Corazon Aquino or Cory as she is fondly called is the 11th president of the Republic of the Philippines as well as the first woman president.
She was the wife of the late Senator Benigno Aquino who was assasinated under the Marcos regime. Corazon Aquino was considered an icon of democracy and was named “Woman of the Year” in 1986 by Times Magazine.
I believe that Mrs. Aquino was able to manifest her rights once she presumed the role of being the president in 1986. She courageously continued to assume the leadership that her husband started against the dictatorship of the Marcos government. She was not frightened to run against an experienced politician and a scheming one for that matter. Cory wants to end the violence that made the Filipino people suffer. Many lives were lost, including that of her husband, due to the greediness of the late ferdinand marcos. Reluctant at first, Cory eventually prevailed to the people’s clamor after a million signatures was presented to her, asking her to run for candidacy. With this, she wholeheartedly fought marcos into presidency. Marcos also attacked Aquino's inexperience and warned the country that it would be a disaster if a woman like her with no previous political experience would be elected president; to which Aquino cleverly responded and sarcastically admitted that she had "no experience in cheating, lying to the public, stealing government money, and killing political opponent. For me, what made Mrs Aquino exceptional is her dedication to relieve the Filipino people from distress and poverty. Without her heroism to continue her husband’s battle, we might still be under a government being run by a dictator. Her love for the country enabled her to challenge and put an end to Marcos’ 20 year martial rule.
One of Aquino's first and boldest moves was the creation of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which was tasked to go after the Marcos ill-gotten wealth. Mrs. Aquino, being a revolutionary president by virtue of people power, abolished the 1973 "Marcos Constitution" and dissolved the Marcos allies-dominated Batasang Pambansa, which she directed for the drafting of a new constitution for the nation.
For the economy, she was able to pay $4 billion out of the $26 billion foreign debt that marcos left. This paved the way for the Philippines to regain good international credit ratings and attract the attention of future markets
For Agrarian reform, Corazon Aquino promulgated the “Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law." The law paved the way for the
redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from landowners, who were paid in exchange by the government through
There are countless contributions made by Mrs Aquino to the Filipino nation,. This was observed not only by her own
countrymen, but international leaders as well. If i may quote an excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI letter to Archbishop Rosales, he
called Mrs Aquino a woman of courage and faith because of her “courageous commitment to the freedom of the Filipino people,
her firm rejection of violence and intolerance"
