Cory’s leadership legacy

This is a column I have written for the young people of the Philippines, especially those who are still studying. It is the story very familiar to my generation. I hope the new generation will find inspiration in this story.

Maria Corazon “Cory” Aquino was born on Jan. 25, 1933, the sixth of eight children of Jose Cojuangco and Demetria Sumulong. She attended grade school at St. Scholastica’s College. And then went to the United States for further studies. She attended high school at Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia and Notre Dame Convent School in New York City. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Mount Saint Vince in New York with a major in French and a minor in Math. Returning to the Philippines , she took up law classes at the Far Eastern University, but discontinued this when she married Ninoy Aquino.

Cory was always known for her deep faith and simple lifestyle. She preferred to be on the backstage during her husband’s political career, supporting him during his campaign and his incarceration, even as she endeavoured to give their children as normal a family life as possible.

Cory Aquino was put on the spotlight after her husband – Ninoy – was assassinated in 1983. She was perceived by the forces opposing the Marcos martial law regime as the best possible unifying figure among the disparate opposition groups.

Although she was very reluctant, she was ultimately prevailed upon to be the united opposition’s presidential candidate. She ran against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos during the 1986 snap elections challenging his two decade rule. At the start, it seemed like a hopeless crusade. People Power had not yet been invented by the Filipino people.

In spite of the massive cheating and physical intimidation, it was clear that Cory Aquino had won the election. After Marcos was illegally proclaimed as the winner, There were numerous protests and rallies all over the country. The defection of certain military and police officers from the Marcos camp led to the spontaneous mobilization of hundreds of thousands of people who went to EDSA to protect the defectors in Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame. This was the spark that ignited the nonviolent People Power Revolution.

On Feb. 25, 1986 Marcos and his family was forced to flee the country and Cory Aquino became the 11th president and the first woman president of the Philippines. She begun her term with extreme difficulties. The country was bankrupt and the inflation rate was very high. Her government also had to survive several coup attempts.

Under her leadership, Cory Aquino was able to institute major reforms. Instead of becoming another dictator, she instituted the Freedom constitution in 1986 until the ratification of the 1987 Constitution. The president’s powers were limited, term limits were set and Congress was restored.

Crony capitalism had been one of the sins of the Marcos regime. This led to monopolies and stifled competition and innovation. This also led to abuses of government financial institutions. Under Cory Aquino, industries were deregulated, financial institutions became subject to tight controls, and the Central Bank’s independence was restored. The government worked hard to achieve higher economic growth while minimizing fiscal deficit, debt-to-GDP ratio, and inflation rates.

The Philippines was able to attain an eight percent economic growth rate and was on its way to becoming a tiger economy. Unfortunately, a series of coup attempts led to a slowdown in investments and a perception of instability.

But numerous legislations were crafted including the Local Government Code, Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, Build-Operate-Transfer Law, and Foreign Investments Act. It was under Cory Aquino’s leadership that the Philippines begun the journey from being the sick man of Asia, under Marcos, to the nation with one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.

Cory Aquino was a firm believer in democracy and the rule of law. She restored the institutions required in a functioning democracy – an independent Supreme Court and Commission on Elections. Even during difficult conditions, she respected the basic freedoms of a democratic nation especially the freedom of assembly and the freedom of the press.

In 1992, she was deemed qualified to run again for president because she was not inaugurated under the 1987 Constitution. However, she chose to retire after her term ended.

But Cory Aquino’s voice and moral leadership did not end with the end of her presidency. She remained a powerful voice that could rally thousands of people to a just cause. She spoke against Constitutional change that would lead to ending term limits and exposed even the highest officials who were guilty of corruption and abuses of power. She would continue to speak on democracy and various other issues.

On Aug. 1, 2009, at the age of 76, Corazon Aquino passed away after battling cancer for over a year. In honor of this “woman in yellow’ hundreds of thousands of Filipinos waited in long lines to pay homage during the wakes at La Salle, Greenhills and then at Manila Cathedral. Then hundreds of thousands more lined the routes during her funeral procession which lasted for eight hours.

The most remarkable thing about the public outpouring of grief and the long queues of mourners at Cory’s funeral procession was that it all happened 17 years after she stepped down from the presidency. From 1992 to 2009, she did not have any position of power or any title. But for 17 years, people would answer her call to go to the streets to express public outrage against corruption or abuses of power.

One of the greatest gift that Corazon Aquino left to us was the legacy of a leadership that symbolized and embodied what is truly the best in the Filipino people.

Creative writing classes for kids and teens

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