Corazon C. Aquino   First President of the Fifth Republic of the Philippines Term: February 25, 1986- June 30, 1992

Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino was born in Tarlac on January 25, 1933. She is the sixth of the eight children of Don Jose Conjuanco and Doña Demetria Sumulong. She belongs to a wealthy and politically prominent clan from the Tarlac province. In 1946, Aquino's family left for the U.S., and she attended her junior and senior years of high school at the Notre Dame College in New York. She then earned a degree in Bachelor of Arts, major in French at Mount Saint Vincent College in New York in 1949. In 1955, she gave up becoming a lawyer to marry Benigno Aquino, who was then a young promising politician from the same province. Benigno or “Ninoy” was exiled by archrival Ferdinand E. Marcos in the States, and was assassinated upon his return in August 21, 1983. Ninoy was supposed to participate in the 1983 elections. After Ninoy’s death, Aguino was left to take care of their five children. In 1986, Aquino pursued her husband’s dream. When then President Ferdinand Marcos called for a snap election, Corazon Aquino became the unified opposition’s candidate for presidency. Though she was officially reported to have lost the election to Marcos, Aquino and her supporters challenged the results. They claimed widespread voting fraud. High officials in the Philippine military soon publicly renounced Marcos and proclaimed Aquino as the Philippines’ rightful president. The clash of the two candidates resulted in a “People Power Revolution.” At the height of the revolution, Marcos fled the country at the urging of the U.S. Government, and Aquino's new administration was officially recognized upon his departure for Hawaii. On February 25, 1986, Corazon Aquino became the first woman president of the Philippines. Despite the people’s overwhelming support, the Aquino administration faced an ongoing outcry of economic injustice, a problem that was only worsened by the continuing warfare between the communists and the military, whose loyalty to Aquino was uncertain. In general, her economic policies were criticized for being mixed-up or faltering in the face of mass poverty. Corazon Aquino served for six years, the maximum term allowed for a president to stay in power under the revised constitution of 1986. Cory Aquino was the 11th president of the Philippines.