(January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009)

Twenty-three years ago, as I recall – I was 19 years old and one of the students in our University who joined the protest rally for “Change of Leadership and Democracy” in our country during the time of the known Dictator President Ferdinand Marcos. We were in our school uniform with yellow bands on our right arm and holding a stick tied with yellow ribbons. We marched from the University grounds down to the street and around the city. The street posts and trees were tied with yellow ribbons and we all gathered to the main city grand stand to simultaneously join the entire nation in a “call for change and freedom”.

The nation’s protest rally was led by this woman, known as “The Icon of Philippine Democracy” together with her were the former AFP Vice Chief of Staff Fidel V. Ramos, Minister of National Defence, Juan Ponce Enrile and Catholic Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin - This was the time of what we call the “People Power (Yellow) Revolution” or the “Edsa Revolution”.

Now, the country is in mourning for Corazon “Cory” Conjuanco Aquino, the country’s First Woman President, who died on August 1, 2009 at 3:18 a.m. at the Makati Medical Center after an 18-month battle with colon cancer. She was 76.

She was also known of the following:

The “guiding light of Philippine democracy”

The first woman commander-in-chief

She was hailed by the Time Magazine on August 1999:

The first and only Asian woman to be The Third Woman of the Year.”

The 20 Most Influential Asians of the Century

The Time’s Woman of 1986

The Martin Luther King Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize and the 1998 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding.

Cory 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 it with tranquillity and grace.

Yellow was the colour of protest against the Marcos dictatorship and Mrs. Aquino ascended to the presidency clad in fighting yellow.

She was one of the Presidents of the Phillipines I first voted for when I was 18 years old in the snap election held last February 7, 1986.

For more & comprehensive details about her “Life and Death” – please visit this Link.