CORAZON Cojuangco Aquino, the Philippines’ 11th president, died Aug. 1, Saturday, at 3:18 a.m. She was 76 years old.
Her son, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, announced her death from cardiac arrest a year after being diagnosed with advanced colon cancer.
Aside from being the country’s and Asia’s first woman president, Mrs. Aquino made history by ending 14 years of dictatorial rule under Ferdinand Marcos when she won in the snap presidential elections of 1986.
In a life that was described by her former spokesman and speechwriter Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. as one laced by “glorious ironies,” Mrs. Aquino was the soft-spoken wife of political wunderkind Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. Her husband’s political allies remembered her as the housewife who served them coffee during political meetings at their home.
‘Democracy is for all’
But she was catapulted to national recognition in 1983 when Senator Aquino was assassinated upon his return to the Philippines following a three-year exile in the United States. His death signaled the beginning of the end for the ailing Ferdinand Marcos who had been ruling the country since the 1960s.
Mrs. Aquino became the united opposition’s candidate in the 1986 polls that challenged Marcos. The elections, which were deemed to have been marked by rampant fraud, ended in a popular uprising that saw the military turning its back on the dictator and throwing its support behind Aquino.
The revolt, which came to be known as “People Power,” saw hundreds of thousands of people pouring out into a strip of EDSA. Marcos fled the country with his family and stayed in Hawaii where he eventually died.
In a presidency that began with high hopes and exhilaration over the end of dictatorial rule, the Aquino administration was quickly subjected to intense criticism as well as several coup attempts from members of the military that had also tried to dislodge Marcos.
During her term, the new president was criticized for failing to implement genuine agrarian reform, with the family-owned Hacienda Luisita escaping land distribution. She also continued her predecessor’s policy of allocating 40 percent of the national budget for foreign debt payment.
Although she readily stepped down from power at the end of her term in 1992, she continued to play an active role in Philippine politics.
In her last State of the Nation Address, she vowed to go on serving her country in her capacity as private citizen “to my grave.”
In her last political battle, she had called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign following reports of corruption in various government transactions.
Throughout her political life, Mrs. Aquino was guided by her own simple notions of democracy. When asked why she was allowing the return of the Marcos family whose members would again run for office, she replied, “Democracy is for all.”
No state funeral
The Aquino family said there will be no state funeral for the former president.
This was announced this morning by her son Noynoy during a briefing with media in Makati. He said it was his mother’s wish not to have a state funeral because she was already a “private citizen.”
Mrs. Aquino also expressed the wish to be buried alongside her husband at the Manila Memorial Park.
The former president’s remains will lie in state at La Salle Greenhills, where the gymnasium served as the venue for the election count of the independent poll organization, National Movement for Free Elections, in 1986.
According to Deedee Siytangco, who served as assistant press secretary to Mrs. Aquino, there will be a two-day wake at La Salle starting at 5 p.m. today. Public viewing will be until 4 a.m. Sunday and will resume until Monday.
Necrological rites will be held on Tuesday at the Manila Cathedral. Burial will be on Wednesday after the 9 a.m. mass.
President Arroyo declared 10 days of national mourning for the former president. She called her predecessor “a national treasure” who governed the nation at a time of peril.
In a statement from Washington D.C. where she is on a working visit, Arroyo also said: “History was thrust upon her when her noble husband was cut down in the prime of his life as he fought for democracy and the rule of law. She picked up the standard from the fallen warrior, Ninoy, and helped lead our nation to a brighter day.”
‘True mother of democracy’
Former president Joseph Estrada, a political opponent turned ally, called Mrs. Aquino “the true mother of democracy” in the Philippines.
Estrada lost his political positions twice as a result of actions taken by the former president. The first time was when he was removed as mayor of the town of San Juan, Metro Manila, during the transition government.
“All of us mayors were removed,” Estrada said, adding however that it was something he became thankful for because it prompted him to run for senator. He went on to become vice president and then president.
“Dapat ako magpasalamat dahil kung hindi ako tinanggal (bilang mayor), di sana ako kumandidato bilang senador (I should be thankful because if I had not been removed as mayor, I wouldn’t have run for senator),” Estrada said, pointing out that he might have remained a mayor all his political life.
But Estrada was removed from his position for the second time, this time as president, when Aquino led the second people power revolt in 2001. Filipinos again poured out into Edsa after the Senate, which was dominated by allies of Estrada, refused to open during an investigation a second envelope allegedly containing evidence of corruption against the president.
The second uprising saw the rise of Arroyo, who was then vice president, to the presidency.
Years later, Aquino and Estrada became allies when they called on Arroyo to step down because of reports of corruption and election fraud.
Cory’s last days
Describing the last days of his mother, Noynoy said he and his siblings were advised by doctors to convey their messages to her before she was given the morphine treatment for her pain. Her family had announced in March 2008 that she was diagnosed with cancer of the colon.
Noynoy said when he left the Makati Medical Center where his mother was being confined at about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, he felt assured that her condition had improved. The day before, Mrs. Aquino’s blood pressure had fluctuated, igniting concern that her conditionwas deteriorating.
At about 3 a.m., however, the senator received a call asking him to immediately return to the hospital. In a few minutes, the former president passed away.