Hope of the Filipinos

“The Filipino is worth dying for” – a famous line that would be remembered by Benigno Aquino.

Ninoy Aquino was one of the strongest influences who fought against the Marcos Administration during their time. He was such a brave man to expose all the graft and corruption that was happening behind the curtains of politics before. He was the key that opened the eyes and minds of the Filipinos and his death made a series of revolutions against the administration that led to the EDSA Revolution of 1986. Her wife, Cory Aquino, who was the first female president of the Philippines, was best remembered as the woman in yellow who led People Power revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. They both have this strong passion to love and serve our country.

It’s such a big loss for us Filipinos that we loss another person like Cory Aquino. Both of her and Ninoy’s death will be forever marked in our history.
When Ninoy was assassinated August 21, 1983, the Filipinos were awakened to fight for their freedom and her wife Cory continued his fight for the Filipinos. His funeral was said to be an incredible funeral because two million people lined the streets to witness and join the march. It was incredible to see such collective sorrow drawn out to have 12 hours of mournful marching under the sun and rain from Sto. Domingo church up to the Manila Memorial Park. Now that Cory Aquino was dead, it was like the history repeated itself. Though the people were not as many as Ninoy’s, still there were 300,000 numbers of people who joined the mournful march for Cory’s death from Manila Cathedral up to the Manila Memorial Park. During the death of Ninoy, there was only one station that dared to report it from beginning to end and that was the Catholic Radio Veritas because during that time, the media are banned from covering news. The government was very strict and that only one or two were allowed to cover the news. That was the big difference in Ninoy’s death and Cory. In Cory’s death, the media have the freedom to cover the whole burial. They have the freedom to do the whole coverage of the news. When Cory died, you can see and hear news everywhere. Even the top 2 networks ABS-CBN Ch.2 and GMA 7 were able to cover the whole event.

The exclusive interview of Boy Abunda with Kris Aquino in ABS-CBN was very touching. Kris was very sincere in every word she’d say. I admire her for being so strong for her family. I must say that before, I only think of Kris as a tactless person who says everything she wanted to say and is very insensitive. But when I heard her interview with Boy, my view about her changed. That’s the moment when I got to know the real Kris Aquino. I realized that she’s a very good daughter to her mom and that she’s such a loving and caring daughter and sibling to her family.