Corazon Cojuanco Aquino, Former President of the Philippines, died yesterday morning the Makati Medical Center in Makati, Philippines. She was 76 years old. Aquino was diagnosed with colon cancer in March 2008; however, she continued making her public appearances as well as being a regular Catholic at weekend mass. She was admitted to the hospital in Late June.
“Our mother peacefully passed away at 3:18 AM of cardio-respiratory arrest,” her son, Senator Benigno Aquino III, told the reporters in Manila.
Aquino was a world renowned advocate of democracy, peace, and women’s empowerment. After being inducted as the 11th President of the Philippines, she was also the first female to hold the title as President in the Philippines as well as Asia.
She wasn’t born into politics, in face she called herself a ‘self-proclaimed housewife.’ She was married to Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., who in the 80′s was a leading political figure in the opposition against the rule of Ferdinand Marcos. After hearing of her husband’s assassination in August 1983, Aquino, even with lack of experience in politics, took liberty and finishing what her husband has started: unifying force of the opposition of Marcos. Marcos was declared winner of fraudulent election, however he was offered by United States President Ronald Regan to give up the Presidency and come to Hawaii as an exile. Aquino was then installed as President in 1986 by the People Power Revolution. She was also proclaimed as one of the few who had made fair decisions in giving what the country needed.
Condolences go out to the Aquino and Cojuanco families.
source: wikipedia
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