Cory's college confers highest honor on Noynoy

The alma mater of the late President Corazon "Cory" Aquino has conferred the highest honor on her son, incumbent President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III for promoting peaceful change and being committed to democracy. Noynoy received the Elizabeth Seton Medal from the Mount Saint Vincent College in New York City on Thursday morning (Manila time; September 22 afternoon in New York) "for his commitment to democracy, advocacy to the poor, opposing corruption, and promoting peaceful change in the Philippines." Noynoy received the medal in the presence of Aquino scholars-- recipients of the Aquino Scholarship that Cory established on September 21, 1986 for outstanding students of Filipino descent. Cory, who graduated from the college in 1953, was conferred the same honor in 1984, the year after her husband Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. was assassinated. The medal, named after the native New Yorker and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, is given in recognition of outstanding achievements, generosity of spirit and extraordinary self-sacrifice, according to the college. In his acceptance speech, Noynoy recalled the sacrifices of his parents, who were both considered instrumental in the establishment of the pro-democracy movement that eventually ended the two-decade rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986. "I stand here as living testimony to People Power: the redemptive power of that prayer. It toppled the dictatorship, it frustrated those who would try to revive its ways, it sustained democracy and now, it serves as the bones and sinews of our great mandate for reform," Noynoy said. "Filipinos saved themselves from slavery to a dictator; they saved themselves from returning to the status of slaves; and they are working mightily, today, to free themselves from slavery and from poverty," Noynoy said. Noynoy was thrust into the presidential race after Cory died of colon cancer on August 1 last year. He won by a large margin over other presidential contenders that included former President Joseph Estrada and billionaire senator Manuel Villar Jr. Aquino has been in the United States since Tuesday morning (Manila time) for a weeklong working visit that includes several business meetings, the United Nations general assembly, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-US leaders' meeting. –VVP, GMANews.TV