The entire Filipino nation is orphaned by the lost of the true leader who we considered the “mother of our democracy”. Every Filipino’s heart is in deep grief hearing the news of President Cory’s death. Though in the past days we joint our hands together in prayer asking God to extend her life as she courageously fought her colon cancer, God seemed to deprive us of our supplication. God, with His enormous power, could have done a great miracle restoring her back to health. However, it was President Cory who chose death and begged God to heal herself not but to heal the entire nation instead from its misery and ailing political situation. President Cory showed the real meaning of leadership and public service, the readiness to lay down one’s life for the sake of your people. She has chosen the better place now, where she could pray closer to God and intercede for our nation’s transformation.
We lost not only a great leader, but also the icon of democracy. President Cory was no ordinary kind of president. She is the epitome of what a true leader must be. She was able to exercise power with virtue, leadership with example, service with self-sacrifice, and faith with charity and action. As Jesus said in the Gospel, “a tree can only be judge by its fruits—a good tree bears good fruits while a bad tree bears bad fruits.” After her term, President Cory stepped down from power with outmost humility, but he public life she never abandoned her destiny to be the front guard of our democracy and freedom. She is the symbol of our Power as people. And for a long as we keep President Cory in our hearts, the spirit of EDSA People Power will always live and alive in every Filipino who treasures democracy and freedom.
When President Cory was in her painful ordeal fighting against her colon cancer, she renewed Ninoy’s sacrifice on August 21, 1983 “that every Filipino is worth dying for”. Having learned that the entire nation was offering multitude of prayers and healing masses for her recovery, she requested everyone to pray not for her healing anymore but for the healing of our nation. Upon hearing this, her children and loved ones willingly decided to give her up to God for our country’s sake. No Filipino family ever did what the Aquino family has ever done, they offered two lives for our future as a nation— the greatest example of sacrifice and love for country. What make us deserve for this extraordinary sacrifice? At 3:10 A.M. of August 1, 2009, President Cory offered her life in a bloodless martyrdom for the sake of our nation. President Cory had given us the example. When will we ever learned as a people? I think it is about time that we us ask ourselves, "are we worth dying for?" Let us not wait for another Filipino to offer his life in martyrdom. It is about time that we learn from the examples of Jose Rizal, Ninoy and President Cory what self-sacrifice and true love for country really mean. Let us offer our very selves to start the change, and let us make the difference this 2010 election by choosing the rightful leader to be our next president.
To you President Cory, I salute you! You deserve our love and prayers. You will always be remembered as the most loved president ever lived in our history as a nation. Your legacies will remain alive in the hearts of every Filipino who values democracy, love for country and faith in God. Thank you for your examples and love.