It was already past 8:00 pm when the main convoy carrying the casket of former president Corazon Aquino arrived at the ManilaMemorial Park, her final resting place.  It had been a long eight hours from the moment the convoy came out of the Manila Cathedral where a final requiem mass was held in her honor.  Monsoon rains notwithstanding, a multitude of people came out to the streets and braved the ugly weather in just to pay their final respect to the county’s first female president and the woman who was regarded as the face of the “People Power” revolution and restored democracy to a nation who had been deprived from it by the 20 year Marcos dictatorship.

I watched the day long coverage on television. The present administration has declared this day as a national holiday along with 10 days of national mourning. As I comfortabley sat on my living room sofa, I was overcome by an eerie feeling of de ja vu as I watched the events transpire in front of me. Thousands upon thousands of people wearing yellow shirts have gathered outside the cathedral while thousands more lined the streets leading to the Manila Memorial Park. The scene brought back vivid memories of the 1980s, where Tita Cory, as she was more widely known to her followers, was first reluctantly thrust into national prominence following the assassination of his husband, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino who was then the opposition leader to the Marcos administration. The peaceful uprising which she led in 1986, and which have since been known as the “People Power” revolution brought down the repressive 20 year regime of Ferdinand Marcos, and served as inspiration to other non-violent resistance across the globe, including those that ended the communist rule in Germany and Russia.

Even though she was overly inexperienced in the political arena, Cory Aquino proved to everyone that she was more than capable of handling the tasks of the presidency.  She presided over free elections, appointed an independent judiciary, encouraged free press, and restored democratic institutions which were destroyed by the Marcoses.  Perhaps, it will be for these changes that she will be best remembered, but for me, it’s her simplicity, modesty, purity, and unwavering faith in the Almighty which stands out among the rest of the country’s leaders, both past and present.  In an arena that worshipped power and influence, she practiced and preached the value of prayer.

And so on this day, yellow confetti once again showered the streets of Manila as the Filipino people payed it’s final respects and bid farewell to it’s moral guiding light and icon of democracy. I slowly turned off the TV and mumbled a sincere prayer for Tita Cory along with the hope that her death will once again inspire us all to unite and re-awaken from our apathy and indifference.

Farewell, Tita Cory. Thank you for all that you have done for us -- for your people.  You will forever be in our hearts.