HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

MODULE II: LESSON 8 – SUMMATIVE

TEST

AE - 209

SUBMITTED BY:

DAVID, RAPHAEL ATIBAGOS

DE GUZMAN, KADMIEL ROI FILAMOR

DIZON, MARK ANTHONY JAMES L.

DUEÑAS, CAMILLE DIAN FIDER

ESCOTO, MARIE JADE CASTRO

EVARISTO, KHRISPER NYX CUNANAN

FERNANDO, MARY JOYCE BARANGAN

FERNANDO, RAFAEL HIPOLITO

 SPEECH OF CORAZON C. AQUINO

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE DOCUMENT / VIDEO

 Corazon was the author of the primary source.

 She delivered her speech before the Joint session of the United States Congress with U.S
lawmaker in September 18, 1986.
- This was the time that Philippines is under 7 months after the EDSA revolution
(Feb 25, 1986), 3 years after the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino (1983),
Democratic Government and Economic State of the Philippines (GDP).
 She is known as the wife of the oppositionist of Ferdinand Marcos. She showed her
mutiny and sadness through addressing the speech when she finally got the chance
in the US Congress.
 It has been known by everyone that the Marcos-Aquino families greatly hate each other.
Ninoy Aquino, the husband of Cory and the number one oppositionist of Ferdinand
Marcos was detained in the North. Ninoy’s captivation and assassination on the latter
part much fuelled Cory’s determination to fight against the government and seek
refuge from the Americans.
 That included $26 billion in total foreign debt, and a communist insurgency that
grew, throughout the Marcos era, from 500 armed guerillas to 16,000. We were just
at the start of a long road to recovery.
 So Aquino lodged an appeal for help. Addressing the House, she delivered a historic
speech that managed to sway in our favor the vote for an emergency $200-million aid
appropriation. In the moving speech penned by her speechwriter (and our current
ambassador to the United Nations) Teddy Locsin, Jr., Aquino defended her reconciliatory
stand on the communist insurgency a sensitive issue in the U.S., given that this was 1986
and asked for financial aid towards rebuilding the Philippine economy.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION FOUND IN THE DOCUMENT / VIDEO IN

RECONSTRUCTING PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 It can inform us of the conditions in the Philippines during the time:

- Economic Condition
- Political Condition
- Sociological Condition
- Religious Condition
 It provides description of the Marcos Administration
 It shows the relationship of our country with United States (Politically and
Economically).
 it can describe the Filipino’s level of political maturity.
 It also shows how capable Filipinos are if they work collectively.
  It enlightens us of the views and idles of Cory Aquino.

MAIN ARGUMENT OF SPEECH

 To declare the freedom of the Filipinos from the Marcos regime.

 To mark a new beginning for the Filipinos and to its government.
 To appeal for financial assistance by informing the Americans about the Philippines’
state.

RELEVANCE OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING THE GRAND

NARRATIVE OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 It provides perspective that further study on Democratic principles should be made.

 An avenue for comparative views on the forms of government that best suit the
Philippines.
 It adds up to the general narrative of Philippine history that is based on first-hand
account.
 Many in the audience of Cabinet members, diplomats, senators and congressmen honored
Aquino's signature color by displaying the color themselves. The chamber was sprinkled
with yellow shirts, blouses, ties, handkerchiefs and some of the 200 yellow roses flown in
from Texas by House Majority Leader James C. Wright Jr. (D-Tex.).
 Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (RKan.), escorting Aquino up the House aisle to
the tumultuous applause, told her, "You hit a home run." Without a pause between
handshakes, according to a Dole aide, Aquino replied, "I hope the bases were loaded."
 Her stunningly successful U.S. visit will not diminish the problems Aquino must face
when she returns this week to Manila. But it certainly added a luster of political
sophistication to her image as an honest, principled leader. And that should buy her much
needed time and the increased loyalty of the Philippine people in the difficult months
ahead.

PERSONAL INSIGHTS

I think the most valuable lesson we can take from the speech is that we can not entrust our
salvation to another sovereign state, and addressing the causes is the only real solution to any
form of revolt. Solving the root issue would eventually allow everything else to fall into place.

SPEECH OF FERDINAND MARCOS

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE DOCUMENT / VIDEO

 On the morning of September 16, 1982, on the South Lawn of the White House,
President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan welcomed Ferdinand and Imelda
Marcos to the United States capital. Ferdinand Marcos, along with his wife Imelda, had
presided over the Philippines since 1965. Though democratically elected in 1965 and
1969, Marcos declared martial law in 1972 and changed the constitution in 1973,
which allowed him to continue in power until the People Power mobilizations of
1986.
 This particular state welcome to the Philippine leader operated as a show of support to
the beleaguered President of the Philippines. Filipino opposition media outlets and
political leaders increasingly opposed the Marcoses in public. Rumors of Marcos’s ill-
health had triggered succession controversies, and the regime had been repeatedly
challenged in the international sphere for corruption and human rights abuses. As the
national anthems for the United States and the Philippines played in the background,
Ferdinand Marcos attired in a Philippine barong made small talk with the U.S. President
on stage, suggesting an air of camaraderie between the two state leaders. Indeed, Marcos
and Reagan were friendly on a personal level. However, this friendly banter also
functioned to publicly reinforce the closeness of the two nations. The State Department
had placed a high priority on establishing a strong personal rapport with the Philippine
leader during this visit. A public display of intimacy between Reagan and Marcos would
appease an important ally and help uphold foreign policy aims of stability in the region.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION FOUND IN THE DOCUMENT / VIDEO IN

