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The Filipino American community in the United States and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) in Los Angeles is united with our compatriots in our motherland in their grief and their celebration of the life the 11th President of our republic, Mrs. Corazon “Tita Cory” Aquino. Mrs. Aquino, a simple housewife, was reluctantly thrust into the center-stage of history with the assassination of her husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. in August 21, 1983 and made her mark as an opposition leader and then as a president of the Republic after the dictator was deposed in a people’s power uprising in 1986. Before that, for three significant years, from 1980-83 the Filipino American community was lucky enough to have the Aquino family in exile in Boston, in the east coast until Senator Aquino decided to come home to his martyrdom at the hands of the much hated dictatorship. Then rest is history.
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EPCC Statement
Contact; Jerry Esguerra
(818) 749-7202
August 3, 2009
Mrs. Corazon C, Aquino, 76-11th President of the Philippines
Los Angeles—The Filipino American community in the United States and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) in Los Angeles is united with our compatriots in our motherland in their grief and their celebration of the life the 11th President of our republic, Mrs. Corazon “Tita Cory” Aquino.
Mrs. Aquino, a simple housewife, was reluctantly thrust into the center-stage of history with the assassination of her husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. in August 21, 1983 and made her mark as an opposition leader and then as a president of the Republic after the dictator was deposed in a people’s power uprising in 1986.
Before that, for three significant years, from 1980-83 the Filipino American community was lucky enough to have the Aquino family in exile in Boston, in the east coast until Senator Aquino decided to come home to his martyrdom at the hands of the much hated dictatorship. Then rest is history.
Mrs. Aquino was an epitome of a strong Filipino woman. She foiled eleven coup attempts by her own military and made her mark as a president for six years. She brought back the trappings of bourgeois democracy in the Philippines that Marcos destroyed for 14 years. She said her farewell and stepped down after completing her six years term.
Now she stands as a counter figure against a regime hell bent to destroy that democracy again and build a dynasty based on one family and one party dictatorship in the name of “changing the constitution for the better.” Mrs. Aquino becomes an effective counter-force to this blatant wave of reactionary change.
What makes Mrs. Aquino stands out is that she stood for the 1987 Freedom constitution and resisted unwanted changes even against her protégé President Ramos, against plunder and corruption against President Estrada and Mrs. Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo.
Despite her shortcomings and class background, the Filipinos forgave her and embraced her as their own, because she stood for the people in their hours of need.
Her admonition to the people is a strong and a classic reminder to us all:
“ Don’t pray for me, pray for the nation, pray for change.”
Original: Mrs. Corazon C, Aquino, 76-11th President of the Philippines