Cory Aquino's Last Day in La Salle Green Hills

I got some volunteers and brought them to the wake of President Aquino in LSGH the other day. It was a very nice experience, although I must admit very tiring also. I am not complaining. We draw strength from President Aquino herself, who didn't grew tired defending the Philippines from all angles, from people who want to destroy its institutions from left to right. We draw strength from hundreds and thousands of people who tirelessly fall in line for hours just to see the body of the former President.

Trying to offer whatever it is you can to someone who you only dream to have met when she was alive is all worth it, I can say. All the sufferings she took can't match anything I know of. This little act of sacrificing my time and skills is a way of saying thank you. On behalf of the Filipino youth of my generation, thank you for restoring democracy; thank you for being a moral voice amidst all these politics and mess in government; thank you for who you are and what you have done for the Philippines.

At the end of the day, you think about yourself, and how will you end up in the future. As much as you imagine to have something like this, you continue to understand that no one could be at par with a great Filipino personality such as that of Cory Aquino.

The stub above are the color-coded stubs to be given to people so that they may control and create order for the Necrological mass before she's finally laid to rest.


Photo by Tin Sanchez
Today, they transfered President Aquino from LSGH Gym to the Manila Cathedral. What they expected to be a 45 minute drive became more than 4 hours for them because of the sea of people that flooded the route of the convoy. In many aspects, the crowd was likened with the Funeral march of Ninoy Aquino, which happened more than 20 years ago.

The Hero and the Heroine

Photo grabbed from Lorenz

Arroyo's Interview with Maria Bartiromo of CNBC New York

We all heard about the "historical" trip of PGMA, as the first South-East Asian leader to meet US President Obama. That meeting, I shall leave out of this post. Instead, a day after that meeting, we all know also that an international icon of democracy, President Corazon C. Aquino, passed away.

While this was all happening, people can't help but ask what steps would Arroyo take in all of these? Through a video, she sent her condolences, and issued 10 days of mourning. Later on she declared Aug 5 as a special non-working holiday for Aquino's burial. But in spite of that, people are asking "So, what's keeping her from taking the next plane trip back to the Philippines?"

They say that a Presidential adviser who's close to the Aquino family is advising the President to honor all her commitments instead of taking the next flight back. Is it because of the fear of an unpopular president being gobbled by a very popular Filipino citizen? You decide.

Apparently, she took that advise, but made a spin in the media that she's coming home immediately, this Aug 5, and is scheduled to attemd the last day of President Aquino's burial at the Manila Cathedral. Now, the question is that how will the Aquino's and the people receive GMA? Will she even push through? We'll see.

In that period when Aquino died to now, she did this interview with CNBC about the Philippines, and issues in and around our country; so without further ado, here it is (you judge).

P.S. BPO and Tourism aren't really sustainable means to drive our economy, so why, Mrs. President, are you so proud and boast them internationally. Isip-isip ko, baka pinagtatawanan tayo ng buong mundo, sadly. :( IMHO, we should shift to national industrialization.

In Praise of Cory Aquino by Anwar Ibrahim

IN PRAISE OF CORY AQUINO

"Cory Aquino’s life proved that one woman’s heroic response to adversity can transform a tribulation into a national triumph"

By Anwar Ibrahim
August 1, 2009
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In assessing every notable figure of history, a vexing question arises: to what extent did greatness inhere in the person, and to what degree was it a product of the situation?

If great persons have their starts, as Gandhi said he did, it is often because a national or world crisis favors greatness.

Corazon Aquino’s rise to historical fame was much like John Kennedy’s ascension to soldierly bravery. “They sank my boat,” said Kennedy responding to the question of how he became a wartime hero.

“They killed my husband,” one imagines Cory Aquino would have said had she been asked how a homemaker became the first female President of the Republic of the Philippines.

If her husband Benigno Aquino personified Filipino courage in the face of oppression, as Jamie Cardinal Sin famously eulogized Ninoy at his funeral, Cory Aquino exemplified every surviving victim’s desire for redemption of a cause momentarily ground into dust by brute force.

Against what she felicitously described as the “guns, goons and gold” of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Cory Aquino rallied the forces to change the seemingly hopeless destiny of the Filipino masses under the initially bright but soon-to-be blighted Marcos presidency.

Just as her husband could have preferred the sterile comforts of exile to the savage threats to his physical safety upon his return home, likewise Cory could have retired from her slain husband’s cause and let the cup of destiny pass into the hands of another presumptive leader.

She didn’t let the cup pass. Instead she raised her murdered husband’s fallen banner, and after a two-and-a-half year struggle, hoisted it victoriously at the Malacanang Palace.

Thus she earned the undying gratitude of the Filipino people for returning their country to the ideals of its founding liberator, Jose Rizal, whom history recognizes as Asia’s first fighter for constitutional government by consent of the governed.

Cory Aquino’s struggle for and success at fortifying constitutional democracy in the Philippines was one of the signal battles in the last quarter of the 20th century. Oppressed masses in Asia, nay the world, touched their forelocks in gratitude to her for the inspiring example of her courage in the face of adversity.

The Malaysian people have a special reason to view her as an iconic figure. Their striving for a return of their country to the dispensation entrusted to it by its founding constitution mirrors hers and Ninoy’s successful struggle to return the Filipino nation to the promise of Rizal’s legacy.

My family, especially my wife Azizah, has a more intimate reason to be grateful to her for the generosity of her support during the years of my incarceration. Cory treated my wife and children as family, exemplifying the solidarity of all hearts that thirst for justice.

Azizah will convey in person the grief felt by Malaysians, particularly members of the party she leads, Keadilan, for the inspiration of her life’s achievement and the solicitude she showed us in our hour of acute need.

Our gratitude for her support knows no bounds; likewise our grief at her passing.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images (14 months ago) found at Day Life.

Cory Aquino's funeral, August 5: Special Non-working Holiday

Cory’s funeral, Aug 5, a special non-working holiday
-- http://abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/02/09/cory%E2%80%99s-funeral-aug-5-special-non-working-holiday

-abs-cbnNEWS.com | 08/02/2009 8:04 AM