REVISITING CORAZON AQUINO’S

BEFORE THE U.S. CONGRESS

Sit Dolor Amet

  Function as the symbol of the restoration of democracy
and the overthrow of the Marcos Dictatorship in 1986.
 A housewife who had always been in the shadow of her
CORAZON husband and relatives and had no experience in politics.

“CORY”  She was able to capture the imagination of the people

whose rights and freedom had long been compromised
CONJUANGCO throughout the Marcos regime.
AQUINO  Cory came from a rich haciendero family in Tarlac and
owned vast estates of sugar plantation and whose
relatives occupy local and national government
positions.
  was widely recognized around the world for its
peaceful character.
Protests from different sectors frequented different
The People areas in the country.

Power On February 1986, Cory was convinced to run

against Marcos
Revolution of  The overwhelming presence of civilians in EDSA

1986 successfully turned a coup into a civilian

demonstration. The thousands of people who
gathered overthrew Ferdinand Marcos from the
presidency after 21 years.
  On September 1986, Cory became president, she went to the United
States and spoke before the joint session of the U.S. Congress.
 Began her speech with the story of her leaving the United States
three years prior as a newly widowed wife of Ninoy Aquino.
 Cory attributed the peaceful EDSA Revolution to the martyrdom of
Ninoy.
 She emphasized the importance of the EDSA Revolution in terms of
HIGHLIGHTS: being a “limited revolution that respected the life and freedom of
every Filipino”.
 Cory’s peace agenda
 Controversial topic of the Philippine Foreign Debt amounting $26
billion.
 Cory enumerates the challenges of the Filipino people as they tried
building the new democracy.
ANALYSIS OF CORY
AQUINO’S SPEECH
 Cory Aquino’s speech was important event in the
political and diplomatic history of the country
because it has arguably cemented the legitimacy of
the EDSA government in the international arena.
 The ideology or the principles of the new
HIGHLIGHTS:
democratic government can also be seen in the same
speech.
 Cory’s speech still revealed certain parallelism
between her and the Marco’s government.