By MARK JOSEPH UBALDE
TV5. Interaksyon
FOR leading a bloodless revolt that toppled an aging 20-year-old regime, Corazon Aquino was named by TIME Magazine as one of the 16 most rebellious women in history.
The self-professed “plain housewife” who later became the 11th President of the Philippines was given the distinction by the magazine in time for the Centennial of the International Women’s Day celebration on Tuesday.
Aquino joined the ranks of Myanmar democracy fighter Aung San Suu Kyi, US political activist Angela Davis, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, and Mao Ze Dong’s wife Jiang Qing among others.
Last November, TIME Magazine named Aquino as one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century.”
The magazine noted Aquino’s significant role in bringing democracy back in the Philippines after the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos ruled the country for two decades. After Marcos fled the country in 1986, Aquino became the first woman president of the country. Aquino was the wife of former senator Benigno Aquino Jr., who was assasinated in 1983 purportedly under Marcos’ orders.
After finishing her term in 1992, Aquino remained active and continued as an important voice in Philippine politics. She succumbed to colon cancer in August 2009.
“Despite coup attempts and corruption charges, she took significant strides toward democracy, including ratifying a constitution that limits the power of the presidency,” read the Time Magazine article. “Long after stepping down in 1992, Aquino continued to advocate against policies she felt threatened the country’s democratic ideals. Though she died in 2009, Aquino remains a symbol of the power of peaceful popular movements.”
Aquino has been a cover of Time Magazine several times. In 1986, she was Time Magazine’s cover and was named Woman of the Year–the first female leader to receive such distinction after Queen Elizabeth in 1952. In 2006, Time again put Aquino on the cover in its tribute to 60 Asian heroes.
Here is the complete list of Time Magazine‘s “16 of History’s Most Rebellious Women” :
Tawakul Karman, Yemen
Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma
Corazon Aquino, the Philippines
Phoolan Devi, India
Angela Davis, the U.S.
Golda Meir, Israel
Vilma Lucila Espín, Cuba
Janet Jagan, Guyana
Jiang Qing, China
Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russia
Susan B. Anthony, the U.S.
Emmeline Pankhurst, Britain
Harriet Tubman, the U.S.
Mary Wollstonecraft, Britain
Joan of Arc, France