US Senator Richard Lugar has this to say about our late former president Corazon Aquino:

Long before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the revolutions that transformed Central and Eastern Europe, Corazon Aquino led the People Power revolution, which toppled the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. His ouster after the infamous snap election of 1986, for which I was a U.S. observer, led TIME to name her Woman of the Year. Her presidency survived eight coup attempts as she patiently restored constitutional democracy to her country, where she died a revered figure. But her legacy was global. For the U.S., it marked the start of the Reagan doctrine to oppose authoritarianism of the right and left, and she helped inspire peaceful upheavals around the world. She showed that one person of modest demeanor can change history.

2009 Fond Farewells

1. Corazon Aquino
2. Bea Arthur
3. Norman Borlaug
4. David Carradine
5. Marilyn Chambers
6. Walter Cronkite
7. Merce Cunningham
8. Natalya Estemirova
9. Farrah Fawcett
10. Horton Foote
11. John Hope Franklin
12. Millard Fuller
13. Larry Gelbart
14. Paul Harvey
15. Thomas Hoving
16. John Hughes
17. Maurice Jarre
18. Michael Jackson
19. Ingemar Johansson
20. Stanley Kaplan
21. Jack Kemp
22. Ted Kennedy
23. Willem J. Kolff
24. Claude Lévi-Strauss
25. Karl Malden
26. Frank McCourt
27. Ed McMahon
28. Robert McNamara
29. Robert Novak
30. Les Paul
31. Claiborne Pell
32. Irving Penn
33. Natasha Richardson
34. William Safire
35. Soupy Sales
36. Paul Samuelson
37. Budd Schulberg
38. Ron Silver
39. Naomi Sims
40. Helen Suzman
41. Patrick Swayze
42. George Tiller
43. Mary Travers
44. John Updike
45. Andrew Wyeth
46. Velupillai Prabhakaran
47. John Mortimer
48. Jeanne-Claude
49. Shi Pei Pu
50. Kim Dae Jung

1. The Princess and the Frog – an animated film loosely based on E.D. Baker’s novel The Frog Princess, which was in turn inspired by the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale “The Frog Prince”. It is the 49th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics.

2. Up – Disney-Pixar’s offering for 2009 about a grumpy old man named Carl Fredricksen and an overeager Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons.

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox – A stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children’s novel of the same name featuring the voices of George Clooney and Meryl Streep.

4. The Hurt Locker – A critically-acclaimed thriller about a United States Army EOD team during the Iraq War.

5. Up in the Air – A dramedy film about a corporate downsizer in his travels and follows his isolated life and philosophies, along with the people that he meets along the way. George Clooney stars.

6. The White Ribbon – The 2009 Cannes-winning film about children in a village in northern Germany just before World War I. According to Haneke, the film is about “the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature.”

7. A Single Man – This film is based on the Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name and stars Colin Firth as the protagonist George Falconer, a gay British college professor living in Southern California in the 1960s.

8. Of Time and the City – Of Time and the City is a documentary film directed by Terence Davies. The film has Davies recalling his life growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 1960s, using newsreel and documentary footage supplemented by his own commentary voiceover and contemporaneous and classical music soundtracks.

9. District 9 – A science fiction film about a South African bureaucrat assigned to relocate a race of extraterrestrial creatures, derogatorily referred to as “prawns”, from a refugee camp in Johannesburg to a new one outside the city.

10. Thirst – A Korean movie that tells the story of a priest—who is in love with his friend’s wife—turning into a vampire through a failed medical experiment.

18-year-old Muelmar Magallanes, a construction worker who braved rampaging floods during Tropical Storm “Ondoy” to save the lives of 30 relatives and neighbors only to lose his own life has been named one of Time magazine’s top 10 heroes of 2009.

TIME magazine has this to say about Muelmar:

“[B]y the time the storm had unleashed its full fury, bringing the worst rains the region had seen in more than 40 years, Magallanes had changed the lives of dozens of family members and neighbors—and lost his own.”

Magallanes evacuated his family to higher ground while the overflowing river is swallowing their house in Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City. After making sure his parents and siblings were safe, Magallanes went back to help their neighbors who were trapped on their rooftops.

According to reports, Magallanes managed to save 30 people including a 6-month-old girl who was about to be swept away in a Styrofoam box.

The exhausted Magallanes was simply washed away by the strong current and his body was found the following morning.

