18 August 2009 50 views No Comment Email This Post

MANILA, August 3, 2009 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Filipinos, many in tears, lined the streets as the body of former leader Corazon Aquino was moved to the capital’s cathedral in an emotional procession Monday.

The ex-president, whose husband was assassinated by forces loyal to dictator Ferdinand Marcos after returning home from exile in 1983, died of cancer at the weekend and is to be buried on Wednesday.

There has been a massive outpouring of tributes for the woman fondly called Tita, or Auntie, Cory, a grandmotherly figure credited with restoring democracy to the nation.

Traffic ground to a halt and confetti rained down from office blocks as people braved intermittent rain to get near Aquino’s coffin, lying on a bed of yellow flowers atop a flatbed truck.

Making an “L” sign with their fingers for Laban (Fight) – Aquino’s party slogan – the crowd sang a revolutionary anthem and chanted “Cory, Cory” as the cortege passed slowly through Manila’s financial district.

Women cried as yellow balloons symbolizing Aquino’s “People Power” uprising were released into the air. Yellow banners fluttered from rooftops and posters of Aquino hung from lamp-posts outside the stock exchange.

The youngest of the Aquino children, actress Kristina Bernadette, thanked the crowd as the convoy briefly stopped in front of a statue of her assassinated father Benigno Aquino.

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