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By: Harvey S. Keh Last Saturday, the country woke up to the sad news that former President Corazon Aquino has passed away more than a year after she was diagnosed to have colon cancer. Millions of Filipinos have expressed their grief as our country has lost not only a former leader but more importantly, an international icon of freedom, democracy, good governance and ethical leadership. Until the very end and even when she was already experiencing so much pain, former President Aquino continued to tell all of us to not only pray for her but to pray for our country. She was a loving mother not only to her children but to each and every Filipino. Never since the time of the death of her husband, Ninoy Aquino, have we seen such massive outpouring of love, adulation and support from the Filipino people. Once again, our country that is often ravaged and divided by political scandals, bickering and insatiable greed by our leaders has been united by former President Aquino as she did when she led the restoration of democracy through the EDSA People Power 1 Revolution. Yet, I believe that the sacrifices of Ninoy and Cory Aquino will all be lost if we as a people do not do our own share in helping move our country forward. Ninoy died so our country may have freedom yet we still have millions of Filipino families who continue to be bound by the bondages of poverty while many of our present government leaders live in expensive mansions and travel in style using luxury vehicles. Until her very last gasp, Cory fought and prayed for Truth, Accountability and Good Governance in our country. We saw how she stood by NBN-ZTE Star witness Jun Lozada when he was besieged by the forces of our present administration after he revealed the details of the corruption-laden deal. We saw how she marched with thousands of Filipinos to oppose moves by this present administration to push for Charter Change as a means to continue to stay in power beyond 2010. We saw how she took a firm stand in asking for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005 when Arroyo couldn’t explain her involvement in the Hello Garci scandal. Despite leaving the Presidency and facilitating a peaceful turnover of power in 1992, Cory continued to remain active in ensuring that the evil forces that continue to seek to destroy our democratic institutions will never succeed. Now that she has passed away, we are challenged to not let these sacrifices go to naught as now more than ever, the Filipino people should continue to fight the good fight that Ninoy and Cory Aquino started. As the 2010 elections draw near, we celebrate another legacy of Cory, the restoration of our right to vote for the leaders that we believe will effectively and ethically govern our beloved country. Let us not put to waste this right by not only voting for the right leaders but more importantly, volunteering our time, resources and energy to support them. The problem with many Filipinos is we often choose to stay in the sidelines and remain non-partisan in the elections and just let the candidates slug it out with each other. When we let this happen, the candidate which has more money and political machinery will more often than not win over the one who has less. We have seen this for the past elections where the corrupt and greedy politicians continue to win while those who have the better track record and the best intentions to serve the country lose out. Let us not let this happen again in 2010, people power was a legacy that Cory will forever leave behind to the Filipino people, I believe that in the upcoming elections we will have a golden opportunity to honor this legacy and sacrifice made by Ninoy and Cory by uniting ourselves to unceasingly volunteer, campaign and support the kind of leaders that our country needs today. Leaders that will embody the kind of effective, empowering, selfless, courageous and God-fearing leadership that both Ninoy and Cory so generously gifted our nation with. Comments are welcome at harveykeh@gmail.com. ______________________________________________________ Harvey S. Keh is Director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo School of Government and is the Lead Covenor of Kaya Natin.