Philippines Icon Corazon Aquino Has Cancer

Former President And Ouster Of Marcos Dictatorship, 75, Reportedly Has Colon Cancer

(AP)  Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino, who sparked a wave of pro-democracy movements around the world by leading a 1986 "people power" revolt, has colon cancer, her daughter said Monday.

Aquino, 75, was swept into power by the peaceful uprising that ousted late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, cementing her as an icon of democracy.

Usually dressed in her trademark yellow in public, she has remained active in social and political causes. Most recently, she has been attending rallies calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Kris Aquino, her voice breaking as she fought back tears, read a statement on live television that said her mother had gone in for tests after suffering from high blood pressure, difficulty breathing and fever during the Christmas and New Year holidays, then a persistent cough, loss of appetite and weight loss.

"The result showed our mother is suffering from cancer of the colon," she said.

She said her family knows that its affairs are "part of our country's history," but asked that her mother "be accorded her privacy."

"We ask you for your compassion and prayers for our mom's recovery," she said.

The presidential palace was saddened by the announcement and hopes for Aquino's speedy recovery, Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

A former housewife and political neophyte, Aquino reluctantly took over as Marcos' main challenger after her husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was gunned down at Manila's airport upon returning from exile in 1983.

"I don't know anything about the presidency," the mother of five said in mid-1985, laughing off a seemingly ridiculous suggestion she run for president.

It turned out to be far from ridiculous. After a fierce campaign, voting was held Feb. 7, 1986, and journalists, foreign observers and church figures raised charges of massive fraud by Marcos.

The Commission on Elections ruled Marcos won by a slight majority; Aquino's camp figured she lost 25 percent of her votes through fraud.

The military brass mutinied, and hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, accusing Marcos of cheating, swept Aquino to power on Feb. 25 in a peaceful protest that became a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes worldwide.

Marcos fled the country and died in Hawaii in 1989. Aquino held office until 1992, surviving at least six coup attempts.

"During Ninoy's incarceration and before my presidency, I used to ask why it had always to be us to make the sacrifice," she told a newspaper last year. "And then, when Ninoy died, I would say, why does it have to be me now? It seemed like we were always the sacrificial lamb."

Aquino promised that her administration would mark a complete change from the pomp and ostentatious displays of wealth during the Marcos years.

She moved her office to a whitewashed guest house in the palace complex and turned the ornate building where the Marcoses had lived into a museum.

Adopting a policy of national reconciliation, she freed more than 500 political prisoners, including some of the top leaders the Communist Party of the Philippines.

She oversaw the writing of a new constitution, but critics claimed that she fell short of the promise of social and economic reforms, which many of her supporters hoped would follow the ouster of Marcos.

Aquino again became active in 2001, throwing her support behind Arroyo, who was swept to power in the country's second "people power" revolt, toppling Joseph Estrada.

However, Aquino later took on Arroyo, joining opposition figures in calling for her resignation over allegations of vote-rigging in the 2004 elections and, more recently, of corruption.

[sandyteds1]

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[ranger1948]

Thai and i am helping them to learn english. I have earned their respect by respecting them. I only hope i can leave a favorable impression on the people i meet in every country i travel to.

[ranger1948]

You ask why they should be grateful for having military bases in their country, very simple. Money. I agree we should stay at home and take care of our own problems. It is way past time to stop trying to be the world police. If we did we would have a lot less enemies in the world and be getting a lot more respect. I live in Thailand now and what i hate to see is Americans coming into a foreign country with a better than you attitude. We need to learn to respct other cultures. I have made a lot of friends here by respecting their culture and their people. I believe if you want to live in the U.S you learn to speak english. I also believe when you are living in a foreign country you learn how to speak their language. I learned Vietnamese, Philipino and now am learning Thai. I smile and greeteveryone i meet here and am well known in my neighborhood. I have friends helping me learn

[ranger1948]

You ask why they should be grateful for having military bases in their country, very simple. Money. I agree we should stay at home and take care of our own problems. It is way past time to stop trying to be the world police. If we did we would have a lot less enemies in the world and be getting a lot more respect. I live in Thailand now and what i hate to see is Americans coming into a foreign country with a better than you attitude. We need to learn to respct other cultures. I have made a lot of friends here by respecting their culture and their people. I believe if you want to live in the U.S you learn to speak english. I also believe when you are living in a foreign country you learn how to speak their language. I learned Vietnamese, Philipino and now am learning Thai. I smile and greeteveryone i meet here and am well known in my neighborhood. I have friends helping me learn

[ranger1948]

