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THEY may have been at one point in history, on opposing sides, with
their late husbands – former strongman Ferdinand Marcos and former
Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. – waging a bitter political war against
each other.
But 22 years after the first popular uprising
that saw the wife of the late senator being installed to power and
the wife of the then president accompanying her husband to
self-exile in Hawaii, it seems that the proverbial saying of “time
heals all wounds” now applies to former First Lady Imelda Marcos,
who has been praying hard for former President Corazon Aquino’s
recovery from colon cancer.
Fernando ‘Ding’ Diaz told The Manila Times
that as soon as Mrs. Marcos was informed that Mrs. Aquino was
diagnosed as suffering from colon cancer, “she proceeded to the
Binondo Church and prayed for her.”
Diaz said that Mrs. Marcos does not want Mrs.
Aquino to experience hardships and pains.
“Mrs. Marcos prayed that Mrs. Aquino would not
suffer as she knows fully well how difficult it is to suffer,”
Diaz said.
Diaz said that Mrs. Marcos confided to him that
when then Sen. Benigno Aquino needed to have an immediate heart
surgery and had to be brought urgently to the United States for his
bypass operation, she immediately worked for the ex-senator’s
travel papers so that he can leave for the US within 24 hours.
“She is a compassionate woman contrary to what
is being thrown at her by her harshest critics,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Aquino underwent her first
chemotherapy session, a day after her children, Sen. Benigno Aquino
and Kris Aquino, announced that she was suffering from colon cancer.
Mrs. Aquino was selected Time Magazine’s Woman
of the Year in 1986 and is a recipient of the 1998 Ramon Magsaysay
Award for International Understanding.
She was recognized as one of the World’s Elite
Women Who Make a Difference by the International Women’s Forum
Hall of Fame of 2005.
Mrs. Aquino is also praised for her support for
democracy and for overseeing microfinance projects for beginning
entrepreneurs. She also provided social welfare and scholarship
assistance through the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation.
-- Francis Earl A. Cueto
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