Ex-President Cory Aquino Has Colon Cancer

MANILA — Corazon Aquino, the former Philippine leader who played a major role in the ouster of two of the country’s presidents, is suffering from colon cancer, her family announced Monday.

The ailment was discovered after Aquino, 75, underwent a series of medical tests because of hypertension and a difficulty in breathing in December. Since then, her daughter Kris said in a press conference Monday, the former president had lost weight – 10 pounds in two weeks — and suffered consistent coughing and a loss of appetite.

“The results showed that our mother is suffering cancer of the colon,” Kris said, adding that her mother decided to disclose her illness to the public because “our mother has always believed in being upfront.”

“It’s a very difficult time for our family, most especially for our mother,” Kris told reporters. She did not provide other details of the medical findings, except to say that her maternal grandmother had likewise been diagnosed with the same illness. She called on Filipinos to pray for her mother.

The administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whom Aquino had urged to resign, said it was saddened by the news of Aquino’s illness. “We are hoping for strength for her in the face of adversity,” said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

Although she stepped down from office after her term ended in 1992 – she had succeeded the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was deposed in the 1986 “people power” uprising that she had led – Aquino had always remained in the political spotlight, playing a key role in the second “people power” movement that ousted president Joseph Estrada in 2001.

Recently, Aquino had gone back to the streets, participating in demonstrations against the Arroyo government, which has been hounded by several allegations of corruption.

Educated in religious schools in Manila and in the US – she majored in French at the College of Mount St. Vincent in New York City – Aquino belongs to one of the richest landholding families in the Philippines.

She married Benigno Aquino Jr., a former journalist who became one of the youngest senators in the Philippines and the arch rival of Marcos. Benigno’s assassination in 1983 upon his return from years of political exile in the US sparked protests that ultimately led to Marcos’s ouster.

That event pushed the housewife Corazon to the country’s political centerstage and, armed with moral outrage as well as a pleasant countenance that was the exact opposite of the often bombastic Marcos, challenged the dictator to the very end. Her son, Benigno Aquino III, is a now senator while a daughter, Kristina Bernadette, is one of the country’s most popular actors.

A deeply religious person, Aquino served as a moral beacon of sorts for those who advocate for good governance. Her presence in protests has always been sought by anti-government groups.

She also launched a movement to promote micro-enterprises and micro-financing in the Philippines, believing that empowering poor Filipinos through small businesses is one way to defeat widespread poverty.

Aquino, however, was never averse at criticizing what she perceived as the many defects of her countrymen. “Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with Filipinos,” she told Time magazine in 1986, which chose her as its “Woman of the Year” that year. “They can never look on the positive side of things.” (PinoyPress)