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ALTHEA CRIZELLE KASSANDRA
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REVISITING
CORAZON
AQUINO’S
SPEECH
BEFORE THE
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Analysis of Cory Aquino’s
U.S CONGRESS
Speech
“CORY”
1
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, installed Cory Aquino in the

presidency, 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.
Cory Part 1
THE PEOPLE
2
POWER
REVOLUTIO
Widely recognized around the world for its peaceful character.
When former senator Ninoy Aquino was shot at the tarmac of
N OF 1986
the Manila International Airport on 21 August 1983. the Marcos
regime greatly suffered a crisis of legitimacy. Protests from
different sectors frequented different areas in the country.
Marco’s credibility in the international community also suffered
Paired with the looming economic crisis, Marcos had to do
something to prove to his allies in the United States that he
remained to be the democratically anointed leader of the
country.
PEOPLE POWER Part 2

The
3
On 18 September 1986, seven months since Cory became
speech
president, she went to the United States and spoke before the
joint session of the U.S.
Cory related in this speech:
“The government sought to break him by indignities and terror.

They locked him up in a tiny, nearly airless cell in a military
camp in the north. They stripped him naked and help a threat
of a sudden midnight execution over his head. Ninoy helps up
manfully under all of it. I barely did as well. For forty-three
days, the authorities would not tell me what had happened to
him. This was the first time my children and I felt we had lost
him.”
THE SPEECH Part 3

4
Cory continued that when Ninoy survived that first detention
he was then charged with subversion, murder, and other
crimes. He was tried by a military court, whose legitimacy
Ninoy adamantly questioned.
“When that didn’t work, they put him on trial for subversion,
murder, and a host of other crimes before a military
commission. Ninoy challenged its authority and went on a fast.
If he survived it, then he felt God intended him for another
fate. We had lost him again For nothing would hold him back
from his determination to his fast through the end. He stopped
only when it dawned on him that the government would keep
his body alive after the fast had destroyed his brain. And so,
with barely any life in his body, he called off the fast on the 40th
day.”
THE SPEECH Part 4

5
Ninoy’s death was the third and the last time that Cory and
their children lost Ninoy. She continued:
“ And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully than in

the past. The news came to us in Boston. It had to be after the
three happiest years of our lives together. But his death was
my country’s resurrection and the courage and faith by which
alone they could be free him again. The dictator had called
him a nobody. Yet, two million people threw aside their
passivity and fear and escorted him to his grave.”
THE SPEECH Part 5

Cory’s address introduced us to her democratic philosophy,
6
which she claimed she also acquired from Ninoy. She argued:
“ I held fast to Ninoy’s conviction that it must be by the ways of

democracy. I held out for participation in the 1984 election the
dictatorship called, even if I knew it would be rigged. I was
warned by the lawyers of the opposition, that I ran the grave
risk of legitimizing the foregone results of elections that were
clearly going to be fraudulent. But I was not fighting for
lawyers but for the people in whose intelligence, I had implicit
faith. By the exercise of democracy when it came. And then
also, it was the only way I knew by which we could measure
our power even in the terms dictated by the dictatorship. The
people vindicated me in an election shamefully marked by
government thuggery and fraud. The opposition swept the
elections, garnering a clear majority of the votes even if they
ended up (thanks to the corrupt Commission on Elections)
with barely a third of the seats in Parliament. Now, I knew our
power.”
7
Cory boasted of the restoration of a fully constitutional
government whose constitution gave utmost respect to the Bill
of Rights. She reported to the U.S. Congress:
“Again as we restore democracy by the ways of democracy,

so are we completing the constitutional structures of our new
democracy under a constitution that already gives full respect
to the Bill of Rights. A jealous independent constitutional
commission is completing its draft which will be submitted later
this year to a popular referendum. When it is approved, there
will be elections for both national and local positions. So,
within about a year from a peaceful but national upheaval that
overturned a dictatorship, we shall have returned to full
constitutional government.”
THE SPEECH Part 7

