Corazon Aquino, RIP

Corazon Aquino, the first female President of the Philippines, has died at the age of 76 from the ravages of colon cancer. Corazon Aquino is mourned by a country to which she helped to bring back democracy over twenty years ago.

Some are born to greatness. But it can be said that greatness was thrust upon Corazon Aquino by an assassin's bullet. Corazon Aquino was the wife of well known Philippine politician Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, an opponent of the dictatorial rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos, who had been elected democratically in 1965 and again in 1969, declared martial law in 1972 in the face of a Communist insurgency and growing lawlessness across the country.

Benigno Aquino was imprisoned at the onset of martial law and, at one time, was sentenced to death. However the Aquinos were allowed to go to into exile in the United States in 1980. Benigno Aquino attempted to return to the Philippines in 1983, but was assassinated on the air port tarmac, it is presumed at the behest of the Marcos government.

Corazon Aquino returned to the Philippines a few days later and led her husband's funeral rites, attended by two million people. Suddenly thrust into public life, Corazon Aquino became the center of mass protests against the Marcos regime that climaxed in an election race in February, 1986 between Aquino and Marcos. Marcos was declared the "winner" of the election on February 15^th, despite widespread accusations of voter fraud.

The spark that finally brought down the Marcos Regime occurred about a week later when the Defense Minister and the Vice Chief of Staff of the armed forces called on Marcos to resign. A massive crowd gathered around the military bases where the two men held out to serve as a human barricade against forces loyal to Marcos. Corazon Aquino joined the crowd and, three days later, was sworn into office as President. Marcos was sworn in also as President on the same day, but was obliged to flee the Philippines soon after.

Corazon Aquino served one six year term, beset by at least seven attempted military coups, a continuing communist insurgency, and accusations of indecisive leadership. But there were accomplishments as well, including the enactment of a new democratic Constitution. It was during Corozon Aquino's term that the departure of American forces from bases at Clarks Field and Subic Bay, held since the Spanish American War, occurred.

The peaceful revolution that brought about the fall of the Marcos tyranny and the return of democracy to the Philippines under Corazon Aquino was just the start of a wave that brought down dictatorships across the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s, from the fall of the Soviet Empire, to the end of the white minority regime in South Africa. Each of these freedom revolutions, starting with the one in the Philippines, were remarkable for their relatively peaceful nature.

That is a strange fate indeed for a woman who was seen as a frail housewife, who became the iron willed leader of her country. Corazon Aquino's life and political career shows the unexpected twists and turns that history can cause in the life of a nation and of a human being.

Source: Philippines mourns Corazon Aquino, dead at 76, Oliver Treves, AP, August 1, 2009