REVISITING CORAZON AQUINO'S SPEECH

BEFORE THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS

SEPTEMBER 18, 1986
Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino functioned as the symbol of the
restoration of democracy and the overthrow of the Marcos
Dictatorship in 1986. The EDSA People Power, which installed Cory
Aquino in the presidency, put the Philippines in the international
spotlight for overthrowing a dictator through peaceful means
 THE PEOPLE
POWER
REVOLUTION OF
1986

A widely recognized around the world for its peaceful

character.
When former Senator Ninoy Aquino
was shot at the tarmac of the Manila
International Airport on August 21,
1983, the Marcos regime greatly a
crisis of legitimacy.
Protest rallies erupted in the streets
of Manila and other major cities in
the provinces calling for Marcos to
resign.
Marcos's credibility in the international community also suffered. paired
with the looming economic crisis, Marcos had to do something to prove to
his allies in the United States that he remained to be the anointed leader of
the country.
 He called for a Snap Election in February
1986, Where Corazon Aquino was convinced to
run against Marcos. The canvassing was rigged
to Marcos's favor but the people expressed
their protests againts the corrupt and
authoritarian government
The opposition field their own
candidate. it was decided that
Corazon Aquino will run as
President and Salvador Laurel as
Vice President
Leading Military officials of the regime and Martial law
orchestrators themselves Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos
plotted to take over the presidency.
Civilians heeded the call of Manila
Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and
other civilian leaders gathered at
EDSA. the overwhelming presence of
civilians in EDSA turned a coup into a
civilian demonstration.
The thousand of people who gathered
overthrew Ferdinand Marcos from the
presidency after 21 years.
On September 18, 1986 seven months
since Cory became president she went to
the united states and spoke before the
joint session of the U.S. congress.
Cory was welcomed with long applause as she took the podium and
addressed the United States about her presidency and the challenges
faced by the new republic. she began her speech with her story of
her leaving the united states three years prior as a newly widowed of
Ninoy Aquino.
She told of Ninoy's character,
conviction and resolve in opposing the
authoritarianism of Marcos. She talked
of the three times that they lost him. the
first time was when Ninoy was
detained.
“The government sought to break him by indignities and terror. They locked
him up in a tiny, nearly airless cell in a military camp in the north. They
stripped him naked and held a threat of a sudden midnight execution over his
head. Ninoy held up manfully under all of it. I barely did as well. For forty-
three days, the authorities would not tell me what had happened to him. This
was the first time my children and I felt we had lost him”.
Cory continued that when Ninoy survived that first detention, he was
charged of subversion, murder and other crimes. He was tried by a
military court whose legitimacy he questioned. Ninoy decide to a
hunger strike and fasted for 40 days.

“When that didn’t work, they put him on trial for

subversion, murder and a host of other crimes
before a military commission. Ninoy challenged its
authority and went on a fast. If he survived it, then
he felt God intended him for another fate. We had
lost him again. For nothing would hold him back
from his determination to see his fast through to the
end”.
“Then , we lost him irrevocably and more painfully
in the past”. .....But his death is my counrty's
resurrection and the courage and faith by which
alone they could be free again..”
Cory emphasized the importance of the EDSA revolution in terms of
limited revolution that respected the life and freedom of every Filipino.

”Again as we restore democracy by the ways of

democracy, so are we completing the
constitutional structures of our new democracy
under a constitution that already gives full respect
to the Bill of Rights.”
 “ 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 had
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 the proceeded on her peace agenda with the existing communist insurgency
aggravated by the dictatorial and authoritarian measure of Ferdinand Marcos.

Cory then turned to the controversial
topic of the Philippine foreign debt
amounting to 26 billion dollars, this
debt had balloned during the Marcos
regime. Cory expressed her intention
to honor those debts despite
mentioning that the people did not
benefit from such debt.
“Finally may I turn to that other slavery: our $26
billion foreign debt. I have said that we shall honor
it. Yet, the means by which we shall be able to do so
are kept from us. Many of the conditions imposed on
the previous government that stole this debt,
continue to be imposed on us who never benefited
from it”.
Cory ended her speech by thanking America for serving as home to her
and family for what she referred to as the “three happiest years of our
lives together.”

“Three years ago I said, Thank you America for the

haven from oppression and the home you gave
Ninoy, myself and our children and for the three
happiest years of our lives together. Today I say, join
us America as we build a new home for democracy;
another haven for the oppressed so it may stand as a
shining testament of our two nations' commitment
to freedom”.
 ANALYSIS OF CORY AQUINO'S SPEECH

Cory Aquino's speech was an

important event in the political and
diplomatic history of the country
because it cemented the legitimacy
of the EDSA government in the
international arena.
• The ideology or the principles of
the new democratic government.

• Aquino was able to draw the

sharp contrast between her
government and of her
predecessor by expressing her
commitment to a democratic
constitution drafted by an
independent commission
Despite Cory's effots to hoist herself as
the except opposite of Marcos her
speech still revealed certain parallelism
between her and Marcos's government.
In terms of continuing alliance
between the Philippines and the
United States and effectively
implemented a similar foreign
policy to that of Marcos.
• Cory recognized the large sum of foreign debt,
she expressed her intention to pay off those
debts.

• Uknown to many Filipinos was the fact that

there was a choice of waiving the said debt
because those were the debt of the dictator and
not of the country.
 POSTSCRIPT ON CORY'S SPEECH

• The task of writing the speech was given to

Cory's Press Secretary *Teodoro “Teddy
Boy”Locsin Jr. who admitted years later
that he was unable to finished the draft and
it was Cory who finished the speech.

• It ran half an hour and was interrupted

with several applause and standing ovation.

(* Now Secretary of Foreign Affairs)

 Robert Dole the Senate Majority Leader said to Mrs. Aquino

Cory, you hit a home run” “ I hope the bases were

loaded.”

Five Hours later the U.S.

Congress voted in favor of $200
million as emergency aid to the
Philippines