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    RPH Lesson 2.5 Revisiting Corazon Aquinos Speech

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    Kent Rodriguez

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    RPH Lesson 2.5 Revisiting Corazon Aquinos Speech

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    Kent Rodriguez
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    29 views22 pages

    RPH Lesson 2.5 Revisiting Corazon Aquinos Speech

    Uploaded by

    Kent Rodriguez

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 22

    Revisiting Corazon

    Aquino’s Speech
    before the U.S.
    Congress
    CORAZON “CORY” COJUANGCO AQUINO
     Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino was
    born in Tarlac, Philippines.
     She functioned as the symbol of the restoration of
    democracy and the overthrow of the Marcos
    Dictatorship in 1986.
     The widow of the slain Marcos oppositionist and
    former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
     Cory was hoisted as the antithesis of the dictator.
     11th President and the first female president of the
    Philippines and in Asia.
    Historical context: Marcos vs. Aquino

     There was already a tension between Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Benigno Aquino Jr.,
    since they became the president and senator, Marcos hated Aquino for opposing
    him so he accused Aquino of many things including being a communist which lead
    him to start Martial Law and arresting Aquino.
     Ninoy’s eloquence and charisma could very well compete with that of Marcos.
    Historical context: Ferdinand Marcos
     Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. was a
    Filipino politician, lawyer,
    dictator, and kleptocrat who served as the
    tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to
    1986.
     He ruled under martial law from 1972 until
    1981 and kept most of his martial law powers until
    he was deposed in 1986.
     One of the most controversial leaders of the 20th
    century, Marcos' rule was infamous for its
    corruption, human rights violation, and brutality.
    Historical Context: Martial Law in the Philippines
     On the night of September 23, 1972, Ferdinand
    Marcos spoke to the nation by television and by
    radio to make it known that he had declared
    Martial Law in the Philippines.
     Martial Law – (batas militar) it is a temporary
    rule by military authorities of a designated area in
    time of emergency when the civil authorities are
    deemed unable to function.
     On this day, Marcos stole the Philippine
    democracy. Institutions were shut down. People
    were arrested and many were killed.
    Historical Context: Martial Law in the Philippines

    Why was Martial Law declared?


    When Marcos signed Proclamation 1081
    on September 21, 1972, he cited the
    communist threat as justification. His
    diary, meanwhile, said the proclamation of
    Martial Law became a “necessity”,
    following the supposed ambush of then
    defense secretary Juan Ponce Enrile.
    Historical Context: Martial Law in the Philippines
    Historical Context: The People Power Revolution
     The EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986
    was widely recognized around the world for its
    peaceful character.

    DEATH OF NINOY AQUINO


     When former senator Ninoy Aquino was shot
    at the tarmac of the Manila International
    Airport on August 21, 1983, the Marcos regime
    greatly suffered a crisis of legitimacy.
     Protests from different sectors frequented
    different areas of the country.
    Historical Context: Snap Election
     Marcos had to do something to prove to his
    alliance in the United States that he remained
    to be a democratically anointed leader of the
    country.
     He called for a Snap Election in February
    1986, where Corazon Aquino, the widow of the
    slain senator was convinced to run against
    Marcos.
     The canvassing was rigged to Marcos’ favor
    but people expressed their protests against the
    corrupt and authoritarian government.
    Historical Context: The People Power Revolution
     For a moment, everything seemed possible. From
    February 22 to 25, 1986, thousands of Filipinos
    gathered on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue to protest
    President Ferdinand Marcos and his claim that he had
    won re-election over Corazon Aquino.
     Civilians heeded the call of then Manila Archbishop
    Jaime Cardinal Sin and other civilian leaders to gather
    in EDSA.
     The overwhelming presence of Filipinos in EDSA
    successfully turned a coup into a civilian
    demonstration.
     The thousands of Filipinos who gathered overthrew
    Ferdinand Marcos from the presidency after 21 years.
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS

     On September 18, 1986, seven months as a president, she went to the United States
    and spoke before joining the session of the U.S. Congress.
     She 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.
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “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’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “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. He stopped only when it dawned on him that the
    government would keep his body alive after the fast had
    destroyed his brain. And so, with barely any life in his body,
    he called off the fast on the 40th day. ”
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully than
    in the past. The news came to us in Boston. It had to be after
    the three happiest years of our lives together. But his death
    was my country's resurrection and the courage and faith by
    which alone they could be free again. The dictator had called
    him a nobody. Yet, two million people threw aside their
    passivity and fear and escorted him to his grave.”

    “And so began the revolution that has brought me to


    democracy's most famous home, The Congress of the United
    States.
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “I held fast to Ninoy's conviction that it must be by the ways of democracy. I held
    out for participation in the 1984 election the dictatorship called, even if I knew it
    would be rigged. I was warned by the lawyers of the opposition, that I ran the
    grave risk of legitimizing the foregone results of elections that were clearly going
    to be fraudulent. But I was not fighting for lawyers but for the people in whose
    intelligence, I had implicit faith. By the exercise of democracy even in a
    dictatorship, they would be prepared for democracy when it came. And then also, it
    was the only way I knew by which we could measure our power even in the terms
    dictated by the dictatorship. The people vindicated me in an election shamefully
    marked by government thuggery and fraud. The opposition swept the elections,
    garnering a clear majority of the votes even if they ended up (thanks to a corrupt
    Commission on Elections) with barely a third of the seats in Parliament. Now, I
    knew our power.”
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “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’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “Finally may I turn to that other slavery, our twenty-six
    billion dollar 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’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    “Wherever I went in the campaign, slum area or impoverished
    village. They came to me with one cry, DEMOCRACY. Not food
    although they clearly needed it but DEMOCRACY. Not work,
    although they surely wanted it but DEMOCRACY. Not money,
    for they gave what little they had to my campaign. They didn't
    expect me to work a miracle that would instantly put food into
    their mouths, clothes on their back, education in their children and
    give them work that will put dignity in their lives. But I feel the
    pressing obligation to respond quickly as the leader of the people
    so deserving of all these things.”
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
    "Has there been a greater test of national commitment
    to the ideals you hold dear than that my people have
    gone through? You have spent many lives and much
    treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were
    reluctant to receive it. And here, you have a people
    who want it by themselves and need only the help to
    preserve it."
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
     The speech talks about her family background,
    especially her relationship with her late husband Ninoy
    Aquino.
     Cory talked at length about Ninoy’s toil and suffering at
    the hands of the dictatorship that he resisted.
     The ideology or the principles of the new democratic
    government can also be seen in the speech.
     Cory expressed her intention to pay off debts. Debts of
    the dictator not the country.
     Continuing alliance between the Philippines and
    America.
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
     The speech talks about her family background,
    especially her relationship with her late husband Ninoy
    Aquino.
     Cory talked at length about Ninoy’s toil and suffering at
    the hands of the dictatorship that he resisted.
     The ideology or the principles of the new democratic
    government can also be seen in the speech.
     Cory expressed her intention to pay off debts. Debts of
    the dictator not the country.
     Continuing alliance between the Philippines and
    America.
    CORY’S SPEECH BEFORE THE U.S.
    CONGRESS
     The speech talks about her family background,
    especially her relationship with her late husband Ninoy
    Aquino.
     Cory talked at length about Ninoy’s toil and suffering at
    the hands of the dictatorship that he resisted.
     The ideology or the principles of the new democratic
    government can also be seen in the speech.
     Cory expressed her intention to pay off debts. Debts of
    the dictator not the country.
     Continuing alliance between the Philippines and
    America.

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