European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Takes in in election Cory Cory Cory a Photop Potikian Ean Dlatt Canton Aquino of Loiti the Trad tonal i Ign for Laban meaning film Byset Mydans new York times t ens of thousands of people took Over the Center of Manila s business District during wildly enthusiastic rally recently that demonstrated the wave of adulation that has built the presidential Campaign of Corazon c. Aquino in the Philippines. The crowd 50,000\ r More choked the District s main intersection stranding buses and cars. A snowstorm of yellow confetti swirled in the up drafts Between office buildings As Aquino s supporters chanted her nickname Cory Cory the candidate stood in the Glare of a spotlight on the darkening late afternoon platform dressed As always in yellow her hands at her sides. She smiled in what seemed a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment an turned sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right As if unsure quite How to respond she received her adulation one Spectator said like one of the statues of the Madonna that filipinos carry through the streets in religious processions. Aquino s speech was Short and simple offering Little More than she has offered from the Start of what seems a genuinely reluctant Campaign her sincerity her honesty and her self sacrifice. Since the Campaign began Aquino has mastered considerable detail on issues she admitted at first were new to her. But the issues remain of secondary importance in an election with one overriding concern a widespread and deeply Felt yearning for change. Aquino a Symbol and she campaigns As a Symbol. In contrast to the first Days of her candidacy she now has a coherent position to offer on such questions As the presence of two Large american bases on the growing communist insurgency and on economic Reform. But it was not these issues that Drew the massive crowd or the Little groups of cheering villagers that lined her motorcade through the Coconut Groves of the Laguna District South of Manila. Whereas the crowds who cheer for her opponent president Ferdinand e. Marcos seem composed of realists who understand wearily where the Power and the finances lie Aquino seems to have fired her supporters with a renewed idealism. One Marcos subordinate disparaged the Aquino phenomenon saying Cory s Campaign is like sex. It s the gratification of the moment. But postcoital tristesse 1st slurs pages of the Philippines sensationalist newspapers some readers but troubled Many others Jim ily those of the older generation in the Yew dominantly roman Catholic nation. M a Strong tradition of latin style Mach temo nurtured Jrsn nearly 400 years As a Spanish Colony. Qty of i forced some filipinos to make some a in Jmel \lot7tm i � i iwo a a sir said one 68-year-old bystander on me of a crowd at a recent Marcos Mayln Waco is a Strong Leader and does not need to rely Kyj he old. A woman could never be Jfe the Catholic oriented news housewife Margaret Pineda As saying women did not belong in Public office. I like a Man because he is braver than a woman she said. Even if a woman has courage she s still a woman. I mean she s weak. Cory Only wants revenge. She will use the Power to put Marcos in last month on the Southern Island of Mindanao Aquino repeated her accusation that the president had a hand in the 1983 murder of her husband. First lady Arnama Marco 56, is governor of Manila minister of human settlements and by anyone s standards a powerful figure in her own right. While sharing her husband s seemingly insatiable hunger for Public adoration she has frequently attacked Aquino whom she refers to As that widow for falling to conform to traditional female standards. Will follow Don t you doubt increasingly though the Aquino phenomenon has solidified into a reality of its own. Whether she wins or loses in her Long shot Campaign against the massed forces of the presidency she is forging a new National consensus that will have to be reckoned with. The icon of Aquino s Campaign is her husband Benigno s. Aquino jr., assassinated in 1983 and whose memory she has invoked at virtually every Campaign appearance. Much More of her Campaign literature focuses on her husband than on her and his assassination is the Centrepiece of he 3.0-second television advertisements. She told the crowd at the rally in the Maktal business District we must show them that we Are not afraid to fight for our rights. Ninoy offered his life for you so that Freedom might be restored. And i Cory Aquino am prepared to offer everything i have. And if necessary i will also offer my life for to Many in in Philippines the popularity of Aquino s candidacy is remarkable growing As it has in a nation where her opponent controls the Means of communication and where even the businessmen who cheered for her at the rally Are for the most part afraid to contribute openly to her Campaign. Aquino occasionally travels with a speaking platform mounted on a truck because local officials most of whom Back the president deny her a place from which to hold her rallies. Her Campaign managers say they Are running out of funds and have limited the number of television and radio advertisements. On her motorcade through the villages of Laguna aides scooped up the yellow confetti that had been showered on her so they could reuse it at a later Stop. Yet Aquino against prediction of most politicians in Manila has managed for the moment at least to unite the nation s fragmented opposition for the first time in years. It is an achievement these politicians themselves Are sometimes at a loss to explain and it May be a fragile one. If Aquino wins the widely disparate groups that have United behind her to unseat Marcos Are Likely to fragment again As they scramble for positions of Power. And if she loses Aquino May Well return to being what she has always described herself to be just an Ordinary in such a Case the adulation she has inspired could become no More than a footnote to philippine history. 81986 the stars and stripes Page 15
