Femme Power

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…But this time, there was no protest. Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos trooped to the streets yesterday despite the heavy rain and sudden changes of weather conditions to pay their last respects for the late former President Corazon Aquino. People from all walks of life chanted her name, flashed the L (laban) sign, wore yellow, and threw yellow confetti and flowers as Cory’s funeral convoy passed by from the Manila Cathedral to the Manila Memorial Park.

No further words are needed to describe the strong emotions that moved the throngs of people during the funeral procession.

These pictures that I got from GMA TV’s live stream could tell how much the Filipinos love the late President Cory, our national icon and mother of democracy.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The Philippines is on a 10-day mourning period.  Our well-loved former President Corazon Aquino (otherwise known as Cory or Tita Cory) peacefully passed away yesterday after more than a year of battling colon cancer.  She succumbed to cardio-respiratory arrest at 3:18 am. She was 76.

Yes, we just lost a national icon of democracy, a true leader instead of a politician, a woman of unquestionable character.  Not only did she help lead the country topple the Marcos dictatorship in 1986 but she also restored and upheld this country’s democracy despite the seven coup attempts that battled her administration.   Even after her term, she continued to serve the country as an ordinary citizen by actively participating in non-governmental organizations and rallying against unjust government practices.

She retained her popularity with us Filipinos until her final days.  She had once united us to fight the shackles of Martial Law and even in her last days, she united the nation once again.  People of different religions, ages, professions, social classes, political views and affiliations from all over the archipelago tied yellow ribbons wherever visible as a show of their support and love for Mrs. Aquino.  Even the Marcoses, whose family she ousted from Malacanang, prayed for her.

Tita Cory may have passed away but her legacy will be remembered forever.

(Note: This is a duplicate post of my original article at Femme.News.Views.)

I was one of the millions of Filipinos glued to their seats to watch President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo deliver her 9th and last SONA or State of the Nation Address over a local TV network. It was full of statistics to quantify the present administration’s achievements under Pres. Arroyo’s leadership. Figures that made me sigh in relief and silently applaud…for a while.

“The state of our nation is a good economy,” the President said. “Good news for our people, bad news for our critics,” she added. GMA took pride in enumerating her administration’s economic reforms, infrastructures, public service law, and many others.

Here are few of the highlights mentioned by the President:

“Good economy”

• $6B revenues and 600,000 jobs created by the BPO industry
• Tourism almost doubled to a $5B industry
• $165B-Micro Finance Loans helped 7M entrepreneurs
• Banking system improved
• Foreign reserves have grown by $3B.
• GDP growth highest in 43 years
• Poverty reduced by almost half
• 1M jobs generated every year
• Economy posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters since 2001
• Our average inflation is lowest since 1966.

Infrastructures

• The government’s housing programs benefited 1M families.
• 16 kms. of farm-to-market roads
• Construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway
• Built seaports and the RORO system
• Constructed international airports and upgraded domestic airports
• Automated elections (digital infrastructure)

Education and Health Care

• Recommends radical reforms in the country’s education system
• Will allot P1.5B budget for teacher training
• Built 95,000 rooms
• Hired 60,000 teachers
• Approval of the Cheaper Medicines Law
• Improving health care in the country that covers 86% of the population

GMA further stressed that foreign debts were tremendously slashed and debts of government corporations were reduced by almost half. She cited that the government will further improve collection on sin taxes. Also mentioned were the P1B budget for modern fish farming that benefits the indigenous people; the current ceasefire in war-torn areas in Mindanao, and Epira, the government’s answer to lower power rates.

Apart from her administration’s accomplishments, The President also chided her critics saying she did not become President to be popular. “Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones,those who should be in jail should not threaten it, especially if they have been there.” she retorted.

Honestly, I was rather impressed with the President’s SONA…because I was made to believe that the data given were all factual. A few hours later, news reports and editorials came out refuting The President’s “facts and figures.” Economists, people from the academe and the business sector were quick to challenge the veracity of the President’s statistics. They cited the country’s slow foreign trade, the low 0.4 growth of gross domestic product, among others.

One of those I watched on TV was Mareng Winnie Monsod, another woman I look up to for being so brainy, vocal, reputable, and vigilant. Monsod, a UP professor, is one of the country’s respectable and credible economists.

Monsod argued that basing on actual figures from the National Statistics Office, only 2.8 M jobs were created from 2004-2008, a far cry from the promised 1M jobs per year. She added that poverty rose by almost 50%.

Monsod further enumerated the following that remains unanswered:

1. The increase in corruption
2. The increase in human rights violations
3. The increase in bureaucracy and overall demoralization of the civil service

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, meanwhile, said in an article published on Business Mirror that “government statistics show that the number of poor Filipinos now total 27.6 million, or an increase of 2.7 million between 2000 and 2006. The number of poor families rose by 530,642 also during the same period, bringing the total to 4.7 million.”

Is the economy really doing good as the President confidently stressed? Or is the country’s economy just lucky to be sustained and fuelled by the OFW’s billion dollar remittances? Who among them are giving the real statistics and the real state of the nation? Are the figures reported by the President factual or are they, like what her critics say, merely works of fiction?

Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.  The plain housewife of the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. who was catapulted into Presidency in 1986 due to People Power Revolution. The 11th Philippine President.  Asia’s first female President.  A highly spiritual woman.  Well-loved by many around the globe.  These are but few of the many descriptions about Cory, a woman I so admire.

