Corazon Aquino's legacy

last updated 8 January 2015

"People power" is on display again in Manila, said Seth Mydans in The New York Times, as the Philippines pays its respects to former president Corazon Aquino, who died of cancer at 76 on Saturday. More than 100,000 people flooded the streets as Aquino's body was driven to burial in an emotional outpouring that "went beyond mourning to political statement, as if the masses were demanding respect for "the democratic processes she restored when she came to power in 1986."

"Cory Magic is still alive," said Leslie Ann G. Aquino in the Manila Bulletin. Even after her death, Corazon Aquino can unite the Filipino people like no other politician.

Corazon Aquino's legacy reaches beyond the Philippines, said former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz in The Wall Street Journal. Mrs. Aquino will be remembered as "the peaceful 'housewife' who forced a dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, to leave office after his attempt to steal an election." But she was also "the leader of the first 'People Power' revolution"—one that inspired many more freedom movements around the world.