Aside from Magallanes, Time also cited Afghan journalist Sultan Munadi, banker Leonard Abess, activist Tan Zuoren, University of California police officers Lisa Campbell and Ally Jacobs, civilian police officers Kimberley Munley and Mark Todd, Mike Perham, Neda Agha-Soltan, ship captain Richard Phillips who escaped from Somali pirates, and pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger who landed his crippled jetliner safely in the Hudson River in New York City.

Check out the 100 personalities who made it to TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People list for 2009.

The list is divided into 5 categories. Our very own Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao made it to the Heroes and Icons category.

LEADERS & REVOLUTIONARIES

Nicolas Sarkozy
Joaquín Guzmán
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
(for the complete list, click here)

BUILDERS & TITANS

The Twitter Guys
Brad Pitt
Suze Orman
Stella McCartney
(for the complete list, click here)

ARTISTS & ENTERTAINERS

Rush Limbaugh
M.I.A.
Kate Winslet
Penélope Cruz
John Legend
The View Hosts
Zac Efron
Tina Fey
Tom Hanks
(for the complete list, click here)

HEROES & ICONS

Manny Pacquiao
Michelle Obama
Tiger Woods
Chesley B. Sullenberger
George Clooney
Richard Philips
Oprah Winfrey
Sarah Palin
Seth Berkley
Michael Evis
Leonard Abess
Hadizatou Mani
Rick Warren
Van Jones
Somaly Mam
Rafael Nadal
Suraya Pakzad
Jeff Bezos
Brady Gustafson
Sister Mary Scullion

SCIENTISTS AND THINKERS

Nouriel Roubini
Amory Lovins
Jon Favreau
Dambisa Moyo
Dan Barber
Yoichiro Nambu
Roland Fryer
Martin Lindstrom
Barbara Hogan
David Sheff
(for the complete list, click here)

Pacquiao is ahead of 3,597,450 votes from 4chan owner Moot. Following in 3rd place is the Korean popstar Rain with 12,762,229 votes.

Based on number of online votes received, here are the current Top 10 (as of May 2, 2009 12:30 p.m. Manila time):

1. Manny Pacquiao – 20,391,818
2. Moot – 16,794,368
3. Rain – 12,762,229
4. Stephen Colbert – 5,005,006
5. Paul Kagame – 3,890,609
6. Jon Stewart – 3,152,501
7. Ron Paul – 2,493,274
8. Elizabeth Warren – 2,320,902
9. Anwar Ibrahim – 2,316,378
10. Larry Brilliant – 2,005,310

Based on ratings received, here are the current Top 10 (as of May 2, 2009 12:30 p.m. Manila time):

1. Moot – 90
2. Anwar Ibrahim – 47
3. Rick Warren – 45
3. Baitullah Mehsud – 45
4. Larry Brilliant – 44
5. Eric Holder – 43
6. Carlos Slim – 41
6. Angela Merkel – 41
7. Kobe Bryant – 39
7. Evo Morales – 39
8. Alexander Lebedev – 38
9. Lil Wayne – 37
10. Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – 36

22. Manny Pacquiao – 27

The TIME 100 “Most Influential” Poll is still ongoing. To cast your vote, proceed to TIME’s website.

TIME shortlisted 203 different personalities in diverse fields like politics, science, sports, technology, entertainment and the arts.

Our Pambansang Kamao is currently behind the pop princess Britney Spears with 561,434 votes. Pacman is slightly popular than The Jonas Brothers who are at no. 14 and even US President Barrack Obama who is currently at no. 16.

Here’s what TIME has to say about Manny Pacquiao:

PRO: The Filipino prizefighter — better known as “Pac-Man” — stunned the boxing world in December by defeating Oscar De La Hoya. He’s readying a move into politics, where his popularity should land him another knockout: Pacquiao’s bouts are so heavily viewed in the Philippines, the crime rate goes down when he brawls.

CON: Fans have been vocally displeased with his decision to go into politics. And he has a lot of fans.

Vying for the top spot this year are 4Chan founder Moot and Korean pop star Rain. Other personalities in the running are Twilight author Stephanie Meyer (#11), teen sensation Miley Cyrus (#20), world’s most beautiful woman Angelina Jolie (#32), American heartthrob Zac Efron (#34), the ultimate heartthrob Brad Pitt (#35), country music sweetheart Taylor Swift (#58).

Popular talk show host Ellen de Generes and world’s most talented kid Charice were not included as finalists. But half-Filipino Thomas Beatie, also known as the “Pregnant Man”, is also one of the finalists currently at no. 131.

To cast your vote, proceed to TIME’s website.

