In 1985 the reluctant Cory was convinced to run for president to unify the fragmented opposition. If she did not run for president, Marcos could have handily crushed the divided opposition in the 1986 snap presidential election namely Salvador Laurel (UNIDO), Aquilino Pimentel (PDP-Laban), Jovito Salonga (LP-Salonga Wing) and Eva Estrada Kalaw ( LP-Kalaw Wing) who were all hell-bent to run for president.
04 Feb 1986. Huge crowd of Cory Aquino supporters at the election campaign rally in Luneta Park.
The key to the EDSA revolution was the voice of Cory. If she did not run for president there would perhaps have been no EDSA. We would probably not have the freedom we are enjoying today.
We owe our democracy to Cory. At 76, Cory remains a moral and political force. A recent Pulse Asia survey revealed that Cory rated highest with a trust rating of 41% beating Erap, FVR and GMA. The Time magazine put her again in its cover in its 2006 anniversary issue as the leading hero of Asia’s 60-year history beating Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, MacArthur, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and many more heroes of our time. She was also honored by prestigious foreign award-giving institutions for her continuing efforts to empower poor communities in the socio-economic sphere in collaboration with various sectors of society.
5 comments:
We have essentially the same conditions today as in the Marcos years. Who will unite the fragmented opposition to kick out the incumbent administration? Who will be today's Cory Aquino?
Juan dela Cruz
Dean,
No doubt about it. Cory had her flaws, but she was the real deal.
There is not doubt that she put her country and her people above her own interests. For that, she deserves the eternal gratitude of her country as a true patriot.
That those weaker specimens who followed her did not live up to the promise she exemplified is not her fault. She was and is the best the Philippines has produced in two generations.
Let's hope her example will become the norm again soon. The Philippines is at a crossroads now. It really is a crisis. The Philippines really needs a truly selfless individual to become the President again. It needs someone who truly believes in the Republic and will actually fight to make it live up to it's potential.
I pray it happens. It can happen, but not without a lot of people making the right decisions. It would be a rare, but inspiring event given the current state of human events...please, make it happen Filipinos! Inspire the world!
Yes, the Philippines owes its post-Independence democracy to Cory--the very antithesis of ambition and immoral greed for power.
However, ex-President Aquino is also partly responsible for the bogus government of Gloria Arroyo via EDSA 2 and the 2004 presidential campaign of the latter. It is to her credit, though, that she tried to correct her mistakes by asking for Gloria's resignation following the Hello Garci expose and her rather recent apology to Erap (no matter what the Inquirer says).
I hope that before she goes, she'll be able to apologize to the Filipino people for her Gloria blunder "not once, but twice". Then again, her actions--her campaign against Gloria's government--speak louder than words.
I may disapprove of her having been a party to Gloria, her husband and their paid generals' coup d'état in 2001; she may have been terribly foolish by having allowed those rascals to use her when they violated the Constitution at a time when parliamentatry democratic principles were in motion (Congress)but I do believe she was and has always been a decent person, a leader who only wanted the best for her country.
Cory Aquino was indeed decent, more than decent, in fact, as she had a clean presidency, made no attempt to extend her term, and mustered the grace and courage to admit to the big fallacy of seditious Edsa 2.
While the December 2008 public apology she extended to Estrada garnered praises from the not-so-gullible Filipinos, it drew violent reactions from the conspirators and gullibles of EDSA 2--at least those who lacked the genuine patriotism to say "Mea Culpa" and correct the damage the 2001 power grab did to the nation.
Her role in Edsa 2 and the 2004 campaign for Gloria were inglorious mistakes for RP, but armed with unparalleled sincerity and humility, Cory took the necessary steps towards undoing that Arroyo wrong. In the end, she showed us that she'll always be the epitome of moral leadership and dignified, unselfish statesmanship.
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