by Santosh Digal

Under emergency hospitalisation for a tumour, and subjected to chemotherapy, she is receiving the affection and prayers of those who remember all that "this great Christian soul" has done for her country and for the Islamic community.

Manila (AsiaNews) - About 20 Muslims and 50 Christians (priests, sisters, seminarians, and laypeople) gathered yesterday at La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong, to pray for former president Corazon C. Aquino, under emergency hospitalisation for colon cancer.

Aquono, considered a symbol of democracy in the country, is undergoing chemotherapy.  The interconfessional meeting was organised by the La Salle Brothers, and by the Black and White Movement.

Aleem Abdel Jabbar Macarimbor, president of the Union of Madari Teachers Federation in the Philippines, opened the function by reciting verses from the Qur'an.  He said of Aquino, "That great soul is a Christian, but she is an exemplar in her public life, even to us Muslims". "Cory created a peace panel that talked peace with the armed mujahideen among us", he added with gratitude, "appointing one of our blood as its chair, former vice president Emmanuel Pelaez, who offered to the Moro National Liberation Front ten provinces in Mindanao for an autonomous region for the Bangsamoro, without the rigmarole of a referendum or a plebiscite". This led to the creation of the autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao.

In February of 1986, Aquino was at the centre of the peaceful mass revolution that put an end to the 20-year dictatorship of president Ferdinand Marcos, who was forced to resign.  In her six years as president, she introduced the new constitution, which recognised rights and freedoms, and important laws like the agricultural reform in favour of the small farmers.  Irreproachable in her public and private life, she is considered one of the most significant figures in Asia from the past century.

Yusuf Ledesma, one of Aquino's relatives and a member of the Balik Islam Community, remembered her "great tolerance" and her nomination of Muslims to government posts during her administration.

Mike Valenzuela, of the La Salle Brothers, remembered that "Aquino taught us how to be heroes. The 1986 popular revolution shows how many people she touched".

An organiser, Fr Arlyn, says participants are praying that "she may endure the sickness in the light of faith".

• Philippines
• ecumenical
• prayers
• Muslim
• Christian
• president
• Corazon
• Aquino
• hospitalized
• colon
• cancer
• chemotherapy