The Next Cory?
"ANGELES CITY, Philippines—A movement pushing Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to run for President has snowballed in the home province of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo three days after the burial of his mother, former president Corazon Aquino. Yellow streamers, hung in several villages in this city and in the nearby Pampanga towns of Mabalacat and Magalang, said: "Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III for President Movement Ngayon Na!" ...The campaign is being headed by two local Lakas-NUCD stalwarts, Pampanga Representative Carmelo Lazatin and Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales. The source did not want to be identified because of his position in the Arroyo administration. Lazatin did not return calls to confirm his part in the campaign. Without confirming his role in the putting up of the streamers, Morales said many of his constituents were clamoring that the senator should run for President to "continue the legacy of his parents in democracy-building." ‘
Ninoy’ Aquino, the foremost opposition figure during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, was murdered upon his return from exile on August 21, 1983. The opposition fielded his widow, Corazon, in the 1986 snap elections. Allegations of massive cheating by Marcos drove Filipinos to the streets, culminating in the People Power Revolution that ended Marcos’ 20-year rule and swept Corazon Aquino to power. "It's the call of the people," Morales said of the streamers. The Inquirer source said Lazatin and Morales met with village officials two days ago to listen to their clamor. "Apparently, [Lazatin and Morales] are convinced. There are no good candidates and Noynoy has no bad track record. The large crowds that showed up during the wake and burial of Cory convinced them that the Aquino family has the support of the public," said the source. The young Aquino is seen as a prospective candidates of the Liberal Party for vice president, as running mate of Senator Manuel Roxas II."
Former Philippine President Passes Away at 76
"She was the agent of change in Philippine democracy," said Ray Donato, the nation's consul-general in Atlanta.
Aquino, the first woman to lead the Philippines, had been battling colon cancer since March 2008 and died of cardio-respiratory arrest at 3:18 a.m. Saturday (3:18 p.m. Friday ET), said Mai Mislang, a spokeswoman for her son, Philippine Sen. Benigno Aquino III.
Funeral arrangements were being set up, Mislang said. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has also announced a 10-day mourning period for the former president, said Ray Donato, the country's consul-general in Atlanta.
"She was the agent of change in Philippine democracy, and almost all the Filipinos I know revered her during her presidency," Donato said.
Aquino had been born into a wealthy family and was educated in the United States. She had not been involved in politics before her husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was gunned down at Manila's airport in August 1983 as he returned from exile.
The political novice took over the leadership of her husband's movement after his death and challenged Marcos in a 1986 election, making a yellow dress her trademark and bolstered by the support of the country's Roman Catholic churches.
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Marcos had been backed by the United States, the former colonial power in the Philippines, for two decades as a stalwart anti-communist. He and his wife Imelda were friends of then-President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. But widespread allegations of electoral fraud and a mutiny by the country's military led the Reagan administration to withdraw its support, and Marcos went into exile in Hawaii.
Aquino took office in a country with a $28 billion debt, widespread poverty and a persistent Marxist insurgency. She put in place a U.S.-style constitution that limited presidents to a single six-year term and survived seven coup attempts -- including one that was supressed with American help.
She also oversaw the closure of the major U.S. military bases in the country before leaving office in 1992. The bases had been a bulwark of American power in the Pacific since the early 1900s and employed nearly 80,000 Filipinos, but Aquino's opponents argued the country was too dependent on the United States. Aquino announced in 1990 that it was time to begin negotiating the "orderly withdrawal" of U.S. forces.
IGGY'S FUNDRAISER
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LAST GENERAL MEETING OF SY 2008-2009!
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- Filipino Student Association - SLU
- Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
- Dedicated to promoting unity within the organization through awareness of the beauty and magnificence of the Filipino culture.