MANILA, Philippines – Remembering the life and times of President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino inspires awe and respect among Filipinos. Once again, her courage, moral leadership, and a legacy of love of God, country and people will be recalled as the nation observes her 78th Birth Anniversary on January 25, 2011. The focal point of the celebration will be the monument to Mrs. Aquino and her husband, the martyred Senator Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr., at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and P. Burgos at the Rizal Park in Manila. There will be wreath-laying by government officials and representatives of the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

Belonging to the Cojuangco clan of Tarlac, Mrs. Aquino spent much of her young life abroad. She was Mathematics and French language student in the United States of America. She was the symbolic head of the opposition in the military-backed EDSA People Power Revolution that catapulted her to the Presidency in 1986. Her governance, marked by simplicity, honesty, and integrity, not only brought back democracy, but restored investor confidence in the economy, and instituted legal and constitutional reforms.

After her term ended in June 30, 1992, she returned to private life, but remained in the public eye, accepting speaking engagements here and abroad, voicing her views and comments on pressing issues such as human rights, women empowerment, democracy, and development. She set up the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation, involving scholarship grants, housing for the homeless and philanthropic activities, and helped establish the PinoyME Foundation, providing microfinancing projects for the poor. Mrs. Aquino, a devout Catholic, said the presidency had taught her a valuable lesson in governance. “I realized that I could have made things easier for myself if I had done the popular things, rather than the painful but better ones in the long run,” she said.

She was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2008 and a year after battling the illness, she passed away on August 1, 2009. During the funeral, Filipinos lined the funeral route in the rain for hours to pay their last respects to the revered former president. Her funeral cortege took 14 hours, from the Manila Cathedral to the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque where she was buried next to her husband. Mrs. Aquino’s only son, President Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III, went on to become the 15th President of the Philippines, following a landslide win in the first automated elections on May 10, 2010. President Noynoy’s administration, we are certain, is being guided by the legacy and idealism of his parents, along with the firm support of his sisters, Maria Elena, Aurora Corazon, Victoria Elisa, and Kristina Bernadette.

Worldwide, President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was looked up to as a “global democracy icon,” and was hailed by Time Magazine as “Woman of the Year” in 1986, the year she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and named her one of Asia’s heroes in 2006, describing her as “the symbol of People Power and an inspiration to others around the world struggling against tyranny.” To her people, the Filipino nation, she will always be remembered as the beloved “Tita Cory,” the quiet, courageous woman who led them back to democracy.