Rest in Peace, Cory Aquino
I have never cared for Filipino politics. The modern day Filipino political scene is corrupt, petty … and resembles a Filipino Hollywood than it does an institution working for the people. Growing up as a young boy was different. When I came into this world, Marcos’ dictatorship had just ended. The Philippines had hope … and a face that it could proudly show to the world that after centuries of colonialism … that yes we are Filipino and yes we are free. Rest in peace Cory Aquino. Your country owes you a debt that can only be repaid by being good stewards of a gift you have given. I can only hope that the Filipino people step back and reflect on the kind of leadership the Filipino people need and deserve.
Below is a short excerpt of a 1996 TIME article that made Cory Aquino the 1986 Woman of the year.
Less than 24 hours after Marcos had had himself inaugurated, he was being helped off a plane in Hawaii, sickly, exiled and bewildered. His former home, Malacanang Palace, was now a melancholy tableau of abandoned power, overrun by thousands of revelers. The new leader of the Philippines was the reserved housewife who had worn plain yellow dresses every day of her campaign. For her determination and courage in leading a democratic revolution that captured the world’s imagination, Corazon Aquino is TIME’s Woman of the Year for 1986.
Whatever else happens in her rule, Aquino has already given her country a bright, and inviolate, memory. More important, she has also resuscitated its sense of identity and pride. In the Philippines those luxuries are especially precious. Almost alone among the countries of Asia, it has never been steadied by an ancient culture; its sense of itself, and its potential, was further worn away by nearly four centuries of Spanish and American colonialism. The absence of a spirit of national unity has also made democracy elusive. Even Jose Rizal, a political reformer shot by the Spanish and a national hero, called the Filipinos “a people without a soul.” Yet in February, for a few extraordinary moments, the people of the Philippines proved their bravery to the world, and to themselves.
Aquino’s revolution with a human face was no less a triumph for women the world over. The person known as the “Mother of the Nation” managed to lead a revolt and rule a republic without ever relinquishing her buoyant calm or her gift for making politics and humanity companionable. In a nation dominated for decades by a militant brand of macho politics, she conquered with tranquillity and grace.
