Presentation by GROUP 7 Mary Chiles College | 2022

“President Corazon Aquino’s

Speech Before the
U.S. Congress”

( SEPTEMBER 18 , 1986)
 1. CONTENT ANALYSIS

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
THE ARTICLE

Corazon Aquino was

the 11th president (and first
female president) of the Philippines. She restored
democracy after the long dictatorship of
Ferdinand Marcos.
She was born on the 25th day of January in Tarlac.
Spouse of Benigno Simeon Aquino Jr. who was
then a promising young politician
Was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power
Revolution, which ended the 20-year rule of President
Ferdinand Marcos.
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 US.
She was widely accredited as the “Mother of Asian
Democracy”
On August 1, 2009, at age of 76 she died as she was
diagnosed with colon cancer
After her death, monuments of her peace and democracy,
in the capital of Manila and her home province of Tarlac,
were established.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE ARTICLE
Corazon’s husband, Ninoy Aquino, had become an outspoken critic of
Ferdinand Marcos’s regime and was expected to win the 1973
presidential elections since Marcos was term-limited and could not run
according to the Constitution. However, Marcos declared martial law on
September 21, 1972, and abolished the Constitution, refusing to relinquish
power. Hence, Ninoy was jailed by Marcos for eight years, and Corazon
accompanied him into exile in the United States in 1980.

When Marcos called for the presidential election on February 1986,

Corazon run for the opposition’s presidential candidate with Salvador
Laurel as her running mate for vice president. Corazon was officially
reported to have lost the election to Marcos, Corazon and her supporters
challenged the results, charging widespread voting fraud. This led to the
People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos and secured Corazon’s seat
as the president on February 25, 1986.
 Seven months after assuming the presidency. Corazon Aquino visited
America as she gave a speech before the joint session of the United States
Congress in September 1986. In her speech, she sought help in addressing
the 26 billion dollars of foreign debt and a communist insurgency that
grew from 500 armed guerillas to 16, 000 during Marcos’s regime. Moreover,
she called on America to help the Philippines in preserving the freedom
which the Filipinos have won for themselves.
Her speech which was penned by her speechwriter Teddy Locsin Jr.
and which she delivered in Washington D.C. on September 18, 1986,
managed to influence the votes to favor the 200 million dollars in financial
aid towards rebuilding the Philippine economy.
Reason/s of writing
One of the reasons for their conversation is our
this Primary Source country's debt. The Philippines did not have
enough means to compensate for the debt
hence Corazon filed an appeal for financial aid
from the US Congress. It's also one of the things
Moreover, Corazon wanted to preserve Cory wants to do that we bring back the entire
the freedom that Filipinos won for constitutional government. We complete the
themselves. Therefore, in her speech, she constitutional structures of our new democracy
also expressed her plea for help to aid the under a constitution that already gives full
Philippines financially on its road to respect to the Bill of Rights.
constitutional and economic recovery.
She delivered a historic speech that
conducts to sway a favorable vote for an
emergency $200 million reserve
appropriation.
 The highlights in the speech of former President
Corazon Aquino before the U.S Congress:

To express gratitude Exposing the cruelty

Highlights towards US for helping
Filipinos regain
freedom from the
experienced by Senator
Benigno Aquino Jr.
along with the other
dictatorship of former
of its President Ferdinand
Marcos.
senators, publishers
and anyone else who
stood up for democracy
To ask the US for help were rounded up and
Content and support in
restoring governance
considering her
got arrested.
Her participation in
decision to repay the 1984 election against
international debts the former President
Philippines acquired Ferdinand Marcos
during the Marcos’ which was accused of
administration. having election fraud.
2. CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

The author’s main arguments focused on

the constitutional and economic recovery
of the country after the dictatorship of
Marcos. Corazon Aquino wanted to seek
financial assistance from the Americans to
Main
help the country recover. Moreover,
Corazon’s speech was also to officially
declare and mark the freedom of the
Arguments
Filipino people and to express how the
Filipino citizens united to take back the
democracy that was taken away from
them during the Marcos era.
 Her speech addressed the
wrongdoings of Marcos to achieve
the sympathy of the people. On how
Ninoy became a living sacrifice for
freedom and how he died. The debt of
the former president that only he
Bias benefited from and massive
unemployment cause to poverty for
14 years in Marcos' administration. It
took advantage of former President
Cory Aquino to run for the presidency
and stood up for democracy against
threats and corruption.
 The speech of the former President Corazon
Aquino gives us the insights on how Filipinos
Importance in
struggled to attain freedom and between the
insisted resistance from the past have
inspired Filipino revolutionaries in our current
Understanding era. It also gives clarification about what
really happened during the time of Ninoy
Aquino. Furthermore, this document its
Philippine History importance in Philippine history as it also
traced back the first step of the country to
restore the democracy that Marcos
government outlawed. Lastly, since Corazon
Aquino was the first female president of the
country, her speech had strong impact not
just in the country but also on the world’s
perception of women in power.
Thank You for
listening!
 REFERENCES :

https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/news/revisit-cory-aquino-s-historic-
1986-speech-before-the-us-congress-a00207-20180125

https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/sti-
college/accountancy/analysis-on-the-speech-of-cory-aquino-during-the-us- GROUP 7
congress/16218081?origin=home-recent-1 CRIS JANELICA DOROLA
MARIVIC PENING
https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2017/03/21/speech-before-the-joint-
session-of-the-united-states-congress-sept-18-1986/ ARABELLA CAPUA
ARABELLA MANALAC ANITO
JANSEEN ANN SABUTAN