Corazon Aquino Facts & Worksheets

Corazon “Cory” Aquino was the first female President of the Philippines and in Asia from 1986 to 1992 and the widow of opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. She stood for President after her husband’s death and became a symbol of the Filipino people’s desire for change after over two decades of authoritarian rule.

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Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

• Mara Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco was born in Paniqui, Tarlac on January 25, 1933. She was born into the wealthy Cojuangco family. Her father was a prominent Tarlac businessman and former congressman, Jose Cojuangco, and her mother, Demetria Sumulong, was a chemist.
• Also, Cory was born into a prominent political clan. Melecio Cojuangco, Cory’s great-grandfather, was a member of the historic Malolos Congress. Cory’s mother was a member of Rizal province’s politically powerful Sumulong family, which included Juan Sumulong, who ran against Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in 1941, and Senator Lorenzo Sumulong, who Cory later appointed to the Constitutional Commission during her Presidency.
• Aquino spent her elementary school years at St. Scholastica’s College in Manila, where she became valedictorian of her class. She transferred to Assumption Convent to finish her high school education. 
• She attended the Assumption-run Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia after her family relocated there. She then proceeded to New York City’s Notre Dame Convent School, where she graduated in 1949.
• After graduating from college, she returned to the Philippines and studied law at Far Eastern University in 1953. She met Ninoy while attending law at the said university.
• On October 11, 1954, she married Ninoy in Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Pasay, Philippines. Maria Elena (Ballsy), Aurora Corazon (Pinky), Benigno Simeon III (Noynoy), Victoria Elisa (Viel), and Kristina Bernadette (Kris) were their five children.

WIFE TO NINOY

• Cory’s husband Ninoy was a member of the Liberal Party who climbed to become the country’s youngest governor in 1961. Ninoy was elected as a senator and became the youngest elected in Philippine history.
• Cory remained a homemaker for most of her husband’s political career, raising their children and entertaining political allies who visited their home in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
• As a vocal critic of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship, Ninoy emerged as a strong candidate for President to follow Marcos in the 1973 elections. 
• However, Marcos, forbidden from seeking a third term by the 1935 Constitution, proclaimed Martial Law on September 21, 1972, and eventually abrogated the Constitution, allowing him to remain in office.
• Benigno Aquino Jr. was among the first people detained when Martial Law was declared and was later sentenced to death. 
• Despite Corazon’s initial objections, Ninoy opted to compete as the newly formed LABAN party leader in the 1978 Batasang Pambansa elections from his prison cell. 
• During this election campaign, Corazon Aquino campaigned for her husband and delivered a political speech for the first time. 
• In 1980, Ninoy suffered a heart attack and needed intense medical attention. Marcos Sr. allowed Ninoy and his family to leave the country for exile in the United States. Former US President Jimmy Carter intervened so that Ninoy could seek medical treatment abroad. 
• The Aquino family stayed in Boston for three years. 
• On August 21, 1983, Benigno Aquino Jr. left the United States without his family and went to the Philippines, where he was slain on a stairwell leading to the tarmac at Manila International Airport. 
• The airport is presently known as Ninoy Aquino International Airport after the Congress renamed it in his honor in 1987.
• After the assassination, supporters of Ninoy organized protests to condemn Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Known political figures urged the public to condemn the Marcoses. Finally, the senior leaders agreed to meet to choose a candidate in case of contingencies or sudden announcements of changes. On November 3, 1985, in response to US government pressure, Marcos Sr. abruptly declared a snap presidential election would be held the following year, one year ahead of the usual presidential election schedule, to legitimize his power over the country.
• The convenor’s group of opposition leaders formed underlying principles to select a leader.
• United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) and the other coalitions resolved to support Aquino’s wife, Cory Aquino, over Doy Laurel or Eva Estrada-Kalaw, launching the Cory Aquino for President Movement (CAPM) chaired by Roces et al. Only Laurel, a friend of Ninoy Aquino, disagreed and intended to run against Aquino and Marcos.
• UNIDO outvoted Laurel, encouraging him to become Cory Aquino’s vice president instead. After Cory Aquino became the primary candidate, Laurel finally ran as Cory Aquino’s running mate for vice president under the UNIDO party.

