Manila Memorial Park security tightened for Cory's death anniversary

Security was tightened at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City on Monday for activities marking the second death anniversary of former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, mother of incumbent President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Presidential guards conducted security checks for motorists passing through the main gate of the Manila Memorial Park, radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported. The Presidential Security Group also screened visitors near the Plaza of Dignity inside the park where the tombs of Cory and her husband, slain former Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., are located. Cory, dubbed an icon of democracy for toppling the late President Ferdinand Marcos in a popular revolt in 1986, succumbed to colon cancer on August 1, 2009. Cory's death generated a clamor for the younger Aquino, then a senator, to run in the 2010 presidential race. White tents, yellow flowers On Monday, ropes cordoned off the area around the tombs of Cory and Ninoy for activities from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m, which included a Mass where President Aquino and members of his immediate family were scheduled to attend. About 200 chairs and several white tents, as well as sound systems and speakers, were seen in the area, the report said. Yellow flower were also placed in the tombs, the report said. Yellow was Cory's standard color. In August 1983 when Ninoy was returning home from the United States to the Philippines, his allies in Metro Manila tied yellow ribbons as a sign that they still believed in him as their leader to oppose Marcos. The symbol was taken from the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree," where the man who had just come out of prison asked his old girlfriend to tie a yellow ribbon in an oak tree as a sign that the girl still loved and welcomed him. After Ninoy's assassination on August 21, 1983, Cory and the opposition adopted yellow as their color. - VVP, GMA News