Cory’s
8
agenda
She asserted:
“My predecessor set aside democracy to save it from a

communist insurgency that numbered less than five hundred.
Unhampered by respect for human rights he went at it with
hammer and tongs. By the time he fled, that insurgency had
grown to more than sixteen thousand. I think there is a lesson
here to be learned about trying to stifle a thing with a means
by which it grows.”
She invoked 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 freedom and democracy are threatened.
CORY’S AGENDA Part 8

9
Cory then turned to the controversial topic of the Philippines’
foreign debt amounting to $26 billion at the time of her speech.
Cory lamented:
“Finally may I turn to the other slavery, our twenty-six billion

dollars foreign debt. I have said that we shall honor it. Yet, the
means by which we shall be able to do so are kept from us.
Many conditions imposed on the previous government that
stole this debt, continue to be imposed on us who never
benefited from it.”
Cory remarked that given the peaceful character of the EDSA

People Power Revolution, “ours must have been the cheapest
revolution ever.”
CORY’S AGENDA Part 9

10
Cory asked a compelling question to the U.S. Congress:
“Has there been a greater test of national commitment to the

ideals you hold dear than that my people have gone through?
You have spent many lives and much treasure to bring
freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it. And
here, you have a people who want it by themselves and need
only the help to preserve it.”
Cory ended her speech by thanking America for serving as

home to her family for what she referred to as the “ three
happiest years of our lives together.”
END OF SPEECH Part 10

Summary / Info Summary / Info Summary / Info

Fact ~ Fact ~ Facts Fact ~ Fact ~ Facts Fact ~ Fact ~ Facts
Analysis of cory aquino’s

analysis
The speech talks about her family background, especially her
relationship with her late husband, Ninoy Aquino. It is well
known that it was Ninoy who served as the real leading figure
of the opposition at that time.
Indeed, Ninoy’s eloquence and charisma could very well

compete with that of Marcos. In her speech, Cory talked at
length about Ninoy’s toil and suffering at the hands of the
dictatorship that he resisted.
Moreover, her attribution of the revolution to Ninoy’s death

demonstrates not only Cory’s personal perception of the
revolution but since she was the president, it also represents
what the dominant discourse was at that point in our history.
The ideology or the principles of the new democratic

government can also be seen in the same speech. She
claimed that such an institution upholds and adheres to the
rights and liberty of the Filipino people.
Cory hoisted herself as the reconciliatory agent after more
than two decades of a polarizing authoritarian politics.
Despite Cory’s efforts to hoist herself as the exact opposite of

Marcos, her speech still revealed certain parallelisms between
her and the Marco’s government. This is seen in terms of
continuing the alliance between the Philippines and the United
States despite the known affinity between the said world super
power and Marcos.
Nevertheless, Cory expressed her intention to pay those

debts. Unknown to many Filipinos was the fact that there was
a choice of waiving the said debt because those were the debt
of the dictator and not of the country. Cory’s decision is an
indicator of her government’s intention to carry on a debt-
driven economy.
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Who’s Reporting?

ALTHEA CRIZELLE KASSANDRA

Analysis of Cory Aquino’s

The EDSA People Power, installed Cory Aquino in the

When former senator Ninoy Aquino was shot at the tarmac of

PEOPLE POWER Part 2

Cory related in this speech:

“The government sought to break him by indignities and terror.

THE SPEECH Part 3

THE SPEECH Part 4

“ And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully than in

THE SPEECH Part 5

“ I held fast to Ninoy’s conviction that it must be by the ways of

“Again as we restore democracy by the ways of democracy,

THE SPEECH Part 7

“My predecessor set aside democracy to save it from a

She invoked the path of peace because she believed that it

CORY’S AGENDA Part 8

“Finally may I turn to the other slavery, our twenty-six billion

Cory remarked that given the peaceful character of the EDSA

CORY’S AGENDA Part 9

“Has there been a greater test of national commitment to the

Cory ended her speech by thanking America for serving as

END OF SPEECH Part 10

Summary / Info Summary / Info Summary / Info

Analysis of cory aquino’s

Indeed, Ninoy’s eloquence and charisma could very well

Moreover, her attribution of the revolution to Ninoy’s death

The ideology or the principles of the new democratic

Despite Cory’s efforts to hoist herself as the exact opposite of

Nevertheless, Cory expressed her intention to pay those

G! Questions? Clarifications FAQ About Us Help Center

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