When she lost the 1986 Snap Presidential Elections against Marcos, the Filipino people cried electoral fraud and marched to the streets.  She was instrumental to the end of the Marcos Dictatorship and Martial Law.   She restored this country’s democracy.

It was during her term that the 1987 Constitution was approved in a national plebiscite.  It was also during her term when the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law was enacted, among others.  However, her presidency was beset by several coup attempts mostly instigated by RAM (Reform the Armed Forces Movement), a group of middle-ranking military officers.  Still, she upheld democracy and didn’t go the Marcos way.

Twenty-three years after her first year in office as the country’s first woman President, Cory is now suffering from colon cancer and is clinging on to dear life.   Her cancer was on stage 4 when it was diagnosed, according to reports.   Healing Masses have been offered for her recovery by her friends, family, and supporters.  Even Pope Benedict XVI sent Cory a letter when The Pope heard about her condition.

Her youngest daughter and popular actress Kris Aquino said in reports that their mother is in pain.   Just a few minutes ago, I read an online article that says Cory called her family to her bedside in Makati Medical Center and that the former President was relaying messages to them through Kris.  Her message: Take care of each other.

No doubt, she’s a selfless and loving mom  - to her family and her countrymen.   Now in her toughest battle, she got the nation to kneel in prayers without her asking for it.  It’s because praying is one moral example that she has set all these years.  May we not only pray for Mrs. Aquino but for what she has helped us restore and protect - our own country’s democracy.

“How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway…And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!” - Anne Frank, March 26, 1944

Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl in the Netherlands who lived during the height of the Nazi rule.  She kept a diary when she and her family were in hiding.  She did not survive in the concentration camps but her diary lives on.

See other notable women in history filed under Popular Women.

image from womenshistory.about.com

Yeah, yeah, she’s the lady behind the man whom the whole world adores.   But aside from being the wife of US Pres. Barack Obama and great mom to Malia and Sasha, how much do we know about the First Lady Michelle?

Here’s a quick look of her from what I gathered from my readings, compiled in a nutshell to save you time researching.

1.   Full Name: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama

2.   Profession: Lawyer

3.   Birth date: January 17, 1964

4.   Hometown: South Side of Chicago

5.   Schools attended: Whitney M. Young High School, Princeton University, Harvard Law School

6.   Where she met Barack: Sidley Austin Law Firm, one of the oldest and biggest law firms in the world

7.   Married Barack Obama in October 1992

8.   Past Careers:

• Marketing & intellectual property associate at Sidley Austin Law Firm, Chicago Office, where she also acted as advisor to then summer associate Barack Obama in 1989.
• Assistant to the Mayor of Chicago
• Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development, City of Chicago
• Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization
• Associate Dean of Student Services, University of Chicago
• Executive Director for community affairs, then to Vice President for Community and External Affairs, University of Chicago hospitals
• Salaried Board Member, TreeHouse Foods Inc. (a major Walmart supplier); Chicago Council of Global Affairs

9.   Income:   Based on the Obama couple’s 2006 income tax, Michelle was earning about 75% more than her husband when Barack was an Illinois senator.

10.   On the campaign trail of her husband’s bid for presidency:  Michelle wrote her own speeches with eloquence and intelligence and spoke without notes.

11.   Featured as one of the world’s best dressed people in Vanity Fair and People in 2008

12.   Landed in the list of The Harvard 100 as 58th most influencial Harvard alumni

Despite being a busy career woman, Michelle has always emphasized that family is her priority.

In one of US Pres. Barack Obama’s famous speeches last year, he said “And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years … the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady … Michelle Obama.”

For thousands of years in the history of mankind, women have succeeded in manifesting the vastness of their power and influence amid the generally patriarchal societies in various places around the globe.

From the era of Cleopatra, to the many women who stood out during the time of Christ, to Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Theresa, and many others who made history, it’s apparent that women have the capacity to rise above mediocrity and prove to be torrents of influence despite astounding threats to their lives.

Today, lots of modern women continue to prove that they can make a difference, be it striking or modest, in the society I’ve come to wake up to…women who just couldn’t or can’t take things sitting down…women who wear many hats, and being able to deliver changes and inspirations despite the odds.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI - a Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi is a noted pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League of Democracy in Burma. She gained recognition and respect worldwide due to her peaceful and non-violent struggle against a military dictatorship. She is currently under detention by the Burmese junta, hence even though she gained the right to be Prime Minister after the 1990 General Election, Suu Kyi’s hands are “bound” and could not assume that role. She has been offered freedom if she left the country but she refused. Suu Kyi said in a speech, “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

MOTHER THERESA - Born into a Roman Catholic Albanian family in Macedonia, she felt the call to help the poor at the age of 12. A few years later, she decided to materialize her calling by working in India and subsequently started The Missionaries of Charity, an institution commited to serve the poorest of the poor. Mother Theresa was the epitome of love and compassion as she transcended all barriers in reaching the most desolate, the sick, and the poor.

OPRAH WINFREY - One of the women I strongly admire for overcoming adversity (She was born to a poor unwed teenage mother in Mississippi. She was raped at the age of 12.) and maneuvered herself to be the richest African-American of the 20th century. She started her career in a radio station when she was in high school and later rose from the ranks to become a media mogul that she is today. She is known to have revolutionized the TV talk show genre through her no-holds-barred confession culture and self-help fads.

These are but a few of my favorite women who have made a big difference in their fields of interest and passion.

Catch more as I compile the rest of my favorite heroines in my next blogs.