Every Filipino must take up the challenge of continuing the legacy of the late President Corazon C. Aquino by protecting the democracy she helped install 23 years ago, an opposition lawmaker said on Wednesday.

Representative Joel Villanueva of the party-list Citizens Battle Against Corruption believe Mrs. Aquino wanted her fight to preserve freedom to continue even after her death.

With the passing of a true pillar of democracy, Villanueva warned that power-hungry individuals will again try to curtail the freedom that Filipinos are enjoying right now.

“We have to brace for hard times ahead. We should rise and conquer all kinds of threat to our civil and political rights even without our main leader, President Aquino, who championed the restoration of democracy in the Philippines,” Villanueva said.

“But even without President Cory now, we have to continue her fight until such time we eliminate power-hungry leaders,” he added.

Another opposition party-list lawmaker, Rep. Mujiv Hataman of Anak Mindanao, cited the very important role Mrs. Aquino played in the Mindanao peace process.

Hataman recalled that when President Marcos was deposed in 1986, the new government of Mrs. Aquino immediately conducted peace negotiations with the Moros.

Her government launched initiatives designed to bring peace and development and to democratize governance in Mindanao, he said.

“Let it not be forgotten that President Aquino, in her earliest days as President, initiated peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro revolutionary groups, a manifestation of her sincerity in prioritizing peace in Muslim Mindanao,” Hataman said.

He said Mrs. Aquino personally went to Sulu on September 5, 1985, just a few months after her assumption to office, to meet then MNLF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) Chairman Nur Misuari.