Almost three decades ago Former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was quoted saying this now famous line:
“The Filipino is worth DYING for!”
On August 1, 2009 at 3:18 AM, Ninoy’s widow, former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, First Female President of the Republic of the Philippines and the recognized central figure in the EDSA People Power Revolution, died after more than a year bravely fighting Colon Cancer. †She was 76 years old.
A great woman left a grateful nation with these words:
“The Filipino is worth LIVING for!”
No, Cory didn’t actually say that. †She wasn’t directly quoted saying it anyway. †But judging from the way she bravely fought cancer and her unwavering and selfless concern for the Philippines and the Filipino people until the very end, she could very well have said it.
Cory lost her life in a battle with a debilitating disease. †But she is very much alive in the hearts of the millions of Filipinos whom she touched with her exemplary life as a simple citizen who succeeded, and continues to succeed even after death, in effecting positive change.
She clearly wanted to live, at least a little longer, not for herself but for her unfinished work for the country that her husband died for. †With the terrible pain she went through anyone would have understood if her dying wishes were for people to pray for her so she wouldn’t suffer anymore. †Lesser beings would have sought death itself as the ultimate escape.
But not Cory. †Yes she asked for prayers, but not for her but for the Filipinos. †Her farewell prayer was for her beloved country foremost and her family next. †She glaringly omitted herself.
She knew it was her time but she wasn’t preparing to die. †She was preparing to live — not in the flesh, but in the spirit; not in her body but in the minds and hearts of a Nation that she was so grateful to God she was born into.
Ninoy believed that the Filipino is worth dying for, and he did die for the Filipino. †Cory believed that the Filipino is worth living for, and she does live in the Filipino. †They must be both right.
