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FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4554
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS IMMEDIATE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 001414 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MTS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV RP
SUBJECT: IN POOR HEALTH, FORMER PRESIDENT CORY AQUINO 
FIGHTS ONE LAST BATTLE 
 
REF: MANILA 1262 (RALLY AGAINST CONSTITUTIONAL 
     REVISIONS DRAWS ONLY MODEST PARTICIPATION) 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino 
is in serious medical condition after a 15-month battle 
against cancer.  Prospects for her recovery are dim.  Family 
members rushed Aquino to Makati Medical Center nine days ago 
after she lost her appetite for food, and she has not eaten 
since, although she remains conscious and is able to speak. 
Relatives, friends, and political supporters began a nine-day 
healing mass July 1 for the country's venerated moral icon, 
who was catapulted to the presidency in 1986 following the 
earlier assassination of her husband, opposition leader 
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr.  Two of Aquino's five children 
are popular personalities in politics and media, and are 
likely to carry forth their mother's support for democratic 
rule.  In addition to her reputation as one the Philippines' 
modern heroes, Aquino will leave behind the legacy of an 
incomplete transition to modern democracy and her well-known 
antipathy for the nation's current chief, President Arroyo. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
STRUGGLING AGAINST CANCER 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino -- or 
"President Cory," as she is fondly called by most Filipinos 
-- was diagnosed with colon cancer in March 2008 and was 
rushed to the hospital nine days ago for emergency 
chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  Frail and weak from 
battling the disease and from not eating, she has refused to 
undergo additional procedures and rejected feeding through a 
nose tube.  Aquino's former Malacanang assistant Margie Juico 
said that the 76-year-old Aquino has already "surrendered to 
God's will."  The Aquino family has asked the public to pray 
for her recovery during a nine-day mass.  However, doctors 
say prospects for Aquino's recovery are dim, making this 
battle the final challenge for an important public figure who 
defined the Philippines' transition from authoritarianism to 
modern democratic rule more than twenty years ago, following 
in the footsteps of her celebrated husband, Benigno "Ninoy" 
Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated in 1983.  In morning radio 
interviews July 2, the Ambassador told listeners that the 
prayers of Mrs. Aquino's many admirers were with her and her 
family in hopes of a speedy recovery. 
 
AQUINO CHILDREN MOURN MOTHER'S SICKNESS 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Aquino will leave behind five children, two of whom 
have become national figures.  Son Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino 
III was elected to his first term as Senator in 2007 after 
serving three terms in Congress as representative of Tarlac 
province, political bailiwick of the Aquino-Cojuanco clan. 
He survived the 1987 failed coup attempt against his mother, 
when he was hit by five bullets as military rebels stormed 
the Presidential Palace, Malcanang.  Benigno belongs to the 
oppositionist Liberal Party which will field Senator Manuel 
Roxas II as a leading candidate in the May 2010 presidential 
elections.  Aquino's highly popular and influential daughter, 
Kris, a show business personality who has generously footed 
her mother's medical bills, has stated her intention to enter 
politics, possibly in 2010.  The youngest of the Aquino 
brood, Kris was barely twelve years old when her father was 
assassinated in 1983.  Aquino's three other daughters kept 
low profiles during and after their mother's six years in 
Malacanang.  Having witnessed their father's political 
persecution under the Marcos dictatorship, the Aquino 
children are inconsolable over losing their remaining pillar 
of strength. 
 
"CORY" -- ICON OF DEMOCRACY 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The 1983 assassination of Aquino's husband Ninoy 
during the Marcos regime triggered a "People Power" 
revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship and 
catapulted Cory Aquino to the presidency from 1986 through 
¶1992.  She is credited for helping restore Philippine 
democracy after twenty years under Marcos.  However, her 
presidency was rocked by at least seven failed coup attempts. 
 In a bloody 1989 coup attempt by the military, Aquino sought 
and received U.S. assistance to quell violence which killed 
nearly a hundred people, including some 50 civilians. 
Although she retired from politics after her six-year term, 
she became a visible figure in the moral crusade against 
 
MANILA 00001414  002 OF 002 
 
 
government corruption during the Estrada and Arroyo 
administrations.  Aquino maintained the respect of peers in 
the political establishment, including Senator Roxas, who 
called Aquino a "great leader" he could "respect and emulate." 
 
BUT ONLY A PARTIAL ICON OF MORALITY 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Once allied with President Arroyo, Aquino asked 
Arroyo to make the "supreme sacrifice" of resigning following 
Arroyo's 2004 "Hello Garci" election fraud controversy and 
subsequent impeachment moves against her in the House of 
Representatives.  Aquino has since supported civil society 
protests against President Arroyo (reftel), including efforts 
to block constitutional revisions that critics fear could 
perpetuate President Arroyo's hold on power after her term 
expires in 2010.  However, Aquino's credibility as a moral 
crusader was tarnished when she was seen with disgraced 
former President Estrada in protest movements against 
President Arroyo -- even after she supported then-Vice 
President Arroyo's 2001 successful "second people power" 
revolt which ousted President Estrada.  Her falling out with 
the Arroyo administration continued after President Arroyo's 
move to distribute Hacienda Luisita, the huge 
Aquino-Cojuangco sugar estate in Tarlac, to farm workers 
under the government's agrarian reform program. 
 
COMMENT: THE AQUINO LEGACY 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Revered as a hero for taking the reins of power at a 
difficult moment in Philippine politics, and at a time of 
great personal loss, President Aquino leaves behind an 
incomplete transition to democratic governance that, while 
marked by great personal freedom for Philippine citizens, 
never seems to have properly taken root in the institutions 
that must handle the difficult task of governing a diverse 
and divided society.  Her moral leadership, while coming at 
an important time for the Philippines, never fully 
compensated for her weak leadership style.  Her presidency 
was marked by numerous coup attempts and allegations of 
corruption.  Following her tenure, her antipathy toward 
President Arroyo led her to ally with more dubious political 
figures such as former President Estrada, blemishing her 
reputation as a moral crusader.  The Philippines must also 
live with an imperfect 1987 Constitution that, according to 
some observers, was passed in extreme haste to meet an 
artificial deadline imposed by Aquino, taking the country 
from one extreme -- rigid rule under Marcos -- to another 
extreme, in which minority parties and groups without defined 
constituencies (such as the Philippine Senate) are given 
extensive power at the expense of a more mature and stable 
political system. 
 
KENNEY