Cory Aquino

Cory Aquino - wife of Ninoy, assasinated by Marcos - died last week. She became president after the regime of Marcos was overthrown by "people power". She went from being housewife to president and did not have an easy governance or a particularly prosperous one. It has been so interesting to read the Filipino coverage in the newspaper. She is being hailed as a great hero of the Philippines and I have read glowing reports that seem to have easily forgotten the more incompetent parts of her "reign" but I guess that's typical after death. She did achieve some amazing things - taking over from a dictator, handing over to another elected president at the end of her term. The best reports I've read, though, are the more thoughtful comments on her legacy since her reign which has become more apparent.
The funeral was on Weds - to be followed by 10 days of mourning - and the casket left the Manila Cathedral at 11 in the morning and did not arrive at the grave until 8 p.m. There were hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets, mostly dressed in yellow - the colour of the revolution. It was televised and though I did not watch it a council member had dinner at his Filipina wife's relatives' house and said that one nun had said "Maybe now we can stop praying for Cory and pray to Cory"! As it was a national holiday I asked Steve's PA what she had done that day and she said "Watch Cory's funeral. In fact, I had a prayer meeting in the evening but they had a TV at church so we could finish watching it!".
I've seen a few cars with yellow ribbons on but not as many as I expected and I can't decide if it's more of a comment on how far out from the city we are or the politics of our area. I have seen people wearing yellow ribbons with Cory's face on them.

One of our Filipino colleagues said it is good that Filipinos have remembered the value of democracy and it has been a common point for Filipinos to gather round. It's perhaps especially pertinent as we head to general elections next May and the recent talk of changing the constitution.