Filipinos mourn the mother of democracy

MILITARY honour guards carried former president Corazon Aquino's flag-draped coffin to a school gym yesterday, as Filipinos mourned the beloved democracy icon who swept away a dictator and fought off seven coup attempts.

The accidental opposition leader – whose rise began only after her husband's assassination – died before dawn in a hospital after a year-long battle with colon cancer, which had left her bedridden since late June, her only son, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, said. She was 76.

Monsoon rains drenched Manila's streets as a convoy took Aquino's coffin to the gym at De La Salle, the Catholic school where her remains will lie in state until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow her body will be moved to the Manila cathedral where it will remain until her funeral on Wednesday. She will be buried beside her husband at the Manila Memorial Park.

Aquino's son said that days earlier he and each of his four sisters went to their mother's bedside where they "were told to say ever-ything we wanted to say".

Aquino rose to prominence after the assassination in 1983 of her husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

The uprising she led in 1986 brought down the repressive 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos and served as an inspiration to non-violent resistance across the globe, including the uprisings that ended communist rule in eastern Europe.

"She was headstrong and single-minded in one goal, and that was to remove all vestiges of an entrenched dictatorship," Raul C Pangalangan, former dean of the college of law at the University of the Philippines, said earlier this month. "We all owe her in a big way."

But Aquino struggled in office to meet high expectations. Her land redistribution plan fell short of ending economic domination by the landed elite, including her own family. Her leadership, especially on social and economic reform, was often indecisive.

Still, the bespectacled, smiling woman remained beloved in the Philippines, where she was called "Tita (Auntie) Cory."

Aquino's supporters had been holding daily prayers for her in churches around the country since she was rushed to intensive care after she had stopped eating in late June.

As the news of her death spread through Manila, Catholic priests held requiem masses. Citizens tied yellow ribbons around trees, lamp posts and house gates.

Others prayed at a shrine on Manila's EDSA highway, where hundreds of thousands of her supporters blocked Marcos' tanks in 1986.

"The nation lost its moral guiding light, but she will forever remain as the inspiration of this impoverished nation," said Al Roy, one of Aquino's godsons.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, on an official visit to the US, said Aquino was a "national treasure" who helped lead "a revolution to restore democracy and the rule of law to our nation at a time of great peril".

The Philippines will observe ten days of mourning, she said. The army said she would have full military honours during the mourning period, including gun salutes and flags at half mast. But the Aquino family opted for a private rather than a state funeral.

Former cabinet aide Franklin Drilon said: "President Cory was the most sincere person I have known in my life… Part of me died this morning."

Deposed president Joseph Estrada, who was toppled in the country's second "people power" revolt – backed by Aquino – in 2001, said the Philippines had "lost the true mother of democracy."

Aquino's successor, Fidel Ramos, who was the military's vice chief of staff when he broke with Marcos and embraced Aquino, said she "represented the best of the Filipino of the past and the future".

US president Barack Obama was deeply saddened by Aquino's death, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "Ms Aquino played a crucial role in Philippines history, moving the country to democratic rule through her non-violent 'people power' movement," he said.

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

Maria Corazon Cojuangco was born on 25 January, 1933, into a wealthy, powerful family in Paniqui, about 75 miles north of Manila. Her unlikely rise began in 1983 after her husband was gunned down at Manila's international airport moments after arriving from exile in the US to challenge Marcos, his long-time adversary. Investigations showed one of his military escorts was the assassin.

The killing unleashed a broad-based opposition movement that thrust Aquino into the spotlight. "I don't know anything about the presidency," she said in 1985, a year before she agreed to run against Marcos, uniting the fractious opposition, the business community and later the armed forces to drive the dictator out.

In the wake of that election, the Marcos regime – which declared martial law in 1972 and had jailed Aquino's husband – started to unravel. But Marcos claimed victory in those polls – widely seen as fraudulent – leading a group of military officers to mutiny on 22 February and to three days of mass protests that toppled him.

On 25 February, Aquino was sworn in as the Philippines' first female leader and Marcos flew to exile in Hawaii, where he died three years later. She stepped down in 1992.