World superstar

The privacy she craved would not be easy to come by. Cory Aquino is a certified superstar not only in her own country, but in the world. And two of her children, her only son Noynoy and her youngest daughter Kris, have insisted on being in the limelight and have achieved stardom in their own right in politics and show business.

So while dodging the harsh spotlight often reflected on her celebrity children, she has gone quietly into the service of the country with diligence, constancy and dedication. She immersed herself in the work of the Benigno Aquino Foundation which she established in 1983 to honor her late husband by providing scholarships to exemplary high school students who could not afford to go to college, establishing a savings program for poor housewives in Pampanga, developing leaders for cooperatives, providing human rights education to the police, and later, helping elevate the living standards of the poor through microfinance.

She built the Aquino Center in Concepcion, Tarlac, which houses a library and archives and a museum on the life and career of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. The Center also has facilities for meetings and conferences.

Try as she may, she has not been able to escape the call of politics. Her endorsement of candidates remains a much sought-after boon. She has led countless rallies to promote one cause or another¬ – at the Edsa Shrine, in Makati, at the Luneta, at the Batasan, and even out of town, in Cebu and Davao – to lend whatever influence she has to worthy causes such as the campaign against charter change, the protest against dagdag-bawas, the public indignation over the attempt in the House of Representatives to defeat the impeachment complaint filed against Chief Justice Hilario Davide, the removal of Joseph Estrada from the presidency through impeachment, and more recently, the clamor for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign.

Empowering people
to help themselves

But while she helped mobilize people power to further such causes, a radical idea had begun to gestate in Cory Aquino’s mind. In the aftermath of the 2001 People Power which removed President Estrada from office, she began to rethink the utility of continuing to use massive demonstrations of People Power in the country.

She began to see the need to “tap the inner dynamic of people power” by utilizing it to organize groups and communities for self-help and for political and socio-economic empowerment.

So on August 21, 2003, the 20th commemoration of the murder of Ninoy Aquino, she honored 20 groups and individuals who work to empower the people to help themselves, calling them “People Power People.”

She also announced her retirement from politics and her intention to utilize her energies by harnessing people power to create jobs and livelihood, deliver social services, establish peace and order and improve lives. In a speech introducing the People Power People, she pointed out that while people power has been effective in counteracting coups, shaming ambitious politicians from changing the Constitution to suit their political ends, or removing corrupt and erring presidents, “we have not seen enough of it where it should count – in improving the lives of the majority of Filipinos who are poor.”

“Think about it,” Cory Aquino told the audience, “If enough of us stopped complaining about how bad things are and did something to improve our environment, if we took responsibility for our communities, if we spent some of our precious time to take care of the sick and the abused, if we pooled our resources so that we can raise capital to give others livelihood, if we show more compassion towards those who are displaced by natural and man-made disasters, if we placed duty to country and people ahead of our personal interests, if we set aside politics for the higher goal of national unity and progress, we could – together – inspire and uplift, teach and transform society.”

Houses and enterprise

Although she broke her own vow to forego politics by getting involved in the anti-GMA movement in 2005, she has since returned to her avowed focus by concentrating on the promotion of two concrete causes that she feels embody the essence of people empowerment: the Gawad Kalinga community building program of Couples for Christ, and the PinoyME movement, which promotes micro-enterprises.

Gawad Kalinga helps the poor build “integrated, holistic and sustainable communities.” While Couples for Christ raises the funds for building materials, the communities themselves provide the labor, building one another’s homes at a fraction of the cost that government incurs for its housing projects. Couples for Christ then helps the community set up a neighborhood association where the residents learn the values of accountability and teamwork, thus ensuring the sustainability of the program.

Inspired by the effects of Gawad Kalinga and the budding micro-finance movement in the lives of their impoverished clients, Cory Aquino spearheaded the organization of the PinoyME movement, a private sector, multi-stakeholder, social consortium composed of leading microfinance institutions, the business sector, the academe, and foundations and NGOs, that aims to empower poor Filipinos through
micro-enterprise. PinoyME’s aim is to provide financial and related services to five million clients in depressed communities and raise P5 billion in capital in five years, thus contributing directly to reducing poverty.

Unchanged

But it has not been all work for Cory Aquino. Aside from tending to her growing brood of grandchildren, she has been reaping glory for the country as recipient of honorary degrees, awards and citations from local and international organizations that continue to value her contribution to the restoration of democracy which inspired peoples all over the world to rise against tyranny and oppression.

In January 2000, she was named by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as the “Filipino of the Year (1999)” and Time Magazine has included her in its list of the 20 Most Influential Asians of the 20th Century in its list of Asian Heroes.

Cory Aquino has published two books of her speeches and a compilation of prayers written by her and her late husband. Amid the bustle of her life as a former president, Cory Aquino finds the time to paint. She took painting lessons in 1996 from artist Jeff Consumo and has participated in a joint exhibit with friends.

Perhaps due to her innate prayerfulness, neither the rage and pain over the martyrdom of her husband or the power of the presidency has radically changed Cory Aquino. She has remained refreshingly unassuming, the same “housewife” who, speaking quietly, without bombast, managed to inspire a nation to rise against oppression and restore democracy in the land. The presidency did not spoil her into power-tripping or damage her moral uprightness.

Fifteen years after leaving the presidency, Cory Aquino’s life is as normal as it could ever be for a political superstar who is one of the best-loved and most admired presidents the Philippines has ever had.

(To find out how more about Mrs. Aquino’s PinoyME, visit www.pinoyme.com or email info.pinoyme.com. You can also fax them at (632) 634.0249 or write the PinoyME Secretariat, Unit 602 Manila Luxury Condominuim, #12 Pearl Drive cor. Gold Loop Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1601, Manila, Philippines.)

Paulynn Sicam, journalist-on-leave, is a member of the Peace Panel and a consultant with the Foundation for Communication Initiatives. She is due to come out with an anthology of her writings in the middle of the year.