The world has been mourning the passing of Corazon Aquino, former President of the Philippines (1986-92). She died of cardiac arrest after a long battle with cancer.

When the news of her passing came through I recalled the brief and dramatic moment when I met her in February 1986.

It was at one of the largest election rallies in world history - millions of people were in the Manila stadium when we arrived. The nun who had been my minder for the day simply took me by the hand and we started to walk through the enthusiastic crowd. The people just parted to let us through. I was clearly not a Filipino and the crowd wanted international media coverage for their rally. (The corrupt Marcos government had banned all domestic coverage of the Aquino campaign).

The nun and I walked the length of the stadium and we were taken on to the stage to meet the brave Mrs Aquino who was risking her life by running against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He had had her husband Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino shot dead in 1983 and he could easily have done the same to her.

This was the final election rally before the crucial 1986 election. She "lost" the election because the Marcos cronies counted the votes. But the people rebelled and Marcos (with US assistance) fled the country and later died in exile.

Mrs Aquino - who had never had any political ambitions - suddenly found herself president by acclamation. It was a very exciting time - "people power" in action.

I had been in Manila for an international conference. Marcos changed the date of the election and it was too late for the conference to be delayed to avoid the election. We had the conference and then stayed around for the election.

The conference was held at a Catholic convent. Only months later did I find out that Mrs Aquino had spent at least one night secretly sleeping in the room next to me. The convent was run by nuns sympathetic to Mrs Aquino, who was constantly on the move to avoid assassination. She spent at least one night in the room next to mine (I hope my snoring didn't keep her awake!).

Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco was born into one of the country's richest families. She was educated overseas. She married Ninoy, who came from another elite family, in 1954. He would probably have been elected president in 1972 if President Marcos had finished his term in office and retired (as he was required by the constitution to do). Instead Marcos declared martial law, stayed in power and plunged the country into a brutal dictatorship. Ninoy was arrested and imprisoned. He left the country for the US following his release. In August 1983 believing Marcos to be dying, he returned to Manila. He was shot dead on the tarmac as soon as he left the plane.

Mrs Aquino had had no political ambitions but she was looked upon as his natural successor. She mobilized the middle class and business interests in the 1986 election. They wanted a more modern democracy and flourishing economy. Her time in office was not a happy one. She reversed the Marcos martial law and made the Philippines again a free country. But the military were restive and there were attempted military coups. She didn't run for a second term. After she left office, she retired from active party politics.

The country's basic problem remains: it is a feudal society. A handful of rich families (including her own, her husband's and the Marcos one) all take in turns to run the country. A modern economy requires a thriving middle class with wealth distributed across the country - and this has been slow to emerge. Mrs Aquino could not reform the economy without reducing her own family's privileges (let alone those of the other members of the ruling elite).

She was not that much of a radical. She could not deliver on all the promises that were made in 1986 (and neither has any of her successors). The Philippines is still a long way from attaining the status that the Spanish colonizers thought it deserved centuries ago: "pearl of the orient".

But for a brief shining moment in February 1986 I saw people power in action. She was battling against the odds. There was virtually no domestic media coverage because of the Marcos censorship. The foreign media had said her campaign was doomed to failure because of the power of the Marcos government. Luckily she and her supporters ignored the foreign media coverage! They achieved what the foreign media were telling them was impossible to achieve.

Keith Suter