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Maria Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino (January 25, 1933 –
August 1, 2009) was a President of the Philippines
and a world-renowned advocate of democracy, peace, women's
empowerment, and religious piety. She served as the 11th president
of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female
president of the Philippines and was Asia's first female president.
Aquino died on August 1, 2009 after suffering from colon
cancer.
A self-proclaimed "plain housewife",Aquino was married to Senator
Benigno Aquino, Jr. (1932–1983), a leading figure in the political
opposition against the autocratic rule of President Ferdinand
Marcos. After her husband was assassinated upon his return from
exile in the United States on August 21, 1983, Aquino, who had no
prior political experience, became a focal point and unifying force
of the opposition against Marcos. She was drafted to run against
Marcos in the 1986 snap presidential elections. After Marcos was
proclaimed the winner despite widespread reports of electoral
fraud, Aquino was installed as President by the peaceful 1986
People Power Revolution.
Aquino was reluctant at first to run for presidency, despite pleas
that she was the one candidate who could unite the opposition
against Marcos.She eventually was convinced following a ten-hour
meditation session at a Catholic convent. Laurel did not
immediately accede to calls for him to give way to Aquino, and
offered her the vice-presidential slot under his UNIDO party.
Aquino instead offered to give up her affiliation with her
husband's political party, the Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN), which had
just merged with Partido Demokratiko Pilipino, and run under the
UNIDO banner with Laurel sliding down to the vice-presidential
slot.Laurel gave way to Aquino to run as President and ran as her
running-mate under UNIDO as the main political umbrella of the
opposition.
The elections held on February 7, 1986 were marred by the
intimidation and mass disenfranchisement of voters. Election day
itself and the days immediately after were marred by violence,
including the murder of one of Aquino's top allies, Antique
governor Evelio Javier. While the official tally of the Commission
on Elections (COMELEC) consistently showed Marcos in the lead, the
unofficial tally of the National Movement for Free Elections
indicated that Aquino was leading. Despite the job walkout of 30
COMELEC computer technicians alleging election-rigging in favor of
Marcos, the Batasang Pambansa, controlled by Marcos allies,
ratified the official count and proclaimed Marcos the winner on
February 15, 1986. The country's Catholic bishops and the United
States Senate condemned the election, and Aquino called for a
general strike and a boycott of business enterprises controlled by
Marcos allies. She also rejected a power-sharing agreement proposed
by the American diplomat Philip Habib, who had been sent as an
emissary by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to help defuse the
tension.
On February 22, 1986, the People Power Revolution was triggered
after two key Marcos allies, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and
Armed Forces Vice-Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos called on Marcos to
resign and holed up in two military camps in Quezon City. Aquino,
who was in Cebu City when the revolt broke out, returned to Manila
and insisted on joining the swelling crowd that had gathered
outside the camps as a human barricade to protect the defectors.On
the morning of 25 February 1986, at the Club Filipino in San Juan,
Aquino took the presidential oath of office administered by Supreme
Court Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee. Marcos himself was sworn
into office at Malacañang Palace on that same day, but fled into
exile later that night.
The relatively peaceful manner by which Aquino assumed the
presidency through the EDSA Revolution won her widespread
international acclaim as an icon of democracy. She was selected as
Time magazine's Woman of the Year in 1986. She was also nominated
to receive the Nobel Peace Prize but lost to Elie Wiesel also in
1986. In September 1986, Aquino delivered a speech before a joint
session of the United States Congress which was interrupted by
applause several times, and which then U.S. House Speaker Tip
O'Neill hailed as "the finest speech I've ever heard in my 34 years
in Congress." Above the din of cheering officials, Senate Majority
Leader Robert Dole said to Mrs. Aquino, "Cory, you hit a home run."
Without missing a beat, Aquino smiled and shot back: "I hope the
bases were loaded."