Jaime Cardinal Sin

I was on the way to work when I heard the news flash that Cardinal Sin has died. What ran through my brain then was that the weaves are unravelling and the torches are being passed.

The significant figures of the 80s who were involved in one way or another with the toppling of then-existing governments (communist-led or dictatorships) are leaving us one by one.

Organizations and countries are finding that the deaths have left holes or gaps in their structures, since these figures of history have also served as their anchors or compass.

I wonder who the next group of notables will be. Such figures, once they break into the world scene, usually dominate headlines for the succeeding decade or so. And more often than not, they are also connected to one another.