Claro Cortes 3d | Philippines reporter, 49

Claro Cortes 3d, 49, a former United Press International and Associated Press reporter who helped cover the 1986 revolt that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, died Sunday in Manila, Philippines. Mr. Cortes died from complications of a May stroke and was hospitalized because of breathing difficulties, said his wife, Agnes Cortes.

Mr. Cortes began his career at UPI's Manila bureau in the early 1980s. He joined the AP in 1987 and remained until poor health forced him to leave in 1999. After the 1986 revolt, Mr. Cortes also covered the unrest that followed, including a string of failed coup attempts against President Corazon Aquino, who succeeded Marcos.

During a rally of left-wing farmers in 1987, he was photographed helping to carry demonstrators to safety after they had been shot by security forces near the presidential palace.

In July 1990, Mr. Cortes scrambled over roads blocked by landslides to report on a devastating earthquake in northern Baguio city. The following year he was among a group of journalists who narrowly escaped a giant cloud of gas and volcanic ash when Mount Pinatubo erupted. - AP