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Manila: Corazon "Cory" Aquino of the Philippines, whose struggle against one of the 20th century's most corrupt dictators made her an icon of democracy across the world, is suffering from colon cancer, her family said yesterday.
The 75-year-old was diagnosed with the disease just two weeks ago, her daughter Kris Aquino said in an emotional address on national television.
Several minutes after celebrity Kris broke the news about her mother, her brother, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and the other siblings issued a public statement urging prayers for the matriarch.
The Aquino siblings said they discovered that their mother had cancer after she underwent a medical check up early this year.
Prior to the discovery, "our mother had suffered from high blood pressure and difficulty in breathing, followed by fever during the week between Christmas and New Year. Since that time, we became concerned because of her consistent cough, loss of appetite and noticeable weight loss," the statement said.
Truth
The siblings said they could have kept mum over the issue but they chose to reveal the truth.
"Our mother has always believed in being up-front. Over and above anything else, she's a woman who has lived her entire life entrusting everything to the Lord, and she has always been a woman of great faith," they said.
"It has been our mother's decision to release a statement on her condition so that everybody will understand what she is going through ... Like a patient who is undergoing the healing process, she needs peace," the statement said in Filipino.
Earlier yesterday, Aquino's daughter Kris revealed during an interview aired on the ABS-CBN network that her mother has cancer of the colon.
"Our mum wanted to know what was wrong with her, and with her family by her side, she submitted herself to a check-up and several tests. The results showed that our mother is suffering from cancer of the colon," Kris said in the interview.
The matriarch led the revolution that helped oust the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986.
Alongside Marcos' ouster was her own instatement as the country's 10th president. The reluctant leader had presided over the restoration of certain democratic institutions in the country, including the Congress.
Aquino, a convent-bred housewife to the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr, withstood nearly a dozen coup attempts between 1986 to 1992.
Recently, the widow had figured in newspapers reports as she called on President Gloria Arroyo to resign amid accusations of corruption hurled against her.
Officials speaking on behalf of the presidential palace said they were saddened to hear about Aquino's affliction.
Corazon Aquino, known as Cory to millions of Filipinos, was president from 1986 to 1992.
But she is remembered, more than two decades after the fact, as the slim woman in yellow who led the "People Power" revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The tumultuous events of those weeks in 1986, which culminated when up to 1 million people waving rosaries and flowers stopped tanks advancing towards Aquino-backed army rebels, became a fairy-tale revolution that gripped the world.
When a bewildered Marcos and his wife Imelda fled the nation, it set a stirring precedent for dissidents everywhere, from South Africa to South America to Pakistan. Aquino was hailed as a modern-day Joan of Arc.
But she was a reluctant leader at the start, shedding the housewife's apron only after her husband Benigno was assassinated at Manila's international airport on his return from exile in the United States.
Inevitably, her presidency was less successful than the revolution, with a series of coup attempts by the military keeping the administration hamstrung. Aquino was much lauded for her courage, but rarely seemed to be able to get on top of ruling the country. "I have not always won but ... I never shirked a fight," she said in 1992 before handing power over to her successor, Fidel Ramos.
But she did oversee the writing of a new constitution, which among other things limited a president's time in office to one six-year term.
Born on January 25, 1933 into one of the country's richest families, the Cojuangcos, Aquino grew up in a world of wealth and politics, being the daughter of a three-time congressman.
She married one of the country's most promising politicians and they had four daughters and a son before he was thrown into prison by Marcos. He was released into exile in the US in 1980 but was murdered on his return three years later.
Accusing Marcos of ordering the murder, Aquino led protest marches, but was hesitant when snap elections were called in 1986.
"What on earth do I know about being president?" she said before taking up the challenge to run against Marcos.
The spectre of army intervention haunted her entire rule. Natural disasters, including Mount Pinatubo's huge volcanic eruption in 1991, severely battered the economy.
A devout Catholic, she often turned to her faith to steer her through difficult times.
"There was never any moment that I doubted God would help ... If it was time to die, so be it," she said when rebel mortars pounded the presidential palace in 1987.
Aquino seems frail now, but is still game for a fight when she thinks it necessary. She brought half a million people onto the street in the early 1990s when her successor Ramos flirted with the idea of trying to extend his term in office.
She was involved in the protests that brought an end to the presidency of Joseph Estrada in 2001, and has supported the campaign to remove current President Gloria Arroyo.
Last month, she addressed tens of thousands of people demanding Arroyo quit over charges of corruption.
"I thought my work was done because I am already old," Aquino said, speaking from a makeshift stage in front of a statue of her husband in Manila's Makati financial district.
"But this is what the times ask for, for us to unite so that the deceit will end and we will find out the truth."
- Reuters
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