Corazon Cojuangco Aquino
January 25, 1933- August 1,2009
At 3:18 morning this Saturday August 1, 2009, 76 years old Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino succumb to colon cancer at the Makati Medical Center, her official cause of death was cardio-respiratory arrest as announced by her son Senator Benigno Aquino III. President Arroyo while in the US, immediately expressed her grief and joins hand with the entire nation in prayer. She said a national treasure was lost and by virtue of Proclamation 1850, she declared a 10 day period of national mourning and state honors will be given to the late president accordingly. Philippine flag in Malacañang Palace was immediately placed into half-mast and across major landmarks in the country after the President’s pronouncement.
The Aquino family speaking through Senator Noynoy Aquino III appealed to the public of the family’s desire for their privacy be respected at this point in time. Flowers, candles were sent immediately to the Aquino residence in Times street, Quezon city by friends and ordinary people.
Cory Aquino is the first Asian and Philippines’ female president
She is the first and only Filipino, to date and first female to hold TIME's annual distinction as person of the year on her own since the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth in 1952; She was also nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize, among many other special recognitions.
She was the only Filipino to speak before the joint session of the American congress where she was applauded many times and was given a standing ovation. Then US House Speaker Tip O’Neill hailed Aquino’s speech as the finest speech he have heard during his 34 years in Congress.
A renowned strong Catholic advocate, wife of the slain Benigno Aquino, the foremost critic of former dictator President Ferdinand Aquino, She gained worldwide popularity through the famed People Power Revolution ousting former dictator President Ferdinand Marcos becoming a fighter for peace and an icon of democracy. She was compared to the likes of India’s Mahatma Gandhi, China’s Deng Xiaoping, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and Martin Luther King, Jr. of the United States.
She was a grade school valedictorian at St. Scholastica’s College, studied liberal arts abroad and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in French Language and upon returning to the Philippines She enrolled at Far Eastern University as a Law Student, However She gave up her law studies to marry Ninoy Aquino. FEU, during its 59th Commencement Exercises on March 1987 awarded President Corazon Aquino with honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law.
Video Snapshots: CNN was among the first international media who broke the news of Aquino’s passing (August 1, 2009 Manila time)
Philippine flag at half-mast in Far Eastern University, Manila (August 1, 2009)
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UPDATE: The Aquino family opted for a private funeral instead of a state funeral in Malacañang.The former president’s body presently lies at the La Salle Gymnasium in Greenhills, by Monday her wake will be transferred to the Manila Cathedral and the Interment is set on Wednesday at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque city. August 5, 2009 was declared as a special non-working holiday.
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