Blazing, Serene Hope: The Life & Style of Cory Aquino
“Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather, it is a spirit that bears things — with resignations, yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope.”
- Corazon Cojuangco Aquino 1933-2009
She was a style icon if there ever was one.
She immortalized the colour yellow as the colour of hope — blazing, serene hope.
The hope of a people oppressed, a country in shackles, impoverished by greed but holding on to a faith that was made real by a widow in mourning, a mother filled with strength, a woman in yellow.
I was in Grade 4 when People Power was happening. I remember our classroom adviser telling us about a coup d’etat happening in Manila led by then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and AFP Vice-Chief-of-Staff Fidel Ramos against Marcos. Only a few weeks before, my brothers and I were jumping on the bed shouting “Laban, Cory” while flashing the L-sign with our hands but not fully understanding the gravity of it all.
Today, her legacy lives on in her son, who now holds the highest office in the land, holds the future of a country once again afire with a blazing, serene hope set alight by her death one year ago today.
To the late great Corazon “Cory” Aquino, I bask in the radiance of your life and style.
Thank you for making me proud to be a Filipina, and for giving Filipinos all over the world a reason to keep holding their heads high.
