Corazon Aquino
Definition
Corazon Cojuangco Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino stateswoman, eleventh President of the Philippines (1986–1992) and the first woman to hold the office. Catapulted from housewife to president by the 1986 People Power Revolution, she restored democratic institutions through the 1987 Constitution.
Identities
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corazon_Aquino
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1480
- DBpedia: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Corazon_Aquino
Also Known As
“Tita Cory”; the widow of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.; Time magazine’s 1986 Person of the Year; icon of Philippine democracy; source of the yellow-ribbon symbolism of the Laban movement.
Examples and Analogies
The yellow ribbon and Laban hand-sign endure as symbols of peaceful protest, and her transition is studied worldwide in civil-resistance casebooks.
Usage Scenarios
Her name anchors February 25 EDSA anniversary rites, women-in-leadership courses, constitutional law teaching on the 1987 Charter, and commemorations of her 2009 funeral, which drew hundreds of thousands.
Strategies
She leveraged moral legitimacy, Church support, and multi-sector mobilization; balanced reconciliation with accountability by retaining the PCGG and freeing political prisoners; rebuilt institutions through the 1987 Constitution; and pursued talks with communist and Moro insurgencies.
Security and Safety Measures
She survived repeated coups, bloodiest in December 1989, reasserting civilian supremacy while rebuilding military professionalism; her term also managed the 1990 Luzon earthquake and Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption, closing with the Senate’s rejection of new United States bases terms.
Historical Context
Born in Paniqui, Tarlac, and United States-educated, she married Ninoy Aquino in 1954 and sustained the family through his imprisonment and exile. After his 1983 assassination she led the 1986 snap-election challenge; fraud findings, defections, and mass protests carried her to Malacañang. She handed power peacefully to Fidel Ramos in 1992 and died of colon cancer in 2009.
Challenges and Controversies
Her term weathered coups, the 1987 Mendiola massacre of farmers, land-reform gaps involving Hacienda Luisita, brownouts and debt, and accusations about relatives.
Related Topic
EDSA Revolution — the February 1986 People Power uprising on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue that toppled Ferdinand Marcos and installed her, defining her place in Philippine and global history.