the dictatorial and authoritarian measure of Ferdinand Marcos. 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 have 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.” • Cory’s peace agenda involve political initiatives and re-integration program to pursued insurgents to leave the countryside and return to the mainstream society to participate in the restoration of democracy.
• She invoked the path of peace beacause 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.
• She said that, similar to Abraham Lincoln, she
understand that “force maybe 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.”