Here is the complete list of this year’s finalists (in random order):

* Barack Obama
* The Twitter Guys, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone
* Jim Cramer
* The Charter 08 authors
* Tzipi Livni
* Bernie Madoff
* Arianna Huffington
* Pope Benedict XVI
* Rain
* George W. Bush
* Katie Stam
* Alex Rodriguez
* M.I.A.
* Prince
* Bill O’Reilly
* Joaquin Phoenix
* David Plouffe
* Rahm Emanuel
* Dov Charney
* Mark Cuban
* Eric Holder
* Odell Barnes
* Rod Blagojevich
* The Pregnant Man: Thomas Beatie
* Roland Burris
* Stephen Colbert
* Sarah Palin
* The Jonas Brothers
* Britney Spears
* Miley Cyrus
* Angelina Jolie
* John McCain
* Hillary Clinton
* Ron Paul
* Mike Huckabee
* Arnold Schwarzenegger
* Ratan Tata
* Oprah Winfrey
* Tina Fey
* Michelle Obama
* Katie Couric
* Michael Phelps
* Kobe Bryant
* Lil’ Wayne
* Mukesh Ambani
* Ron Bloom
* Bill Gross
* Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
* Warren Buffett
* Carlos Slim
* T. Boone Pickens
* Ram Charan
* Neel Kashkari
* James Lockhart
* Jamie Dimon
* Michael Duke
* Ken Lewis
* Dick Kovacevich
* Sheila Bair
* Charlie Gasparino
* Tim Geithner
* Meredith Whitney
* General Petraeus
* Abdul Rahman al-Rashed
* Michelle Rhee
* Nancy Pelosi
* Elizabeth Warren
* Gordon Brown
* Boris Johnson
* Benjamin Netanyahu
* Asif Ali Zardari
* Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
* Morgan Tsvangirai
* Robert Mugabe
* Paul Kagame
* Richard Kelly
* Alexander Lebedev
* Ronnie Screwvala
* Steve Jobs
* Jeff Kindler
* Nouriel Roubini
* Yochiro Nambu
* Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller
* Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki
* Douglas Melton
* Nicholas Christakis
* Nate Silver
* Rowan Williams
* Paul Krugman
* Dr. Alain Carpentier
* Doris A. Taylor
* Roland Fryer
* Steven Chu
* Connie Hedegaard
* Jon Favreau
* Rachel Maddow
* Rush Limbaugh
* Kate Winslet
* Seth MacFarlane
* Damien Hirst
* William Kentridge
* Danny Boyle
* Gustavo Dudamel
* Renzo Piano
* Ricky Gervais
* Dan Barber
* Will Wright
* Hugh Jackman
* Clint Eastwood
* Roberto Saviano
* Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III
* Jeff Bezos
* Rick Warren
* Patrick Swayze
* Tiger Woods
* Danica Patrick
* Manny Pacquiao
* Jessica Flannery
* Rafael Nadal
* Dalai Lama
* Vladimir Putin
* Hu Jintao
* Jacob Zuma
* Anwar Ibrahim
* Ben Bernanke
* Muqtada al-Sadr
* Robert Gates
* Sonia Gandhi
* Baitullah Mehsud
* Evo Morales
* Ma Ying-jeou
* Brad Pitt
* Lance Armstrong
* Kaká
* Sheik Mohammed al-Maktoum
* Yoani Sénchez
* Madeeha Hasan Odhaib
* Tony Blair
* Aung San Suu Kyi
* George Mitchell
* Craig Venter
* Larry Brilliant
* Jeff Han
* Nancy Brinker
* Peter Pronovost
* Eric Chivian and Richard Cizik
* Mary Lou Jepsen
* Mark Zuckerberg
* Tyler Perry
* Khaled Hosseini
* Rem Koolhaas
* Judd Apatow
* George Clooney
* Suze Orman
* Sister Mary Scullion
* Stephenie Meyer
* Takashi Murakami
* Indra Nooyi
* Ali al-Naimi
* Rupert Murdoch
* John Chambers
* Jay Adelson
* Steve Ballmer
* Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
* Jeffrey Immelt
* Tom Ford
* Lloyd Blankfein
* Mo Ibrahim
* Ted Kennedy
* Nadya (Octomom) Suleman
* Tom Hanks
* Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio
* The View
* Jay Leno
* Dan Houser
* Angela Merkel
* Shigeru Miyamoto
* Leonard Abess
* Kevin Rudd
* Stella McCartney
* Zac Efron
* Eric Cantor
* Newt Gingrich
* Jeff Kinney
* Tom Dart
* Sam Zell
* David McKiernan
* Ryan Schreiber
* Michael Rapino
* Jonathan Krohn
* T-Pain
* Tucker Max
* Jon Stewart
* Taylor Swift
* moot
* Gamal Mubarak
* Kanye West
* Matthew Weiner
* Malcolm Gladwell
* Cory Booker
* John Boehner
* Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
* Michael Bloomberg

In naming the President-elect, TIME said Obama, ” … overcame a lack of experience, a funny name, two candidates who are political institutions, and the racial divide to become the 44th President of the United States.”

