Blake Lively Leaked Photos: Death of Cory Aquino: Live video stream and photos of former Philippine President's cortege

by Joey Alarilla, Philippines

Thousands of Filipinos have lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the cortege and pay their respects as the remains of former Philippine President Corazon "Cory" Aquino were transferred to the Manila Cathedral. As of this writing, the cortege is on its way to the church where her body will lie in state after being transferred from La Salle Greenhills. The procession is being live streamed by GMANews.TV and ABS-CBN.

Aquino will be buried on Wednesday, August 5, which has been declared a special non-working holiday by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as part of the 10-day period of national mourning.

Here's an excerpt from the INQUIRER.net article on the sea of yellow that brought to mind the huge crowd who turned out for the funeral procession of Aquino's husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, whose assassination on August 21, 1983, was the spark that led to the 1986 People Power Revolution.

Both scenes were reminiscent of 1986 when Aquino, then the opposition's Presidential candidate, led massive protests against dictator Ferdinand Marcos whom she accused of cheating in the snap Presidential elections. The protests eventually led to a bloodless people power revolt that ousted Marcos and installed her as the first female President of the Philippines.

This Monday, there was no Cory to wave back at an adoring crowd. Instead, it was her flower-adorned casket on top of a six-wheeler truck that passed by. Tied to the vehicle was a white tarpaulin with the words "Mahal ka naming [We love you], Cory".

When the funeral cortege reached the monument of Mrs Aquino's late husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr, on the intersection of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas, the crowd of thousands simultaneously sang Bayan Ko (My Country) and again flashed the "Laban" sign.

Here's Tonyo Cruz's blog roundup for Global Voices Online on how Filipinos from all walks of life are mourning the death of Cory Aquino.

You may also check out this heartfelt message from Carlo Ople. Ople posted a blog entry for the younger generation of Filipinos, who, like him, did not grow up under Martial Law and may not know that much about Cory Aquino and what she did for the country.

On Twitter, many Filipinos posted photos of the crowd that gathered along EDSA and Makati Avenue via Twitpic.

Here are some of the photos I saw on my timeline.