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MANILA (AFP) – – At least 150,000 people took to the rain-soaked streets of Manila on Wednesday to bid farewell to former president Corazon Aquino, whose “People Power” democracy movement ended decades of dictatorship.

Aquino, who died aged 76 after a long battle with cancer, was to be buried in a private ceremony after a long funeral procession skirting the Philippine capital’s gleaming business towers and teeming shantytowns.

Cory Aquino - Hero of Philippines Democracy!

With a national holiday called as part of 10 days of official mourning, thousands of people surrounded her coffin as it left Manila Cathedral following a mass just before noon draped in the national flag.

Eight police officers in full dress uniform served as pallbearers, carrying the casket to a flat-bed truck festooned with yellow and white flowers.

By mid-afternoon, a police

By Manny Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) -- Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, whose ouster of one of the 20th Century’s most corrupt dictators made her a global icon of democracy, died on Saturday after a 16-month battle against colon cancer. She was 76.

Hero of Philippines People Power!

Her family announced she died in the early hours of Saturday, shortly after a private mass was held in her hospital room. All five children were at her bedside when the end came.

“Our mother peacefully passed away at 3:18 a.m. of cardio-respiratory arrest,” her son, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., told reporters.

“She would have wanted us to thank each and every one of you for all the prayers and your continuous love and support. It was her wish for all of us to pray for one another and for our country.”

Aquino,