TWO children of former president Ferdinand Marcos paid their respects to his successor and once bitter enemy, Corazon Aquino, as she lay in state at the Manila Cathedral this afternoon.
Marcos’ eldest daughter, Imee, and only son, Ferdinand Jr. (Bongbong), arrived at 3 p.m. as Aquino’s family and friends, as well as her former cabinet officials, started arriving for the necrological service scheduled at 4 p.m.
The Marcos siblings were greeted by Aquino’s eldest daughter, Ballsy, and her brother-in-law Agapito “Butz” Aquino. The Marcoses then took their places in the pews alongside the Aquino grandchildren.
It was Aquino who challenged Marcos to the presidency when he called for snap elections in 1986. As the widow of former Sen. Beningo “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Marcos’ political rival who was assassinated as he was returning home from the United States in 1983, Aquino took up her husband’s cause and led the movement to overthrow Marcos in the 1986 EDSA revolution.
The Marcoses were among the many visitors who visited Aquino’s wake at the Manila Cathedral, where she was transferred from the La Salle Greenhills gymnasium yesterday.
Former cabinet officials as well as members of the diplomatic corps also went to pay their last respects, among them U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney.
Kenney said Americans knew Cory Aquino as the “woman in a yellow dress” who fought for democracy in the Philippines.
