Maria Corazon Cojuangco Aquino[2] (Tagalog pronunciation: 

[koɾaˈson aˈkino], born Maria

Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009), popularly known as Cory
Aquino, was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th President of the Philippines, becoming
the first woman to hold that office. Corazon Aquino was the most prominent figure of the 1986
People Power Revolution, which ended the 20-year rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. She was
named Time magazine's Woman of the Year in 1986. Prior to this, she had not held any elective
office.

A self-proclaimed "plain housewife",[3] she was married to Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., the
staunchest critic of President Marcos. She emerged as the leader of the opposition after her
husband was assassinated on 21 August 1983 upon returning to the Philippines from exile in the
United States. In late 1985, Marcos called for a snap election, and Aquino ran for president with
former senator Salvador Laurel as her running mate for vice president. After the election held on
7 February 1986, the Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Marcos and his running mate Arturo
Tolentino as the winners; allegations were made of electoral fraud, with Aquino calling for
massive civil disobedience actions. Defections from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the
support of the local Catholic hierarchy led to the People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos
and secured Aquino's accession on 25 February 1986.

As President, Aquino oversaw the promulgation of the 1987 Constitution, which limited the
powers of the Presidency and re-established the bicameral Congress. Her administration
provided a strong emphasis on and concern for civil liberties and human rights and on peace
talks to resolve the ongoing Communist insurgency and Islamist secession movements. Her
economic policies centered on restoring economic health and confidence and focused on creating
a market-oriented and socially responsible economy. In 1987, she became the first Filipino to be
bestowed with the prestigious Prize For Freedom Award.[4]

Several coup attempts were made against Aquino's government; it also faced various natural
calamities until the end of her term in 1992. She was succeeded as president by Fidel Ramos and
returned to civilian life while remaining public about her opinions on political issues. In
recognition of her role in the world's most peaceful revolution to attain democracy, she was
awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1998.

Aquino was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2008; she died on 1 August 2009. Her
monuments of peace and democracy were established in the capital Manila and her home
province of Tarlac after her death. Her son Benigno Aquino III became President of the
Philippines from 30 June 2010 to 30 June 2016. Throughout her life, Aquino was known to be a
devout Roman Catholic, and was fluent in French, Japanese, Spanish, and English aside from her
native Tagalog and Kapampangan.[5] She is highly regarded by the international diplomatic
community as the Mother of Democracy

Early life and education

Aquino was born María Corazón Sumulong Cojuangco on 25 January 1933 in Paniqui, Tarlac,
[13]
and was the sixth (of whom two died in infancy) of eight children of José Cojuangco, a
former congressman, and Demetria Sumulong, a pharmacist. Her siblings were Pedro, Josephine,
Teresita, Jose Jr., and Maria Paz. Both Aquino's parents came from prominent clans. Her father
was a prominent Tarlac businessman and politician, and her grandfather, Melecio Cojuangco,
was a member of the historic Malolos Congress. Her mother belonged to the Sumulong family of
Rizal province who were also politically influential; Juan Sumulong, a prominent member of the
clan, ran against Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in 1941.[14]

As a young girl, Aquino spent her elementary school days at St. Scholastica's College in Manila,
where she graduated at the top of her class as valedictorian. She transferred to Assumption
Convent to pursue high school studies. Afterward, her family went to the United States and she
attended the Assumption-run Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia. In 1949, she graduated from
Notre Dame Convent School in New York. She then pursued her college education in the U.S.
graduating from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in 1953 in New York, with a major in
French and minor in mathematics. During her stay in the United States, Aquino volunteered for
the campaign of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Thomas Dewey against then Democratic
U.S. President Harry S. Truman during the 1948 U.S. Presidential Election.[14]

After graduating from college, she returned to the Philippines and studied law at Far Eastern
University in 1953.[5] She later met Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino Jr.—son of the late Speaker
Benigno S. Aquino Sr. and a grandson of General Servillano Aquino. She discontinued her law
education and married Ninoy in Our Lady of Sorrows church in Pasay on 11 October 1954.[15]
The couple raised five children: Maria Elena ("Ballsy"; born 1954), Aurora Corazon ("Pinky";
born 1957), Benigno Simeon III ("Noynoy"; born 1960), Victoria Elisa ("Viel"; born 1961) and
Kristina Bernadette ("Kris"; born 1971).[16][17]

Aquino had initially had difficulty adjusting to provincial life when she and her husband moved
to Concepcion, Tarlac in 1955. Aquino found herself bored in Concepcion, and welcomed the
opportunity to have dinner with her husband inside the American military facility at nearby Clark
Field.[18]

Unknown to many, she voluntarily sold some of her prized inheritance to fund the candidacy of
her husband. She led a modest existence in a bungalow in suburban Quezon City. A member of
the Liberal Party, Aquino's husband Ninoy rose to become the youngest governor in the country
and eventually became the youngest senator ever elected to the Senate of the Philippines in 1967.
During her husband's political career, Aquino remained a housewife who helped raise their
children and played hostess to her spouse's political allies who would frequent their Quezon City
home.[19] She would decline to join her husband on stage during campaign rallies, preferring
instead to stand at the back of the audience and listen to him.[18]

Ninoy Aquino soon emerged as a leading critic of the government of President Ferdinand
Marcos. He was then touted as a strong candidate for president to succeed Marcos in the 1973
elections. However, Marcos, being barred by the Constitution to seek a third term, declared
martial law on 21 September 1972, and later abolished the existing 1935 Constitution, thereby
allowing him to remain in office. As a consequence, her husband was among those to be first
arrested at the onset of martial law, later being sentenced to death. During his incarceration,
Ninoy sought strength from prayer, attending daily Mass, and saying the rosary three times a
day. As a measure of sacrifice and solidarity with her husband and all other political prisoners,
she enjoined her children from attending parties and she also stopped going to the beauty salon
or buying new clothes until a priest advised her and her children to instead live as normal lives as
possible.[18]

In 1978, despite her initial opposition, Aquino decided to run in the 1978 Batasang Pambansa
elections. A reluctant speaker, Corazon Aquino campaigned on behalf of her husband, and for
the first time in her life delivered a political speech. In 1980, upon the intervention of U.S.
President Jimmy Carter,[3] Marcos allowed Senator Aquino and his family to leave for exile in
the United States, where he sought medical treatment.[20] The family settled in Boston, and
Aquino would later call the next three years as the happiest days of her marriage and family life.
On 21 August 1983, however, Ninoy ended his stay in the United States and returned without his
family to the Philippines, only to be assassinated on a staircase leading to the tarmac of the
Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport or NAIA), which was
later renamed in his honor (see Assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr.). Corazon Aquino returned
to the Philippines a few days later and led her husband's funeral procession, in which more than
two million people participated