Aquino election brings hope, nostalgia to Philippines

World
Jun 4, 2010

The landslide victory of the new president-elect Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III was elected on a wave of hope and nostalgia that began with an emotional tsunami during the long 8-hour funeral procession of his mother, Corazon "Cory" Aquino last August 2009.

She was much loved, not only as the first democratically-elected woman president of the Philippines but in Asia, but also because of her integrity. She is revered and respected by Filipinos because she helped topple the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos and restore democracy in the Philippines. She ignited respect for human rights and non-violence and high hopes for an end to corruption, assassinations and forced disappearances. However, they were not widely realized in her presidency.

It is these same desires and longings that the Filipino people want to be actualized through her son. They see her integrity embodied in him. These are certainly challenging times for the president-elect and his future administration. Against them, there is an arrayed culture of political violence and powerful elite determined to get what they want and to bring them down to succeed.