Corazon Aquino

Corazon Aquino, born in 1933, president of the Republic of the Philippines (1986-1992). Corazon, popularly called Cory, was born Corazon Cojuangco. She was educated in Manila and the United States. In 1953 she graduated from Mount Saint Vincent College in New York City. She returned to the Philippines, married Benigno Aquino in 1954, and subsequently raised five children. Meanwhile, Benigno pursued a political career, rising from mayor, to governor, and finally to senator. In 1972 Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and imprisoned Benigno, one of the principal leaders of the opposition Liberal Party. In 1980 Corazon moved with her husband and children to the United States, where Marcos had allowed Benigno to undergo heart surgery. Benigno was assassinated in 1983 when he returned to the Philippines.

Corazon returned to the Philippines for her husband’s funeral and stayed to work in the legislative election campaign. The opposition won one-third of the seats in 1984. Marcos called presidential elections for February 1986, and Aquino became the opposition candidate for president. Declaring himself victor in the February 7 election, despite evidence of voter fraud, Marcos was inaugurated on February 25. An army revolt and demonstrations on her behalf led to Corazon’s inauguration on the same day. The uprising, known as the People Power Movement, prompted Marcos to accept asylum in the United States, while Corazon formed a provisional government. In 1987 she enacted a new constitution, which included a limitation on the presidency to a single, six-year term. Despite Aquino’s popular following, opposition within the military, a continuing Communist insurgency, and severe economic problems plagued her throughout her presidency, which ended in 1992.