Former President Corazon C. Aquino, known as ‘Cory’ to millions of Filipinos, exhaled her last breath at 3:18 AM on August 01, 2009 (Saturday) at the Makati Medical Center, Philippines. She peacefully passed away of cardio-respiratory arrest secondary to colon cancer, which she battled for 16 months.

The Icon of Democracy was 76 years old (January 25, 1933-August 01, 2009).

A very close friend of the family, Boy Abunda, said, “The children were praying the rosary, and it was on the 5th sorrowful mystery when she took her last breath. She was basically asleep for the last few days. Kris, her youngest daughter, was very quite, displaying such courage.”

The former President Aquino will forever be remembered as the woman who led the 1986 revolution that ousted the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and restored the Philippine democracy.

As of this writing, the remains of the former President Aquino lie at the La Salle Greenhills gym. Public viewing at the wake of former president Corazon Aquino will start at 5 p.m. this Saturday and will be closed to the public from 4 a.m.-7 a.m. Sunday, Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III told a press conference. The former President Aquino will be buried at the Manila Memorial Park on Wednesday after the 9 a.m. mass.

The People Power Revolution (also known as the EDSA Revolution and the Philippine Revolution of 1986) was a series of nonviolent and prayerful mass street demonstrations in the Philippines that occurred in 1986. It is sometimes referred to as the Yellow Revolution due to presence of yellow ribbons during the arrival of Ninoy Aquino. These protests were the culmination of a long resistance by the people against the 20-year running authoritarian regime of then current president Ferdinand Marcos and made news headlines as “the revolution that surprised the world.” The majority of the demonstrations took place at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, known more commonly by its acronym EDSA, in Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila and involved over 200,000 Filipino civilians as well as several political and military figures. The protests, fueled by a resistance and opposition of years of corrupt governance by Marcos, occurred from February 22 to 25 in 1986, when Marcos fled Malacañang Palace to the United States and conceded to Corazon Aquino as President of the Philippines.

Around this time in 1986, I was still a kid running around, without a care in the world. I have always been fascinated of this event in the history of the Filipinos and have always been looking for books and documentaries about this historic event. If anyone knows of a site where we could read more about this or view more photos, please don’t hesitate to post a comment. Thank You.

On that morning, nineteen terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a member who had undergone some pilot training. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners (American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175) into the World Trade Center in New York City, one plane into each tower (1 WTC and 2 WTC), resulting in the collapse of both buildings soon afterward and extensive damage to nearby buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner (American Airlines Flight 77) into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft (United Airlines Flight 93) attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Aside from the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died as an immediate result of the attacks, and the death of at least one person from lung disease was ruled by a medical examiner to be a result of exposure to WTC dust. Another 24 people are missing and presumed dead, bringing the total number of victims to 2,998, the overwhelming majority of whom were civilians. The dead included nationals from over 80 different countries.

I remember that day, we were busy reviewing for our board exams when we received a text message from one of our classmates to turn on our TV set and watch the news. It was truly a horrifying sight, one which I hope and pray would no longer be repeated in history.

Why can’t we just all get along? Life would be a lot happier if we did. Right?