90 Facts About Corazon Aquino

Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992.

Corazon Aquino was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power Revolution, which ended the two-decade rule of President Ferdinand Marcos and led to the establishment of the current democratic Fifth Philippine Republic.

In late 1985, Marcos called for a snap election, and Aquino ran for president with former Senator Salvador Laurel as her running mate for vice president.

Corazon Aquino was the first female president of the Philippines.

Corazon Aquino's administration pursued peace talks to resolve the Moro conflict, and the result of these talks was creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Corazon Aquino was criticized for the Mendiola Massacre, which resulted in the shooting deaths of at least 12 peaceful protesters by Philippine state security forces.

Corazon Aquino was succeeded as president by Fidel V Ramos and returned to civilian life in 1992.

Corazon Aquino was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2008 and died on August 1,2009.

Maria Corazon Aquino Sumulong Cojuangco was born on January 25,1933, in Paniqui, Tarlac.

Corazon Aquino's father was Jose Cojuangco, a prominent Tarlac businessman and former congressman, and her mother was Demetria Sumulong, a pharmacist.

Corazon Aquino was the sixth of eight children, two of whom died in infancy.

Corazon Aquino spent her elementary school days at St Scholastica's College in Manila, where she graduated at the top of her class as valedictorian.

Corazon Aquino transferred to Assumption Convent to pursue high school studies.

Corazon Aquino then transferred to Notre Dame Convent School in New York City, where she graduated from in 1949.

Corazon Aquino discontinued her law education and married Benigno in Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Pasay on October 11,1954.

Corazon Aquino initially had difficulty adjusting to provincial life when she and her husband moved to Concepcion, Tarlac, in 1955.

Corazon Aquino found herself bored in Concepcion, and welcomed the opportunity to have dinner with her husband inside the American military facility at nearby Clark Field.

Corazon Aquino was fluent in French, Japanese, Spanish, and English aside from her native Tagalog and Kapampangan.

For most of her husband's political career, Corazon Aquino remained a housewife who raised their children and hosted her spouse's political allies who would visit their Quezon City home.

Unbeknownst to many at the time, Corazon Aquino sold some of her prized inheritance to fund the candidacy of her husband.

Corazon Aquino campaigned on behalf of her husband and delivered a political speech for the first time in her life during this political campaign.

Corazon Aquino returned to the Philippines a few days later and led her husband's funeral procession, in which more than two million people participated.

Corazon Aquino began to assume the mantle of leadership left by her husband and became a figurehead of the anti-Marcos political opposition.

Corazon Aquino refuted Marcos' charge and stated that she would not appoint a single communist to her cabinet.

Marcos accused Corazon Aquino of playing "political football" with the United States in regards to the continued United States military presence in the Philippines at Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base.

Corazon Aquino claimed victory according to NAMFREL's electoral count and called for a rally dubbed "Tagumpay ng Bayan" the following day to protest the declaration by the Batasang Pambansa.

Corazon Aquino called for boycotts against products and services from companies controlled or owned by individuals closely allied with Marcos.

Corazon Aquino rejected a power-sharing agreement proposed by the American diplomat Philip Habib, who had been sent as an emissary by US President Ronald Reagan to help defuse the tension.

On February 22,1986, disgruntled and reformist military officers led by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel V Ramos surprised the nation and the international community by the announcement of their defection from the Marcos government, citing a strong belief that Aquino was the real winner in the contested presidential election.

At that time, Corazon Aquino was meditating in a Carmelite convent in Cebu.

Corazon Aquino then flew back to Manila to prepare for the takeover of the government.

Corazon Aquino was sworn in as the eleventh president of the Philippines on February 15,1986.

Corazon Aquino is the first female president of the Philippines and is still the only president of the Philippines to have never held any prior political position.

Corazon Aquino is regarded as the first female president in Asia.

On February 25,1986, the first day of her administration, Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No 1, which announced an intention to reorganize the government and called on all officials appointed by Marcos to resign, starting with members of the Supreme Court.

On March 25,1986, President Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No 3, which announced a transitional government into a democratic system.

Corazon Aquino abolished the 1973 Constitution that was in force during the martial law era, and by decree issued the provisional 1986 Freedom Constitution, pending the ratification of a more formal and comprehensive charter.

Corazon Aquino then reorganized the membership of the Supreme Court with the stated purpose of restoring its judicial independence.

Corazon Aquino appointed all 48 members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, led by retired activist and former Supreme Court Associate Justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, which was tasked with writing a new constitution.

Corazon Aquino made fighting inflation one of her priorities after the nation suffered from skyrocketing prices during the last years of the Marcos administration.

On February 28,1986, four days into her presidency, Corazon Aquino formed the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which was tasked with retrieving Marcos' domestic and international fortune.

President Corazon Aquino pursued a market liberalization agenda to combat this problem.

President Corazon Aquino particularly targeted the sugar industry and the coconut industry for de-monopolization.

President Corazon Aquino inherited the debt of the Marcos administration and weighed all options on what to do with the debt, including not paying the debt.

Corazon Aquino eventually chose to honor all the debts that were previously incurred in order to clear the country's economic reputation.

Corazon Aquino's decision proved to be unpopular but Aquino defended it, saying that was the most practical move.

