Berbie, Sharmaine T.

GECRPH
1-PSYCH-5 M7A1

Identify five (5) points highlighted by President Corazon Aquino in her speech before the
U.S. Congress on September 18, 1986. Explain their significance.
Part of the speech is anti-Marcos propaganda, part is a plea for pity from the audience, part is a request for
assistance from the US for the alleged damage caused by her predecessor, and part is pandering to the
American audience.

She mentioned Marcos as a dictator in her anti-Marcos remarks. Marcos trampled on Philippine democracy
and imprisoned tens of thousands of people.

In order to elicit sympathy from her audience, she recounted her trip to the Philippines to bury her husband,
former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., who was slain at the Manila International Airport. She was attempting
to persuade her American audience that she was a widow who had been wronged. (Her husband should not
have returned after Marcos warned him.) And he was meant to return to the Philippines after recovering
from his heart surgery in Texas, but he stayed for two years instead. He even traveled outside of the
Philippines to meet with anti-Marcos activists and accepted a fellowship at an American university. When
Marcos became gravely ill in 1983, he decided to return.

When it came to soliciting assistance from the US, she mentioned the massive international debt and how
she was pleading with foreign creditors, particularly the IMF and World Bank, for mercy. (She claimed that
foreign creditors' loans flowed to thieves and corrupt officials, but she provided no evidence.)

The third point she made was that the US had spent a lot of money attempting to maintain democracy, but
that the Philippines is a recovering democracy emerging from a dictatorial nightmare. She was hinting that
the United States should help the Philippines reestablish its democracy. (How was it when she took power
in 1986 and fired all elected members of the legislature as well as local government officials?)
Finally, she urged Americans to assist the Philippines, claiming that a new era had begun (in reality, the
pre-1972 political elite's dominance over the country's politics and economics had been restored).
But there is one thing I can say about her speech: it was excellently delivered. Perhaps this is why it is
included in the Texts in Philippine History course as one of the necessary readings. It may be accurate, but
it does not provide a whole picture.
Dear Ma’am/Sir,

Pardon po for late submission, I have a problem po sa NEUVLE yesterday night, so that I can’t
upload my schoolworks po. Here’s the proof po. Thank you for understanding.