MILF joins nation in mourning for Cory

The secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Tuesday joined the nation in mourning the demise of former president Corazon Aquino, who passed away early Saturday after more than a year battling colon cancer. In a statement on the group's website, MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said he is extending his "deepest" condolences to Mrs. Aquino's family and friends. “The MILF joins the Aquino family and the Filipino nation in mourning the passing away of a woman who started as a mere housewife and ended up as a symbol of resistance," Murad said. "There is no question about Cory being the symbol of resistance against a dictator who succeeded to enslave a whole nation and sent to the graves thousands of Moros during the heyday of the Ilagas and the peak of martial law," he added. The MILF leader acknowledged how Mrs. Aquino's husband, the late former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., led the investigation of the massacre of Moro trainees in Corregidor Island in 1968. The late senator also "openly expressed the need to address the Moro question in Mindanao in a speech in Jeddah" in later years, Murad said. On Monday, thousands of Filipinos from all walks of life displayed their support for the late democracy icon by showing up on the streets where her cortege passed on its way to the Manila Cathedral. More supporters came to the Manila Cathedral for Mrs. Aquino's wake. Her remains are open to public viewing for certain periods until it is brought to the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City on Wednesday for interment. Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV