The Good Balita

TIME Magazine honors President Corazon Aquino one last time on the cover of their latest issue, dated August 17, 2009.

The international news publication pays tribute to her as “The Woman Who Changed Asia, “The Saint of Democracy,” and “A Miracle Worker in a Plain Yellow Dress.”

“She was a good woman whose goodness alone, at the very end, was what proved enough, if only by an iota, to save her country,” the Time article said.

The magazine also highlighted their 1986 cover story on Aquino, where they declared her that year’s Woman of the Year – the second woman to hold that honor.

Her death made headlines across the world, with many remembering her ascent from a “plain housewife” to a global symbol of democracy.

“Whenever the country appeared to be in a crisis, Cory Aquino rose above the bureaucratic procrastination that had always bogged it down, reminding her people that they once astonished the world with their bravery — and that they could do it again. But Filipinos must now take stock. Whom will they march with now that their saint has gone to meet her God?” the Time article said.

Apart from TIME Magazine, many other global publications honored Tita Cory for being an icon of democracy from the the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

“For many Filipinos, she embodied a hope of becoming a better nation and a prouder people,” a New York Times obituary on the former Philippine leader said.

“Although often criticized as an indecisive and ineffectual leader, Mrs. Aquino combined passivity and stubbornness and an unexpected shrewdness to hold firm against powerful opponents from both the right and the left,” it added.

The Los Angeles Times called her a courageous woman who emerged as a reluctant leader at a time of national crisis.”

Her rise to power was described as a “phenomenal metamorphosis” by the Washington Post in its obituary.

Most articles and obituaries on Aquino saw the 1986 People Power revolution as her most important legacy to the Philippines and to the world.

“The civilian-backed military uprising, with its stirring scenes of nuns kneeling to stop Marcos’ tanks, made the Philippines a leader in the global wave of democratic movements that climaxed in the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union,” the LA Times article stated.

In a Wall Street Journal article, former US Congressman Stephen Solarz, also recalled the influence of the 1986 revolution to other nations then hoping for real democracy.

“It was obvious what had happened in the Philippines was a real source of inspiration to the leaders of Solidarity and the Polish people,” the WSJ article quoted Solarz. “If democracy could succeed in the Philippines, they though it could succeed in Poland, too.”

“Cory Aquino left a legacy that transcended the many failings of her administration. The consolidation of democracy through the peaceful hand-over of power in a country where no president had stepped down voluntarily since 1964 was perhaps her greatest,” an article from the Financial Times said.

 

Related posts:

1. Book of Gawad Kalinga founder honors Ninoy, Cory
2. Ninoy-Cory mobile with prayers, speeches launched
3. President Noynoy Aquino promises a better Philippines

 

 

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