You ask why they should be grateful for having military bases in their country, very simple. Money. I agree we should stay at home and take care of our own problems. It is way past time to stop trying to be the world police. If we did we would have a lot less enemies in the world and be getting a lot more respect. I live in Thailand now and what i hate to see is Americans coming into a foreign country with a better than you attitude. We need to learn to respct other cultures. I have made a lot of friends here by respecting their culture and their people. I believe if you want to live in the U.S you learn to speak english. I also believe when you are living in a foreign country you learn how to speak their language. I learned Vietnamese, Philipino and now am learning Thai. I smile and greeteveryone i meet here and am well known in my neighborhood. I have friends helping me learn

[ranger1948]

You ask why they should be grateful for having military bases in their country, very simple. Money. I agree we should stay at home and take care of our own problems. It is way past time to stop trying to be the world police. If we did we would have a lot less enemies in the world and be getting a lot more respect. I live in Thailand now and what i hate to see is Americans coming into a foreign country with a better than you attitude. We need to learn to respct other cultures. I have made a lot of friends here by respecting their culture and their people. I believe if you want to live in the U.S you learn to speak english. I also believe when you are living in a foreign country you learn how to speak their language. I learned Vietnamese, Philipino and now am learning Thai. I smile and greeteveryone i meet here and am well known in my neighborhood. I have friends helping me learn

[ranger1948]

cdfoxtrot
Obviously you have never been there. With all the financial support we gave them their economy was still holding a 60% unemployment rate. Where would they have been without our support. Our troops are there training their troops on how to fight terrorists at ther request of the Philipine govt. I was stationed there for 2 and 1/2 yars, married a local girl, went back for 5 months when i retired from the military. We had a neighbor and friend whoi was a licenced attorney, he was driving a taxi because he could mak more money doing that than practicing law. Yes they had a big problem with corruption, but they had that problem long before wwe became involved with their politics. You hate my throwing around the term terrorist, well i hate people throwing out opinions when they have their heads up their as*** and don''t have any idea what they are talking about.

[a-ji]

FERDINAND MARCOS WAS A BRILLIANT MAN. MARCOS MAY BE THE WORST PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES AS THE OTHERS CLAIMED. BUT HE TURNED OUT TO BE THE BEST. CORRUPTION IS COMMON WHERE EVER WE GO. THE MARCOSES HAD MADE OUR COUNTY GREAT AND RESPECTED. AFTER THE EDSA REVOLUTION OUR COUNTRY TURN FROM BAD TO WORST.

[cdfoxtrot]

"still have troops there trying to help get the terrorists out of the Philipines. .... "
Posted by ranger1948

You guys just love to throw that "terrorism" tag around to the point where it''s meaningless. The US has interfered in many countries around the world, as part of some misguided quest against communism or anything that''s not quite as right-wing as the US itself. It has supported terrible right-wing regimes, from Latin America to Afghanistan, solely on the basis that they didn''t like left-wingers. The US financed and trained the taliban in Afghanistan, purely to fu-ck with the Russians there and the taliban morphed into what is Al Queda today. America creates its own problems and would do well to just stay at home. And why on earth the Philippines should be grateful for having a bunch of US military bases there is beyond me.

[ranger1948]

cdfoxtrot
Have you ever been in the philippines to see what it is like there ?

[ranger1948]

What i am talking about id Marcos exiled them for helping the communist party cause problems in the Philipines. Then they came to live in the U.S. AFTER OUR GOVT ALLOWED THEM SANTUARY HERE. aFTER HER HUSBAND WENT BACK AND WAS ASSINATED SHE WENT BACK AND BECAME PRESIDENT AND FREED THE COMMUNIST PRISONERS mARCO''S HAD JAILED. She was behind getting the U.S. out of the Philippines. She wouldn''t do anything when assasins would kill American service members there. We gave the Philippines billions of dollars in aid, paid great amounts of money to keep bases there, provided countless jobs for the Philipino''s, and still have troops there trying to help get the terrorists out of the Philipines. She had no gratitude fo what a great ally we were to her country. About Marcos being corrupt, that is a way of life there and in many other countries. We allowed many philipinos to apply for and receive U.S. citizenship and to join our military. We were a true friend to their country and this is how she repaid us.

[cdfoxtrot]

After we gave her and her husband santuary in the U.S they betrayed the friendship we gave them and turnd against the U.S. her husband was the founder of the communist party in the Philippines. I have no sympathy for her at all.

Posted by ranger1948

Didn''t the US support the corrupt right-wing regime headed by Marcos? Perhaps that''s at the root of what you''re talking about.

[ranger1948]

After we gave her and her husband santuary in the U.S they betrayed the friendship we gave them and turnd against the U.S. her husband was the founder of the communist party in the Philippines. I have no sympathy for her at all.

[cpaide]

makibaka!