“It’s unlikely that you were surprised to see Obama’s face on the cover,” writes TIME’s David Von Drehle. “He has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago — that even his campaign manager, at the outset, wasn’t sure Obama had what it would take to win the election.”

(Read full article here)

The runner-ups:

Henry Paulson

When he arrived in Washington as Secretary of the Treasury in the summer of 2006, Henry M. (Hank) Paulson Jr.’s top priority was to make certain that his department would have independence and clout. If he was giving up the top job at Goldman Sachs, he wasn’t doing it for a sinecure. (Read full article here)

Nicolas Sarkozy

There are times when Nicolas Sarkozy resembles a force of nature rather than a conventional political leader. He has energy, ideas and vitality in abundance, as he showed in such matters as his handling of the Georgia crisis and the global economic downturn. Of course, as with any new leader, 18 months — Nicolas was elected President of France in May 2007 — is insufficient time to make a final judgment. But certain elements are already clear. (Read full article here)

Sarah Palin

In the beginning, she winked. “I was just your average hockey mom,” she told us by way of introduction, which was a charming diversion from the reality of the most astonishing political debut in modern times. Sarah Palin did indeed show she could play politics as a contact sport; her motherhood did become central to her message. But average? Not in your wildest dreams. (Read full article here)

Zhang Yimou

On the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008, 2 billion TV viewers and thousands in attendance in the now famous Bird’s Nest were treated to an unforgettable spectacle at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games. (Read full article here)

Top 10 Viral Videos of 2008
(Click on the title to watch the video)

1. Where The Hell Is Matt? (2008)

2. Western Spaghetti

3. Christian the Lion

4. Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)

5. Obama’s Loss Traced To Nonvoter

6. Super Mario Rescues The Princess

7. How To Pretend You Give A Sh*t About The Election

8. Star Wars according to a 3 year old

9. Spoofs of T.I.’s Whatever You Like music video

10. MadTv No Frills Airlines

TIME’s 50 Best Websites of 2008

1. GasBuddy
2. Howcast
3. iliketotallyloveit.com
4. Omiru
5. PsychCentral
6. TripKick
7. Wikitravel
8. Yahoo! Answers
9. Zeer
10. Afrigadget.com
11. AskMen.com
12. ConcreteLoop.com
13. Health.com
14. PopSugar
15. ProFootballTalk
16. Rate My Professors
17. Serious Eats
18. The Nest
19. Geni
20. MapJack
21. Mint
22. NexTag
23. Nymbler
24. Picnik
25. Pixelgirl Presents
26. SearchMe
27. TinyUrl.com
28. Mobaganda.com
29. Urban Dictionary
30. Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
31. Hulu
32. Imeem
33. Kongregate
34. ffffound.com
35. Lookybook
36. Someecards
37. WebSudoku
38. Penny Arcade
39. Gaia Online
40. CarbonRally
41. COLOURlovers
42. Apartment Therapy
43. Digital Vaults
44. Free Rice
45. HypeBeast
46. Kiva.org
47. Net-a-Porter
48. Open Source Food
49. Petfinder
50. WikiSky

A – F

* The Abbott and Costello Show
* ABC’s Wide World of Sports
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents
* All in the Family
* An American Family
* American Idol
* Arrested Development
* Battlestar Galactica
* The Beavis and Butt-Head Show
* The Bob Newhart Show
* Brideshead Revisited
* Buffalo Bill
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* The Carol Burnett Show
* The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite
* A Charlie Brown Christmas
* Cheers
* The Cosby Show
* The Daily Show
* Dallas
* The Day After
* Deadwood
* The Dick Van Dyke Show
* Dragnet
* The Ed Sullivan Show
* The Ernie Kovacs Show
* Felicity
* Freaks and Geeks
* The French Chef
* Friends

