1 Million Back Candidacy of Aquino Widow

A group urging the widow of slain opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. to run against President Ferdinand E. Marcos in the coming elections announced today that it has collected 1 million signatures endorsing her candidacy.

“I don’t know of anywhere in the world where this kind of thing has happened,” Lupita Kashiwahara, Benigno Aquino’s sister, said during a celebration at the headquarters of the Draft Cory Aquino for President Movement.

Marcos recently called for “snap,” or early, presidential elections next Feb. 7 amid sharp domestic and U.S. criticism over his handling of a growing communist insurgency and a severe economic crisis.

Aquino’s widow, Corazon, a popular figure in the Philippines despite a lack of political experience, had said she would consider running against Marcos if 1 million signatures were collected urging her to enter the race.

‘Just the Beginning’

Former newspaper Publisher Joaquin Roces, 72, said his group had collected 1,005,882 signatures as of today in support of her candidacy. “One million is just the beginning,” he said.

Roces said he called Corazon Aquino when the signatures reached 1 million and she thanked him. The petitions will be presented to her Dec. 1.

The campaign to draft Aquino’s widow has left anti-Marcos forces split between her and former Sen. Salvador Laurel, leader of the country’s biggest coalition of opposition parties.