RECONSTRUCTING PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 The frequent condemnations of the Marcos regime demanded an equally strong response,
one that in its imagery and its content would leave no doubt of the U.S.-Philippine
relationship. As such, Reagan crafted his speech to defend Marcos from the opposition
attacks against him. Following the recommendations of the State Department, Reagan
made sure to reference Marcos’s wartime heroism. The State Department
recommendations were a reaction to the fact that Marcos had recently been publicly
embarrassed by the revelation that his wartime exploits had been greatly exaggerated.
They understood the importance of this vote of confidence for Marcos. Given that
Marcos cronies controlled all of the major television and press outlets in the Philippines,
the visit would certainly be aired on Philippine airwaves and covered in Philippine
newsprint. The image of Ferdinand and Imelda rubbing elbows with the Reagans would
undoubtedly signal to both opponents and supporters that the Marcoses were still firmly
in power in the archipelago.
  As groups like Amnesty International circulated information about abuses in the
Philippines, Reagan also addressed human rights in his attempt to defend Marcos. In his
welcome, Reagan highlighted the humanitarian work undertaken by the Philippine
government through:
- Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC), which helped refugees – many as
a result of the Vietnam War and its aftermath – prepare for permanent
resettlement.

o The Amnesty International delegation was presented with evidence on 49

cases in which serious allegations were made of abuses by members of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the ICHDF, the Integrated National
Police (INP) and irregular paramilitary units apparently operating with official
sanction. These included allegations of:
- arbitrary killings
- "disappearance"
- torture and other forms of ill treatment
- arbitrary arrest
- incommunicado detention.

 Reagan continued to highlight Marcos’s achievements in uplifting the Philippines,

lauding Marcos’s role in development. Each of the “achievements” referred to the
supposed fruits of collaborations between the Philippines and either the U.S. or the World
Bank, further underscoring the importance of the U.S.-Philippine relationship.

 With his public comments, Marcos vocalized an unequivocal devotion to the government
that was the key supporter of his rule in the Philippines. Ultimately, this welcome was
one of the strongest public demonstrations of United States support for the Marcos
regime in the Philippines, coming at a time when that very regime was losing its hold on
power. Similar to the public statements of his political opponents – in interviews, films,
and in speeches – Marcos sought a public venue to visually affirm the closeness between
his government and that of the United States. As a political performance of alliance, it
was significant both for the bond between states that it demonstrated as well as the
carefully crafted language utilized by both leaders.

MAIN ARGUMENT OF SPEECH

 The Philippines with its ASEAN partners has taken the lead in search for self-
determination for the people of Kampuchea. 
 Rural electrification program, now bringing benefits to an increasing number of remote
regions.
  Two-way trade between nations and have been able to keep markets for the products of
growing manufacturing and industrial sector.
 The United States remains the Philippines’ leading trading partner, and American firms
are the largest foreign investors in your country, reflecting their confidence in your
progress and prospects for economic growth.
 An image of America with its ideals, its dreams, its illusions and Asia which has been
molded along the principles of American democracy.

 Fate and destiny has decreed that the United States of America be the trustee of modern
civilization against the threat of a possible second Dark Ages.

RELEVANCE OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING THE GRAND

NARRATIVE OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 History of Philippine Political Protest

- During those momentous four days of February 1986, millions of Filipinos, along
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Metro Manila, and in cities all over the
country, showed exemplary courage and stood against, and peacefully overthrew, the
dictatorial regime of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. More than a defiant show of
unity markedly, against a totalitarian rule that had time and again proven that it would
readily use brute force against any and all dissenters People Power was a reclaiming
of liberties long denied. The millions that gathered for the 1986 People Power
Revolution the culmination of a series of public protests, often dispersed if at all
given leave was a nation wresting itself, as one, back from a dictator.
 Filipinos, who experienced a bloody and violent regime at the hands of a dictator, choose
to elect national leaders widely associated with human rights violations. These turns of
events have generally been attributed to a widely invoked rhetoric that Filipinos easily
forget the sins of the country’s past. Scholarly literature that attempts to substantiate this
claim, however, has generally been limited to rhetorical analyses without the benefit of
empirical research.
 Collective Memory, Human Rights, and Martial Law
- as an object or collection notions about a person or events commonly accepted by the
group was the initial depiction of the concept. Recent works, however, have treated
collective memories as more of a process that involves integrating personal
remembrances to be shared by all. This framework for understanding collective
memories recognizes and emphasizes that personal remembrances may hold multiple
and contradictory visions of the past and that these visions may interact and influence
other members of a group. More importantly, this framework emphasizes the
 characteristic of collective memories as something that is reconstructed in relation to
the present.

PERSONAL INSIGHTS

The effect on how Marcos ruled the Philippines is positive and negative. The tremendous growth
of assets is positive and the negative is the disappearance of any individual's freedom. It's good
that he gave us a positive contribution, but the balance between his influence and the people
around him should be balanced. Based on what they would literally do and not, he would listen
to what people wanted and expected. He's trying to take a right from others to do what they want
to do.
REFERENCES:

file:///Cory-Aquinos-Speech.pdf

file:///Cory-Quino-Speech-Before-the-u-s-Congress-in-1986.pdf

http://kbl.org.ph/president-ferdinand-marcos-and-us-president-ronald-reagan-during-the-state-
visit/

https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2018/01/15/remembering-ferdinand-marcos-history-of-
corruption-is-relevant-to-the-philippines-present-anticorruption-efforts/

https://www.slideshare.net/tmalit1/the-marcos-administration

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/15/world/marcos-leaves-manila-for-us-visit.html

https://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?
searchfrom=header&q=corazon+aquino&ud=any&ft=all&lang=**&sort=