President Benigno Aquino III asked Filipinos Sunday to help him fight the corruption that has dogged previous governments and become one of the major obstacles to developing the economy of the Philippines. Aquino, popularly known by his nickname Noynoy, was speaking at the first anniversary of the death of his mother, former president Corazon Aquino, who is regarded in the country as a democracy heroine. “We can only end poverty if we fight corruption, and this is where everyone has a major role to play,” Aquino said at a Catholic religious service at the Dela Salle University gynasium attended by his family, the cabinet and hundreds of supporters, many clad in yellow, the signature color of his mother. “It can be done in simple ways, by showing common courtesy to strangers, by paying taxes, by following traffic rules and by disposing of our waste properly. “We can do even more by reporting any wrongdoing that might be brought to our attention. Let us challenge ourselves and our leaders to brave the straight path,” he said. Aquino was a congressman and a senator when his mother, who was president from 1986 to 1992, died of colon cancer a year ago. Her death sparked an outpouring of emotions that helped him win the presidential elections in May. Aquino, who took office on June 30, has pledged to fix a large budget deficit, endemic corruption, widespread poverty and two long-running insurgencies by Maoist and Muslim rebels. After two administrations dogged by allegations of corruption and mismanagement, he also faced an enormous weight of public expectation for him to deliver, which could prove to be a burden given his reforms will take time to produce results. In his first State of the Nation address in late July, he said the government would create a business and investor-friendly environment to attract funds needed to improve infrastructure. Filipinos Sunday paid tribute to his mother, who helped lead a 1986 “people power” revolt that ousted a dictator and whose death last year became a springboard for her son's triumphant run for the presidency. Noynoy Aquino led one of several tributes to his mother, calling on Filipinos to continue her struggle for democracy by helping him confront his nation's illnesses, including poverty and pervasive corruption. “The clamor of our people for change is so deep,” Aquino said during a memorial Mass for his mother at a suburban Manila gymnasium used as a venue for many pro-democracy protests. “None of us can afford to be bystanders.” Aquino called his late mother “one extraordinary woman,” who remains deeply beloved a year after she died following yearlong battle with colon cancer at 76. Her death spurred a massive outpouring of national grief that prompted her only son, a quiet lawmaker and bachelor, to run for the presidency, winning by a landslide margin on May 10. Throngs of people offered prayers and flowers and lit candles Sunday at her white tomb guarded by soldiers. Masses were held across the predominantly Roman Catholic nation in her honor. A giant photo mosaic of her smiling image was unfurled by her son at Manila's seaside Rizal park Saturday. Fondly called “Tita (Auntie) Cory,” Corazon Aquino is remembered by many Filipinos as the bespectacled, smiling woman in her trademark yellow dress who helped lead a 1986 nonviolent revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos and swept her to power. She inherited the mantle of her husband, Benigno Aquino Jr., an opposition senator gunned down by soldiers at Manila's airport in 1983 upon his return from US exile to challenge Marcos. After her presidency ended in 1992, Aquino continued to serve as a moral compass by joining street protests to safeguard democracy and advocate against corruption and human rights violations. She was among those who called for her son's predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to resign because of corruption and vote-rigging allegations. In 2003, she set up a civic movement inspired by the legacy of the 1986 revolt to help provide livelihoods, homes and education for the country's poor – who make up about one-third of the country's 94 million people.
