Remembering Cory on her 15th death anniversary: “And the last words I heard her utter, ‘Please tell everyone, Salamat, Salamat.’”
These words, according to Father Manoling Francisco S.J., were one of the last former President Cory Aquino uttered in the days before she passed away from colon cancer on Aug. 1, 2009.
Father Manoling celebrated Mass in the living room of President Cory’s Times Street home last Thursday to remember and celebrate the life of the Philippines’ first woman President. It was a simple commemoration, just as Cory Aquino would have perhaps wanted it.
Except for the choir, only family members were present at the Mass, which was livestreamed on the Facebook Page of the Ninoy and Cory Foundation.
Cory was simplicity personified though she was born privileged (she once told me she would indulge in a good pair of shoes once in a while, but that was it). Her legacy is also simply meaningful.
“She chose to suffer quietly,” Father Manoling said in his homily during the Mass. “And even during her last weeks at the Makati Medical Center where we kept vigil over her, she constantly inspired us by her deep faith in the Lord. Despite the wrenching pain that she was going through, she continued to entrust herself to the Lord.”
“And the last words I heard her utter, ‘Please tell everyone, salamat, salamat.’ Even though she was grimacing in pain,” Father Manoling shared.
According to him, “Even in her death, she inspired us by her deep faith in the Lord. And her witness has molded us into becoming more and more God-fearing, more and more service-oriented, more and more nationalistic.”
Father Manoling also recounted President Cory’s political legacy. “At the start of her tenure as President of the Republic, she convened the Constitutional Commission so that we might have a new Constitution. She restored our bicameral system (of legislature) to replace the parliament we had then. She patiently remolded our nation by restoring our democracy and our freedom. And, all the way to the end of her years, post-presidency, she continued to patiently mold our people even when we were growing lax and lacking in vigilance in protecting our democratic spaces. She would march to Batasan, call the people to action whenever any of her successors attempted to tamper with our Constitution... And although many Filipinos have become indifferent, she would call us to action. Tita Cory never gave up on our people.”
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On behalf of the Aquino family, Cory’s grandson Kiko Dee (son of Viel and Dodo Dee) said that the family would usually ask themselves, “What would Mom/Lola do?” when at a crossroads.
He cited his uncle, the late President Noynoy Aquino, who would also ask the same thing in difficult moments in his presidency. “The people became his guidepost when Lola wasn’t there anymore,” Kiko said.
He also recalled that in the 2004 elections, his grandmother, who endorsed Fidel Ramos in the 1992 elections, “never said who she ended up voting for.”
“We need to decide for ourselves” is the lesson Kiko took away from that episode in his grandmother’s life.
Kiko believes that what his grandmother would want now, “is to guide us, to help us.”
Kiko says that the reverberating question now, for the family and for those who still look up to the Aquino legacy for guidance, is, “What will we do?”
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The late former President Corazon Aquino, who led a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in the Philippines in 1986 that inspired many peaceful mass actions worldwide, and battled seven coup attempts during her presidency, was serene yet steely. I served in her press office so I saw her up close many times.
Her six-year presidency was a rollercoaster of sorts, but the lady on the front seat of the rollercoaster was always steadfast. As retired Justice Adolf S. Azcuna said in his memoirs, quoting Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
The best of times really was seeing how Cory’s courage and simplicity won over her countrymen from north to south of the Philippines (of course, not the entire north), and the world; from the halls of the US Congress, to City Hall in Paris, Rome, Canada, and many other countries that she had visited before she decided to cut foreign travel after the 1989 coup attempt that nearly toppled her government. The aftermath of the seven coups was among the worst of times.
On her 75th birthday on Jan. 25, 2008, Cory told me, “I have a lot to be thankful for. I really want to thank the Lord for the 75 years of so many blessings. And even the trials have turned out to be blessings. If it weren’t for the trials, I would not have been the person I am today.”
When the end was near for Cory, she told me she was at peace. “If this is the end of the road for me, so be it. I have lived a full life.”
Hundreds of thousands lined up at the De La Salle Greenhills and then at the Manila Cathedral to pay their last respects to President Cory.
Her flag-draped casket was mounted onto a red Isuzu 810 flatbed truck – similar to the one used for her husband Ninoy’s funeral in 1983 – that was decked in white and yellow flowers arranged in an eight-rayed sunburst evoking the national flag, while the military band was playing Bayan Ko. An honor guard of servicemen from the three branches of the Armed Forces — Army, Navy, Air Force — and the Philippine National Police stood vigil as the truck-hearse made its way around Plaza Roma fronting the cathedral, escorted by throngs of mourners.
Millions were reported to have accompanied her funeral cortege on Aug. 5, 2009 to the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque. Her casket arrived at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque eight hours after leaving the cathedral.
I asked Viel her thoughts on her mother’s 15th death anniversary, and she said, “(Many) were surprised that it’s been 15 years. Actually 15 years is a long time. So much has happened since then. It’s a different world that we’re living in now. We miss Mom more.” *
