Perez, Mark Joshua M.

BSEntrep 2A

Former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino encouraged America to help our country
retain its freedom in a speech to the United States Congress in September 1986. Cory Aquino
delivered the address, which included repeated references to whom the Filipino people had
selected as the poster boy for anti-Marcos actions.

Her speech was meant to tie Ninoy's suffering to that of the entire nation, as well as their
family's history to the fate of the entire country. She used language and words to legitimize her
appearance in the connecting front of the United States Congress, referring to her symbolic-
figurative kinship with the late Ninoy Aquino on one side and her connection to the Filipino
people on the other. She was successful in her examination of the Martial Law era's origins and
outcomes. Marcos' effort to stop a 500-strong communist insurrection by enforcing a restrictive
policy merely increased the Red Army's reach; in fact, by the conclusion of Martial Law, the
Communist Party had 16,000 members, making Marcos the Party's largest recruiter. President
Cory described martial law as "trying to suffocate a thing with how it grows," accepting the
existence of the communist insurgency because Cory Aquino appears to believe in massive
economic inequity. She encouraged America to help the Philippines move to democracy. From
this vantage point, it appears to be an open invitation for the former to assist in subsequently
using it for its strategic objectives.