01/08/2009 10:40
CORAZON ACQUINO DIES
MANILA 01/08/2009:- FORMER Philippine leader and democracy icon Corazon Aquino died on Saturday of cardiac arrest after battling colon cancer for more than a year, her son announced. She was 76. ‘Our mother peacefully passed away at 3.18 am, August 1, 2009 of cardio-respiratory arrest,’ Senator Benigno Aquino Jr, said in a statement outside the Makati Medical Centre in Manila, where his mother had been hospitalised. ‘She would have wanted us to thank each and every one of you for all the prayers and the continuous love and support,’ he said. ‘It was her wish for all of us to pray for one another and for the country,’ Mr Aquino said.
A close family friend, Boy Abunda, said funeral arrangements would be announced later in the day. He said Mrs Aquino had been surrounded by members of her immediate family when she passed away. Presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde the government had declared a week-long period of national mourning and would give Mrs Aquino a state funeral.
Mrs Aquino, the widow of assassinated opposition leader Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino, was propelled into the spotlight in 1986, when she headed a massive ‘people power’ movement that toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. A former housewife who reluctantly became president, she went on to restore democracy in the Philippines and rewrite the country’s constitution.
Until March last year, when she withdrew from public life after being diagnosed with colon cancer, she had been active in street protests denouncing corruption in the government.
More than a month ago, she was rushed into emergency medical care after she lost appetite and her weight fell dramatically. A spokesman for the family earlier said Aquino had given up all medical intervention, including chemotherapy, and would leave her fate to God. Just a few days ago, Benigno Aquino said his mother’s cancer had spread to her liver. –AFP
10-day mourning for Aquino
President Gloria Arroyo on Saturday declared a 10-day national mourning period for former leader Corazon Aquino, who died after a battle with colon cancer. Mrs Arroyo, in the United States on an official trip, praised Mrs Aquino for restoring ‘democracy and rule of law to our nation at a time of great peril’. ‘The nation will mourn her passing,’ Mrs Arroyo said in a statement. ‘I am announcing that we will officially observe a 10-day period of national mourning. Our hearts go to the family in this hour of grief and sorrow.’
Mrs Aquino became president of a transitional government in 1986 after a bloodless ‘People Power’ revolt toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s 20-year regime. She framed a new constitution, overhauled the electoral process and opened peace talks with insurgent groups.
In retirement, she was a vocal critic of corruption in government and until she was diagnosed with cancer in March last year, led street protests against Mrs Arroyo. She had repeatedly called for the resignation of Mrs Arroyo, once a protege, whose nine-year presidency has been marked by massive corruption and allegations she has enriched her family using her office.
Former Aquino aide and press secretary Teodoro Locsin, who is also a close family friend, openly wept on television. ‘The purity, the nobility, never failed. She never asked for anything,’ in return, Mr Locsin said.
He said more than anything else, Mrs Aquino removed the ‘centre of corruption in government, because she would not be corrupt’. In the capital Manila, people attended vigils and lit candles as churches held requiem masses. — AFP
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