MANILA, Philippines, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The widow of U.S. Rep. Stephen Solarz said the uprising in the Philippines inspired recent protests in the Middle East as she accepted an award for her husband.
President Benigno Aquino honored the late New York congressman Saturday with the Philippine Legion of Honor with the rank of chief commander for his aid to the 1986 "People Power" revolution that ousted President Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. He also gave honors to five Philippine journalists, in two cases posthumously.
The ceremony was part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the ouster of Marcos.
"It wasn't him. It was all of you," Nina Solarz said. "You are an inspiration to the people of the Middle East,"
Solarz, who died in November, served in Congress from 1975 to 1983.
In 1983, he left Manila just before Benigno Aquino, father of the current president, was assassinated. He returned for the funeral and lobbied the Reagan administration to withdraw its support from Marcos.
Solarz also helped publicize Imelda Marcos' enormous shoe collection, making her an international punch line. Corazon Aquino, who became president, called the congressman "the Lafayette of the Philippines."
