RI expresses condolences on Corazon Aquino`s death

The Indonesian government on Saturday conveyed its condolonces to the Philippines on the passing of former President Corazon Aquino.

In a message sent through the Indonesian embassy in Manila, the foreign ministry said the Indonesian government and people shared the Philippines` grief over the death of its former president and expressed their condolences to Aquino`s family, the Filipino government and people.


"Her departure is a great loss not only to the Philippines but also to the international community, including ASEAN," foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said in Jakarta.

The Indonesian government remembers well Aquino`s efforts in developing cooperative relations between the Philippines and Indonesia in bilateral terms as well as in ASEAN, he said.

Aquino`s struggle to defend democracy in the Philippines which earned her the predicate of "icon of democracy" was also acknowledged by the international world, he said.

The 76-year old former Philippine president and widow of opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aguino died on Saturday of cardiac arrest after battling colon cancer for more than a year.

Philippine presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde said the government had declared a 10-day national mourning period and would give Aquino a state funeral but her family had decided to bury her next to her husband Ninoy Aquino`s grave in a private service.

Corazon Aquino rose to political prominence in 1986 when she led the massive "people power" movement which eventually brought down former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Originally an ordinary housewife who reluctantly assumed the presidency, Aquino had worked for the restoration of democracy in the Philippines and rewritten the country`s constitution