President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Two opposition senators on Wednesday remembered the legacy of late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino in restoring the country’s democracy.
Nine years ago today, the former leader succumbed to colon cancer.
“She said, ‘I don’t have any formula for ousting a dictator or building democracy. All I can suggest is to forget about yourself and just think of your people. It’s always the people who make things happen’,” Senator Bam Aquino said of his Aunt Cory.
“She reminds us, to this day, that it is up to all of us, together, to move this country forward and create a better Philippines,” the senator added in a statement.
Cory Aquino is often referred to as the Mother of Philippine Democracy, but for the senator, “she was primarily a loving, thoughtful, humble and gracious aunt.”
Senator Leila De Lima also paid tribute to the former president and urged Filipinos to remember and honor Cory Aquino’s role in restoring the country’s democracy through the bloodless popular uprising, known as the People Power Revolution, in 1986.
“Ngayong araw, sama-sama po nating ginugunita ang buhay at dakilang ambag ng isang natatanging babae, lider, Pilipina, at Ina ng demokrasya na si dating Pangulong [Cory],” De Lima said in a separate statement.
“Buong mundo ang humanga at patuloy na nagpupugay sa tapang, tatag ng loob at paninindigan ni Pangulong Cory,” she added.
De Lima expressed concern that Cory Aquino’s effort to regain the country’s democracy might be put to waste amid what she described as “emerging return of the dark chapter in the Philippine history under Duterte.”
Detained over drug charges, the lady senator is a known staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.
De Lima said Cory Aquino’s death anniversary should revive Filipinos’ “sense of bravery” in standing up against the alleged injustices happening under the Duterte administration. /kga