Arriving in Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport is about as far as you'll ever get from a streamlined process.

CNN: ASIANOW - Travel Watch | Manila City Guide: Environment

Ninoy's 1983 assassination on his return to Manila from exile in the U.S. catapulted her out of his shadow and into the spotlight.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | TIME 100: Corazon Aquino

Then, Ninoy's mission accomplished, Cory retired with a clear conscience to play with her grandchildren, write her memoirs and paint landscapes as sunny as her outlook.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | TIME 100: Corazon Aquino

Later, as the wife of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | TIME 100: Corazon Aquino

When I met her shortly after Ninoy's funeral, she was under the illusion that as soon as public curiosity about her waned, she could retreat to the privacy of her old life and fight Marcos from the sidelines.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | TIME 100: Corazon Aquino