The Corazon Aquino administration was able to reduce the Philippines' external debt-to-GDP ratio by 30.1 percent, from 87.9 percent at the start of the administration to 67.8 percent in 1991.

President Corazon Aquino envisioned agrarian and land reform as the centerpiece of her administration's social legislative agenda.

Corazon Aquino herself was subject to a controversy that centered on Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare estate located in the province of Tarlac which she and her siblings inherited from her father Jose Cojuangco.

Critics argued that Corazon Aquino bowed to pressure from relatives by allowing stock redistribution in lieu of land redistribution under CARP.

Corazon Aquino's widow stated that he had been depressed due to infighting in Aquino's cabinet and lack of significant change since the People Power Revolution.

President Corazon Aquino conducted peace talks with the Moro National Liberation Front, an armed Moro Muslim insurgency group that sought to establish an independent Moro state within Mindanao.

Corazon Aquino met with MNLF leader Nur Misuari and various MNLF groups in Sulu.

Shortly after becoming president, Corazon Aquino ordered the release of hundreds of political prisoners imprisoned during the Marcos era, including communist insurgents belonging to the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The senators called for the United States military to vacate US Naval Base Subic Bay and Clark Air Base, and Corazon Aquino opposed their demand.

Corazon Aquino opposed the Senate's demand and believed that the bases should have remained.

Corazon Aquino organized a protest against the pullout, which only gathered between 100,000 and 150,000 supporters, far short of the 500,000 to 1 million that had been originally expected.

The administration had failed to provide for an adequate replacement for the plant before her term had completed, and President Corazon Aquino ended her term in 1992 with the country reeling under a severe power shortage crisis.

However, Corazon Aquino firmly declined the requests for her to seek reelection, citing her strong belief that the presidency was not a lifetime position.

Corazon Aquino's decision drew criticism from the Catholic Church, which questioned her support of Ramos due to his being a Protestant.

In 2000, Corazon Aquino joined the mounting calls for Estrada to resign from office, amid a series of corruption scandals, including strong allegations of bribery charges and gambling kickbacks.

In 2005, after a series of revelations and exposes that implicated President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in rigging the 2004 presidential elections, Corazon Aquino called on Arroyo to resign in order to prevent bloodshed, violence and further political deterioration.

Corazon Aquino led massive street-level demonstrations, this time demanding the resignation of President Arroyo.

In December 2008, Corazon Aquino publicly expressed regret for her participation in the 2001 Second EDSA Revolution, which installed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as president.

Corazon Aquino apologized to former President Joseph Estrada for the role she played in his ouster in 2001.

In June 2009, two months before her death, Corazon Aquino issued a public statement in which she strongly denounced and condemned the Arroyo administration's plans of amending the 1987 Constitution, calling it a "shameless abuse of power".

Shortly after leaving the presidency, Corazon Aquino traveled abroad, giving speeches and lectures on issues of democracy, development, human rights, and women empowerment.

At the 1994 meeting of the UNESCO World Commission on Culture and Development in Manila, Corazon Aquino delivered a speech urging the unconditional release of Burmese democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi from detention.

Until her death in 2009, Corazon Aquino would continue to petition for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Corazon Aquino was a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international organization of former and current female heads of state, from the group's inception in 1996 to her death.

In 1997, Corazon Aquino attended the wake and funeral of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whom she met during the latter's visit in Manila in 1989.

In 2005, Corazon Aquino joined the international community in mourning the death of Pope John Paul II.

In 2002, Corazon Aquino became the first woman named to the Board of Governors at the Asian Institute of Management, a leading graduate business school and think tank in the Asia Pacific region.

From 1992 until her death, Aquino was chairperson of the Benigno S Aquino, Jr.

Corazon Aquino supported the Gawad Kalinga social housing project for the poor and homeless.

In 2007, Corazon Aquino helped establish the PinoyME Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to provide microfinancing programs and projects for the poor.

Corazon Aquino painted, and would occasionally give away her paintings to friends and family or auction her paintings and donate the proceeds to charity.

Corazon Aquino never sold her art for her own profit.

On March 24,2008, Corazon Aquino's family announced that the former president had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

Corazon Aquino's children declined Arroyo's offer of a state funeral for their mother.

Hours after her death, Corazon Aquino's body lay in repose for public viewing at the La Salle Green Hills campus in Mandaluyong.

Corazon Aquino's casket was brought inside the cathedral by mid-afternoon that day.

President Arroyo, once an ally of Corazon Aquino, remembered the sacrifices she made for the country and called her a "national treasure".

Corazon Aquino described Aquino as the "Philippines' most loved woman".

Clinton said that Corazon Aquino was "admired by the world for her extraordinary courage" in leading the fight against dictatorship.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated in a telegram to President Arroyo that "the name of Corazon Aquino is associated with a period of profound reforms and the democratic transformation of Filipino society".

Corazon Aquino expressed her good wishes for Aquino's son, then-incumbent president of the Philippines Benigno S Aquino III.

In 2008, a musical play about Corazon Aquino entitled Cory, the Musical was staged at the Meralco Theater.

In 1994, Corazon Aquino was cited as one of 100 Women Who Shaped World History in a reference book written by Gail Meyer Rolka.

Since her death in 2009, the legacy of Corazon Aquino has prompted various namings of public landmarks and creations of memorials.