Seen here are yellow flags with the face of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Cory’s husband, along Manila streets. Senator Ninoy was a staunch critic of President Marcos.
Mrs. Aquino died of cardio-respiratory arrest after 2 years of battle against colon cancer, just 20 days before the 26th anniversary of Ninoy’s assasination.
The death of Corazon Aquino on August 1 made us realise that she was the best president the Philippines ever had.
The stories that were told since Saturday last week reminded me that I must have not listened to my history teachers or, more so, I must have taken the former president’s legacy for granted. She was the mother who helped us claim that this country is a nation of free people. In her 6 years as president, she started the monumental ‘chore’ of bringing back, if not to create, democratic institutions that were destroyed for 20 years under Ferdinand Marcos.
I’m not sure if we Filipinos are as free as today if the then widowed housewife did not transform herself as leader, a credible and inspirational leader along with Cardinal Jaime Sin.
Her funeral on Wednesday displayed the mourning and soon longing of a nation for a president that lives in love, honesty and faith.