Revisiting Corazon Aquinos Speech

REVISITING CORAZON
AQUINO'S SPEECH BEFORE THE

U.S. CONGRESS
PRESENTATION BY GROUP 5
MARÍA CORAZÓN
SUMULONG
COJUANGCO
(January 25,1933- August 1, 2009)
Maria Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was the eleventh and first
woman President of the Philippines.
She was born on January 25, 1933 in Manila, the sixth of the
eight children of Don Jose Cojuangco Sr., lawyer, congressman
representing Tarlac, sugar magnate and banker, and Doña Demetria
Sumulong, a pharmacist and member of a politically famous clan from
Rizal province.
Her formative years were spent at St. Scholastica’s College and
the Assumption Convent in Manila. In 1946 the Cojuangco family left for
the United States and she entered Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia,
but later enrolled at, and graduated from, the Notre Dame Convent
School in New York. She continued her studies at College of Mount St.
Vincent also in New York, where she took up French as major and
mathematics as minor. Back in Manila, she enrolled in law at Far
Eastern University but her studies were cut short when she married
Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. on October 11, 1954 at Our Lady of Sorrows
Church in Pasay City. They had five children namely, Maria Elena,
Aurora Corazon, Benigno III, Victoria Elisa and Kristina Bernadette.
Her first exposure to the world of Philippine politics began
shortly after the birth of their first child, in November of
1955, when her husband became the mayor of Concepcion,
Tarlac. But Ninoy lost his seat after two years on account
of his being nineteen days younger than the age required
for the office of mayor at the time of his election. In the
next local election, Ninoy became the youngest vice-
governor of Tarlac and after serving a term as governor of
Tarlac, Ninoy ran for the Senate and won. Mrs. Aquino
quietly and wholeheartedly supported all her husband’s
aspirations.
After Ninoy’s assassination, Corazon C. Aquino was
thrust into the limelight. She returned home from Boston
and became the unofficial leader of the opposition to the
Marcos regime. President Ferdinand Marcos signed
Cabinet Bill Number 7 which formally set the presidential
poll on February 7, 1986. The next day, Cory Aquino
announced that she would run.
Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino Functioned as the
symbol of the restoration of democracy and the overthrow
of the Marcos Dictatorship in 1986. The EDSA People
Power, which installed Cory Aquino in the presidency, put
the Philippines in the international spotlight for
overthrowing a dictator through peaceful means. Cory was
easily a figure of the said revolution, as the widow of the
slain Marcos oppositionist and former Senator Benigno
Ninoy Aquino Jr.
Cory was hoisted as the antithesis of the dictator. Her
image as a mourning, widowed housewife who has always
been in the shadow of her husband and relatives and had
no experience in politics war juxtaposed against Marcos
statesmanship, eloquence, charisma, and cunning political
skills; Nevertheless, Cory was able to capture the
imagination of the people whose rights and freedom had
long been compromised throughout the Marcos regime.
This is despite the fact that Cory come from a
rich haciendero family in tarlac and owned vast
estates of sugar plantation and whose relatives
occupy local and national government position.
On September 1986, seven months since Cory

became president, she went to the U.S and
spoke before the joint session of U.S Congress.
She was welcomed with long applause as she
took the podium and addressed the United
States about her presidency and the challenges
faced by the new republic. She began her
speech with the story of her leaving the U.S
three years prior as a newly widowed wife of
Ninoy Aquino.
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Cory also talked about her miraculous victory through the people’s struggle
and continued talking about her earliest initiatives as the president of a
restored democracy. She stated that she intended to forge and draw
reconciliation after a bloody and polarizing dictatorship. Cory emphasized
the importance of the EDSA revolution in terms of being a “immitted
revolution that respected the life and freedom of every Filipino.”
Cory’s peace agenda involves political initiatives
and re-integration program to persuade insurgents
to leave the countryside and return to the
mainstream society to participate in the restoration
of democracy. She involved the path of peace
because she believed that it was the moral path that
a moral government must take. Nevertheless, Cory
took a step back when she said that while peace is
the priority of her presidency, she “will not waiver
when the freedom and democracy are threatened.
She said that similar to Abraham Lincoln, she
understands that “force may be necessary before
mercy” and while she did not relish the idea, she
“will do whatever It takes to defend the integrity and
freedom of (her) country.”

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REVISITING CORAZON

AQUINO'S SPEECH BEFORE THE

On September 1986, seven months since Cory

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