Aquino confers posthumous award to ex-US congressman Solarz

President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday bestowed an honor to the late New York congressman Stephen Solarz who revealed in 1986 that former First Lady Imelda Marcos had 3,000 pairs of shoes. At a press briefing, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte announced that Aquino has decided to confer upon Solarz the Philippine Legion of Honor with the rank of Chief Commander. Aquino bestowed the honor upon Solarz, who died of esophageal cancer at a Washington hospital on Monday, "in appreciation for his solidarity with the Filipino people, as they fought to restore democracy, and his sustained interest and support for the Philippines in the years since the EDSA Revolution." Solarz was also awarded for his "eloquent and principled sense of democracy, his advocacy of good government, and his pursuit of a policy for his country that would honor and give life to the shared principles of liberty and democracy of the Filipino and American peoples." "It is just and proper to pay tribute to his contributions to the restoration and defense of our democracy by honoring him with the highest recognition a grateful republic can bestow," said Valte, reading from the draft citation. In the 1986 congressional hearings on the Philippines, Solarz provided "irrefutable evidence that President Ferdinand Marcos was misusing foreign aid, leading to the uncovering of the vast United States real estate empire he shared with his wife, Imelda — and his blockbuster disclosure about her shoes," said a New York Times report on Solarz's death. Aquino's father, the late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was the political nemesis of Mr. Marcos. The senator was gunned down on Aug. 21, 1983 upon his return to Manila from exile in the United States. Aquino's mother Corazon Aquino, who passed away in August last year, took over the presidency in February 1986 when Marcos was forced to step down from office because of the People Power uprising. — Jam Sisante/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV