) Must the monument be lifesize, double lifesize, and in-the-round? 2) What action, if any, or at least body language, is portrayed? 3) What is the direction of the face, and why? 4) What gestures do the hands make, and why? 5) What is the relationship between the base and the figure in terms of materials and design? 6) Does the monument blend with its environment, within a 50-m radius? 7) Will the monument be fenced-in with metal chains?

Tita Cory is hailed as the icon of democracy in the Philippines, and an icon of democracy in the world. When the February Revolution erupted in 1986 that defied all models of revolutions in world history, Tita Cory was in the thick of the unprecedented phenomenon—People Power—carried out by the acronym PEARLS—People, Enrile, Aquino, Ramos, Laurel, Sin. How are these facts, and other qualities, factored in, if the true-blue experts so decide?

Sculptors who might want to submit their entries must remember that creative freedom, which they love to invoke, is not limitless. They should not abuse freedom in its name.

All entries in the form of tactile and 3-d studies must be accompanied by the sculptor’s own explanation.

Not that the true-blue, meaning knowledgeable, reliable and respected experts suddenly become speechless before each study, but that each sculptor might have his/her own insights that could be considered.

The proposed President Cory monument may be actualized any which way: Realistic, distorted, and abstract. An important mindset is that the monument must transcend transitory styles and bid for being timeless.

Pardon the following text for it is on a personal level. When the 384 pp Art Philippines (size: 13 x 10 ¾”) was launched at the CCP on Feb. 22, 1993, and after President Cory learned that I was one of the eight writers, she asked me to sit beside her, pointing to the vacant seat on her right side which was actually reserved for me. Oh, boy, by George, did she make me feel blessed and important! She talked to me in-between signing copies of the coffee-table book (which eventually won a National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle), and even thanked me for my “intellectual inputs,” as she put it.

As she made a French leave, she said, “Diyan ka muna, Paul.”

That occasion made me realize she was warm, sincere, and humble. She did not flaunt the fact that she was Pres. Corazon C. Aquino.