Cory Aquino, Maria Ressa among Time magazine's 100 influential women

The first female President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino has been recognized as one of the 100 women who defined the last century in the women's month edition of Time magazine for March 2020.

On Aquino, who was named Time Woman of the Year in 1986, the magazine said "There was a mythic quality to Corazon Aquino's ascent. Well-born and a devout Catholic, she was a supportive of the Philippines' most prominent critic of kleptocratic dictoator Ferdinand Marcos, and seemingly harbored no political ambitions until her husband's murder in 1983."

In the magazine's special issue, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was also cited as one of the "100 Women of the Year."

A veteran journalist, Ressa was named "Person of the Year" in 2018 along with former Washington Post journalist Jamal Kashoggi, Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Ho, and the newspaper Capital Gazette.

Ressa was one of the women who started Rappler, "aiming to serve a Filipino population rapidly moving online."

"But the news site turned into a global bellwether for free, accurate information at the vortex of two malign forces: one was the angry populism of an elected President with authoritarian inclinations, Rodrigo Duterte; the other was social media."

"With this 100 Women of the Year project, we’re spotlighting influential women who were often overshadowed. This includes women who occupied positions from which the men were often chosen," wrote TIME.

The weekly news magazine has included 89 new covers by prominent artists while 11 covers were left intact for women who had been named "Person of the Year."

On the selection process, TIME explained that "The 100 choices in this project are the result of a months-long process that began with more than 600 nominations submitted by TIME staff; experts in the field; our creative partner, filmmaker Alma Har’el; and a committee of notable women from various backgrounds."

The magazine has acknowledged that for 72 years, name the "Man of the Year" with few exceptions.

It was only in 1999, that this was changed to "Person of the Year."

The former TIME editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs was quoted as saying that the 100 women of the Year project "is an exercise in looking at the ways in which women held power due to systemic inequality."

Gibbs added that "women were already wielding soft power long before the concept was defined." — BAP, GMA News