Philippines - Aquino death

Mass held for Corazon Aquino, no state funeral

Article published on the 2009-08-01 Latest update 2009-08-01 14:05 TU

Corazon Aquino in 2006.
(Photo: Reuters)

Family and friends of Corazon "Cory" Aquino attended a mass for the former Philippines President which was broadcast on television across the country. Aquino died of cancer of the colon on Saurday. Her family says she will not have a state funeral.

Aquino will be buried alongside her husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino at a private cemetery next Wednesday, according to the family.

"That was the intention from the start," said her son Benigno Aquino Jr, who is a Senator.

In 1986 "Cory" Aquino was propelled to the leadership of the so-called "people's power" movement which toppled President Ferdinand Marcos, who had jailed thousands of opponents, fought left-wing and Islamic guerrillas and amassed a fortune through corrupt practices.

Her husband, a leading opponent of Marcos, had been murdered three years earlier on his return to the country from exile in the US.

As President, she freed the prisoners, rewrote the constitution and started peace talks with the rebels.

But the problems she tried to tackle persist and she later took to the streets to oppose two of her successors, Joseph Estrada and current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was once her protégée.

Arroyo, who is on an official visit to the US, hailed her as "a national treasure".

"Aquino led a revolution that restored democracy and the rule of law to our nation at a time of great peril," she said.

US President Barack Obama "was deeply saddened" by Aquino's death, according to a White House statement.

"Her courage, determination, and moral leadership are an inspiration to us all and exemplify the best in the Filipino nation," it said.

Academic Benito Lim feels that Aquino failed as a President but that Filipinos remember her with fondness because her intergrity compares favourably with Arroyo.

"Many of them are saddened by her death, many people said that she is a great contrast to our current President," he told RFI.

"At the same time she was put into power, she really did not know enough of the problems of the republic," says Lim, who feels she was manipulated by the country's elite.

But  Catholic leader Cardinal Sin, who had spoken out against Marcos, "called her a saint and compared her to Joan of Arc, she was supposed to be the Joan of Arc of the Philippines,"  he remembers.

Another academic, Johnny Litton, considers Aquino "a great hero" for unifying a diffuse country and reforming the political system.

"She brought to a great number of Filipinos what we believe in as democracy," he says. "She also brought into the country a new constitution that was aimed at preventing any other further abuse of power."

Obituary: From housewife to people power President

On France 24 TV  Former president Corazon Aquino succumbs to cancer