Many in the community will don their traditional barong shirts for today's stop at Waipahu's Filipino Community Center or tomorrow's fund-raiser gala at the East-West Center. Some might scour lei stands for flowers in Aquino's signature yellow hue or dig up memorabilia honoring her late husband Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, a popular opposition senator whose 1983 assassination triggered the revolution.

Dave Doles, who heads the Filipino Language Club at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, was toying yesterday with thoughts of dressing for the Waipahu event in the "Ninoy" T-shirt he bought in Manila last August.

"Ninoy is like a personal hero to me," Doles said, "and she's the next best thing. When I heard she was coming, it gave me shivers."

Heavy traffic in Manila had kept Doles from hearing the speech Cory Aquino gave to mark the 20th anniversary of her husband's death.

Aquino today will help the community center celebrate its second anniversary and tomorrow will receive the East-West Center's Asia Pacific Community Building Award in recognition of her achievements at the helm of a democratic revolution.

Hawai'i was home to many Marcos supporters at the time of the overthrow because the largest segment of the Filipino community has ties to Ilocos Norte, Marcos' home province.

However, said Victor Ordonez, the Filipino population has diversified somewhat since then so that Ilocanos are not so dominant.

"The sense I get is that the mix of Filipinos here has changed quite a bit," said Ordonez, a senior education fellow at the East-West Center and a former education undersecretary in Aquino's administration.

Besides, said Gerald Finin, senior fellow and Philippines expert at the center, most of the old political tension has dissipated. Not a ripple of dissension showed during the May visit by former president Fidel Ramos, who was part of the military coup that helped to topple Marcos, so there's little prospect of it now, Finin added.

"She's unusual as a political figure in that she really adhered to her promise to serve one term and then leave public office," said Finin, who lived in the Philippines during the 1970s and again during Aquino's administration. "I think the political landscape has changed so significantly since she left office that people no longer see her as part of the political process.

"She's a senior stateswoman, and that's an admirable role."

Among the older Filipinos here, feelings about Marcos were divided, said Domingo Los Banos, a Pearl City resident. Even within his own family, Los Banos said, "there were some that loved him and some that hated him."

"Cory really did a great job of rallying the country," he said. "I don't see any more of that division here."

Aquino has enough admirers that tomorrow's dinner has drawn nearly 900 so far, said planners of the event. And at the Fil-Com in Waipahu, a few hundred more are expected to greet Aquino as she tours the center's newest facilities, a technology center and commercial kitchen.

Aquino arrived Saturday with her daughter and son-in-law, Maria Elena and Eldon Cruz, said staff at Honolulu's Consulate General of the Philippines.

Although the arrival of almost any Philippine dignitary resonates deeply with the Filipino community, Aquino may have especially broad appeal, said Amy Agbayani, president and chairwoman of the board at the Fil-Com.

"She does have star power," said Agbayani, a longtime supporter of the former president. "She's known not only within the Filipino community but the international and American community as well.

"This brings both honor and attention to a group that doesn't get sufficient recognition of their progress here," she said.

Robin Campaniano, president of AIG Hawai'i and honorary co-chair for the East-West Center event, was state insurance commissioner during the early years of the Aquino term and remembers a visit to the president made by a contingent of state and city officials.

"I was blown away by her: She was the most gracious thing," Campaniano said. "She really impressed me with her warmth and you could sense her native intelligence in what she was talking about. And then she was humble enough that she handed out to everyone a 'I Had Coffee with Cory' mug."

Of course, Ordonez said, Aquino's success in revolutionizing the government was limited, but she did manage at least to institutionalize the democratic process in the Philippines.

"In a way she was a transitional president," he said. "Her destiny was to change directions, not necessarily to achieve a goal.

"Remember, there were 40 years in the desert before anyone reached the Promised Land," Ordonez added, and then extended the biblical reference further: "I guess we're still in the desert but at least we're not in captivity."