Remembering Cory
At around 3am on August 1, 2009, D and I were woken by a sound. We did not know what it was, I thought it was an earthquake but the walls were not shaking, D thought it was just the sound of a door slamming. We slept, perplexed. Something had bothered the peace of the night.
In the morning, I knew why. An angel took in her last breath and ceased to be.
President Cory Aquino had succumbed to the colon cancer that she had battled for several months.
I remember
The year was 1983. I was barely out of my childhood. The television was on and I saw my mother burst into tears. Ninoy Aquino’s bloodied body had just hit the tarmac. He came amidst the flurry of yellow ribbons (I barely understood the symbolism), against the advice to him that it would cost him his life. It was a much anticipated return, the return of a hero, who was imprisoned and exiled through the machinations of Marcos.