Some memories are fleeting, forgettable and fade over time. And then there are others that become venerated hallmarks in history. Feb.25, 2017 marks the 31st anniversary of the People Power Revolution. The Philippines showed the world the true meaning of peaceful resolution on that fateful day, with the late Sen. Ninoy Aquin0 and his wife Cory, inspiring a people to break the chains of dictatorship, peacefully.
PeopleAsia pays tribute to the icons of democracy who started it all. Remember the power couple as they traversed through life, from falling in love, to leading the rebirth of a nation.
(Ninoy and Cory on their wedding day, Oct. 11, 1954 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Pasay City)
(Cory and the man she loved. She was willing to give up everything to show her love and support for her husband Ninoy who put country above family. Here, husband and wife are captured during happier times in Boston | PeopleAsia August 2013)
(“I told my children that this is something that we should do for dad.” | Cory explaining to her children why they had to support his decision to return to Manila and be brave about it.)
(Ninoy at the brink of death: Ninoy being led out of the China Airlines jet on Aug. 21, 1983)
(Sprawled on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport)
(Moments after he was gunned down, his body was placed inside a military van)
(It was left to a housewife to lead the nation out of bondage. She would be the force to tip and topple the dictatorship and restore freedom and democracy in the Philippines. – Sonny Camarillo)
(Cory takes her oath as President on Feb. 25, 1986 before Supreme Court Justice Claudio Teehankee, her hand on a Bible held by mother-in-law, Doña Aurora Aquino)
(Cory returns to EDSA Shrine, pictured here as the first female President of the Philippines, for the celebration of The People Power revolution’s anniversary)
(Cory was named Time magazine’s “Woman of the Year” in 1987)
(“When the final moment does come, let not my loved ones grieve for long…” was Cory’s prayer for a happy death, written in 2004 | The “Fantastic Four,” who stood still by Cory for eight hours. They attributed there endurance to the former President | The Philippine STAR)
(People flooding the streets of Manila to bid the icon of democracy goodbye in August 2009)
“They call it ‘Cory magic’ — but it was the truth, the purity and beauty, clear and radiant within you, that we saw. And the hope that arose from that. And when the crosses ca,e to you and you did not refuse to bear them, more to be one with your Christ and one with your people and their pain. ‘Blessed are the pure of heart; for they shall see God.’ Thank your Father in heaven, for your gift of Cory Aquino to us.
Thank you that she passed once this way through our lives, with the grace you gave her to share with us. If we give her back to You, we do it with grateful hearts, but now, oh, with breaking hearts also, because of the greatness and beauty of the gift which she was for us, the gift You have now take back to yourself; a gift like of which, perhaps, we shall not know again. Salamat po, Tita Cory, mahal na mahal po namin kayo.“
– An excerpt from Fr. Catalino Arevalo, SJ’s “Funeral Mass Homily at Manila Cathedral,” Aug. 5, 2009
(People in the crowd proudly gesturing the Laban sign as Cory Aquino’s casket passed by them)
