The death of Cory Aquino had a tremendous effect among Filipinos, young and old. Those who have witnessed the EDSA revolution in 1986 may know very well that it was Cory Aquino who made it up for history to grab. The young children today may just be aware of Cory's whereabout from history books, or the stories told by their parents about what happened in 1986.
Cory Aquino is now known to be the icon of democracy in the Philippines. It was through her that the Marcos dictatorship was quashed. That was the EDSA revolution which was known all over the world to be the most peaceful revolution the world has ever had. The revolution was a classic example of the religious fight against the mighty military which the Marcos regime had almost employed to defend his administration. The military in the end succumbed to the religious which brought about the Cory presidency.
The Filipinos were all in high hopes after the EDSA revolution. Although not everyone was longing for an instant overhaul of the nation, specially the educated ones, but the rest of the population most specially the poor had really pegged their hopes on Cory. The shift was difficult for Cory specially that the entire nation was upon her shoulder. It was equally difficult for the Filipinos as well who had to undergo the transition from dictatorship rule to freedom. The only commitment Cory could make that time was just to lead a transition government and therefore couldn't really give much effort as to lead the nation into what the people wanted her to have. her administration went on and she has done what is best for all the people. It was a A commendable act for an ordinary housewife whose main task before was just to serve her family and drafts speeches for her senator husband to have lead a crumbling nation.
The Cory magic fizzled out at the time when she was calling for the current president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign because of many scandal that her administration have gone through. Cory's call for Gloria to resign was overtaken by the Gloria's overwhelming clutch over the government's core that made her typically untouchable.
Cory's magic may have fizzled out probably because the people are sick and tired of similar EDSA situation and didn't bring out the expected result. Gloria Arroyo is a by product of EDSA revolution 2. The Edsa 1 was when Cory became president while the EDSA 2 was when Gloria became president. There was EDSA 3 and it was a sham! You can just imagine the frustration that this country had after many EDSAs which brought about almost no changes to the poor Filipinos plight. But then we continued to hope for the better until Cory Aquino died!
Cory Aquino's death is a death to the many hopes that these country had since the 1986 revolution. The democracy she installed back has no particular use if the leaders in the supposed democratic land will not use it for the people. The massive outpouring of mourners in Cory's death was a display of disappointment that she brought with her the unfinished business of putting back democracy to the fullest operation. It meant to me that the people could not reconcile the purpose of EDSA and what is currently happening in their lives, thus, joining the flock following Cory to her burial site. All the people may ask "where do they go from here?"
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