Word: aquinos
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...south, in the suburb of Paranaque, stand the stately mansions of the Plazas of Dignity. It is a serene place, which should come as no surprise, since all the residents are dead. The plazas are part of Manila Memorial Park, a cemetery for the privileged. While President Corazon Aquino's late husband Benigno, assassinated in 1983, rests in a simple tomb, other graves are grandiose: white sepulchers within marble pavilions, furnished with altars and windowed with stained glass. Some even provide bathrooms and beds for mourners...
...Aquino has even struck an accommodating tone toward Marcos, who dearly wishes to return to the Philippines from his exile in Hawaii and has stopped threatening to overthrow the government. Several weeks ago, Aquino dispatched two of her relatives to meet with him. Last week she made it clear that before Marcos would be allowed to re-enter the country, he would have to return the billions of dollars he allegedly stole from the treasury. Though negotiations are still under way and an imminent Marcos homecoming is unlikely, many Aquino supporters are chagrined by the President's willingness to countenance...
Despite several coup attempts and continuing political uncertainty, Aquino remains ensconced in Malacanang Palace and has developed a firmer grip on power. Yet her supporters are not convinced that the President will be able to correct long-standing social inequities or steer the Philippines out of moral drift. "Merely staying in power without changing anything is retrogression in itself," Historian Renato Constantino recently wrote in the Philippine Daily Globe. "Personal success is not synonymous with national success...
...unfulfilled hopes of the revolution, the Aquino aura remains intact. Mira concedes that nothing has changed since Aquino came to power. "But Cory is better than Imelda," she says, referring to Marcos' once powerful wife. Last year, Mira recalls, Aquino came to within a five-minute jeepney ride of Happy Land to inspect garbage collection. "Imelda never visited this place...
...Aquino's good intentions are unlikely to be enough to keep the engine of reform moving. Corruption remains widespread. In the provinces, political warlords who prospered under Marcos are flexing their muscles. Ironically, Aquino's popularity has made some of the old problems more tolerable: Filipinos seem willing to give her more time to improve their lives...