G – M

* General Hospital
* The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
* Gilmore Girls
* Gunsmoke
* Hill Street Blues
* Homicide: Life on the Street
* The Honeymooners
* I, Claudius
* I Love Lucy
* King of the Hill
* The Larry Sanders Show
* Late Night with David Letterman (NBC)
* Leave It to Beaver
* Lost
* Married… With Children
* Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
* The Mary Tyler Moore Show
* M*A*S*H
* The Monkees
* Monty Python’s Flying Circus
* Moonlighting
* MTV 1981-1992
* My So-Called Life
* Mystery Science Theater 3000

N – S

* The Odd Couple
* The Office [American]
* The Office [British]
* The Oprah Winfrey Show
* Pee Wee’s Playhouse
* Playhouse 90
* The Price Is Right
* Prime Suspect
* The Prisoner
* The Real World
* Rocky and His Friends
* Roots
* Roseanne
* Sanford and Son
* Saturday Night Live
* Second City Television
* See It Now
* Seinfeld
* Sesame Street
* Sex and the City
* The Shield
* The Simpsons
* The Singing Detective
* Six Feet Under
* 60 Minutes
* Soap
* The Sopranos
* South Park
* SpongeBob SquarePants
* SportsCenter
* Star Trek
* St. Elsewhere
* The Super Bowl (and the Ads)
* Survivor

T – Z

* Taxi
* The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
* 24
* The Twilight Zone
* Twin Peaks
* The West Wing
* What’s My Line?
* WKRP in Cincinnati
* The Wire
* Wiseguy
* The X-Files
* Your Show of Shows

From this list, my favorites are American Idol, Friends, X-Files, Twin Peaks, Lost, The Simpsons and Sex and the City.

Time’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people also includes such luminaries as playwright, filmmaker, actor and beautiful person Tyler Perry, media baron Rupert Murdoch, ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and presidential wannabes Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. George W. Bush and his friend the Dalai Lama also made the list. As did Oprah Winfrey, for a record-breaking fifth time.

In the Artists and Entertainers category, the following also made it to this year’s list:

:: Lorne Michaels (producer of Saturday Night Live)

:: Robert Downey, Jr. (star of Iron Man)

:: Herbie Hancock (Classical musician)

:: Joel & Ethan Coen (Creators of No Country for Old Men)

:: Bruce Springsteen (rocker)

:: Peter Gelb (opera)

:: Mariah Carey (America’s songbird)

:: Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner)

:: Elizabeth Gilber (author of Eat Pray Love)

:: Rem Koolhaas (visionary architect)

:: Judd Apatow (writer and director of “Knocked Up”)

:: Alex Rigopulos & Eran Egozy (classic rockers)

:: George Clooney (Hollywood actor/director)

:: Tim Russert (host of “Meet the Press”)

:: Suze Orman (financial advisor)

:: Stephanie Meyer (author of “Twilight”)

:: Tyler Perry (playwright)

:: Miley Cyrus (teen star)

:: Tom Stoppard (playwright)

:: Chris Rock (comedian)

:: Takashi Murakami (fine arts)

Other Categories:

Leaders and Revolutionaries:

* Dalai Lama
* Vladimir Putin
* Barack Obama
* Hillary Clinton
* John McCain
* Hu Jintao
* George W. Bush
* Jacob Zuma
* Anwar Ibrahim
* Kevin Rudd
* Bartholomew I
* Ben Bernanke
* Muqtada al-Sadr
* Robert Gates
* Michelle Bachelet
* Sonia Gandhi
* Baitullah Mehsud
* Evo Morales
* Ma Ying-jeou
* Ashfaq Kayani

Heroes & Pioneers

* Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
* Oprah Winfrey
* Oscar Pistorius
* Mia Farrow
* Andre Agassi
* Lance Armstrong
* Bob and Suzanne Wright
* Peter Gabriel
* Kaká
* Sheik Mohammed al-Maktoum
* Yoani Sánchez
* Madeeha Hasan Odhaib
* Randy Pausch
* Lorena Ochoa
* Tony Blair
* Alexis Sinduhije
* Aung San Suu Kyi
* George Mitchell

Scientists & Thinkers

* Michael Bloomberg
* Craig Venter
* Jill Bolte Taylor
* Larry Brilliant
* Jeff Han
* Mehmet Oz
* Nancy Brinker
* Harold McGee
* Peter Pronovost
* Eric Chivian & Richard Cizik
* Mary Lou Jepsen
* Paul Allen
* Nicholas Schiff
* Mark Zuckerberg
* Wendy Kopp
* Shinya Yamanaka & James Thomson
* Michael Griffin
* Susan Solomon
* Isaac Berzin