CORY AFTER THE ASSASSINATION

• After her husband’s assassination in 1983, Corazon Aquino was involved in anti-Marcos activities. She began to take up her husband’s mantle of leadership and became a figurehead of the anti-Marcos political opposition.
• The election was later rescheduled for February 7, 1986. Former newspaper editor Joaquin Roces organized a petition urging Aquino to run for President. The petition with 1.2 million signatures was formally given to Aquino on December 1 in front of 15,000 people, and on December 3, Aquino officially proclaimed her candidature.
• During the campaign, Marcos criticized Corazon Aquino for her husband’s previous ties to communists, describing the election as a battle “between democracy and communism.” Aquino denied Marcos’ allegations and declared that she would not select any communists for her government.
• The February 7, 1986, snap election was marked by severe electoral fraud, violence, intimidation, coercion, and voter disenfranchisement.
• On February 15, 1986, President Marcos was declared the election winner by the Batasang Pambansa, dominated by Marcos’ ruling party and its allies.
• However, according to the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) count, Corazon Aquino was victorious. Aquino declared victory based on NAMFREL’s election count and called for a “Tagumpay ng Bayan” (People’s Victory Rally) the next day to reject the Batasang Pambansa’s announcement.
• Aquino also called for boycotts of products and services from corporations controlled or owned by those close to Marcos. The demonstration in the famous Rizal Park in Luneta, Manila, drew a crowd of about two million pro-Aquino supporters.
• Both domestic and foreign governments condemned the fraudulent election results. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines strongly condemned the election’s conduct, calling it violent and dishonest.
• The United States Senate also criticized the election. Aquino rejected a power-sharing plan suggested by American ambassador Philip Habib, who was dispatched as an agent by the United States. President Ronald Reagan assisted in defusing the situation.

PRESIDENT CORY

• Aquino’s presidency was marred by a bloated military that sought to topple her seven times, in addition to a $28.5 billion national debt and widespread poverty. 
• Marcos had made significant investments in the military, and many commanders remained devoted to him. Aquino’s efforts to settle issues with Marxist parties like the Moro National Liberation Front  (MNLF) also irritated military officers.
• The military remained a coercive power in Filipino society, which gained public support from Aquino and resulted in recurrent US-backed battles with hostile leftists.
• After being elected, Cory passed legislation that significantly impacted Philippine society. 
• Aquino issued two significant legal codes: the Family Code of 1987, which changed civil law on family relationships, and the Administrative Code of 1987, which reorganized the executive branch.
• Another vital statute passed during her reign was the 1991 Local Government Code, which devolved national government functions to local government units (LGUs); the new Code also strengthened LGUs’ ability to adopt local taxation measures and guaranteed them a part of national revenue.
• Aquino nominated 48 members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission (Con-Com), chaired by former activist Supreme Court Associate Justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, to expedite the restoration of the entire constitutional government and the formulation of a new charter. 
• In October 1986, the Con-Com finished its final draft. On February 2, 1987, the Filipino people decisively accepted the new Philippine Constitution, which heavily focused on civil liberties, human rights, and social justice.
• On July 22, 1987, in response to requests for agrarian reform, Aquino released Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order 229 outlining her land reform program, which included sugar lands. 
• With Aquino’s support, the new Congress of the Philippines passed Republic Act No. 6657, often known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, in 1988. The law set the stage for redistributing agricultural lands from landlords to tenant farmers, who were compensated by the government through equitable compensation but were also allowed to retain no more than five hectares of land.
• Despite the execution of CARP, Aquino was not immune to the disputes that eventually centered on Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare (15,950-acre) estate in Tarlac that was a joint legacy of the Cojuangco dynasty.

LATER LIFE

• As her presidency ended, close advisers and friends informed Aquino that because she had not been inaugurated under the 1987 Constitution, thus she was still eligible to run for President again in the 1992 elections, the first presidential elections held under normal and peaceful conditions since 1965.
• Cory initially supported Ramon V. Mitra, Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives, as her preferred candidate for the 1992 presidential elections. However, she backtracked her support and later on supported Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, who was her Defense Secretary and a key figure during the EDSA Revolution.
• Fidel V. Ramos won the 1992 election and was inaugurated on June 30, 1992, as the twelfth President of the Philippines. 
• Despite being a private citizen after her Presidency, Cory was still active in the Philippine political scene. 
• She even joined a protest against Fidel V. Ramos in 1997 when the latter wanted to extend his Presidency through a proposed amendment in the 1987 Philippine Constitution in terms of limiting the term of office of a President.
• In 1999, Cory and several key figures from the religious and political sector worked again to oppose the second plan to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution under the Presidency of Joseph “Erap” Estrada.  
• The following year, she joined the call for Estrada to resign from his position due to a series of corruption issues, including bribery charges and gambling-related issues.
• After Estrada resigned from his position due to a strong call from the Filipino people that led to the second EDSA People Power, Cory supported Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), the Vice President during that period, to the position of President.
• GMA was involved in a controversial issue during the 2004 Presidential elections. Cory once again led massive street protests calling for GMA’s resignation. Cory also campaigned for her son, Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III during the Senatorial election in 2007. 
• Noynoy ran for Presidency in 2010 and won the position. He led the Philippines as the fifteenth President of the country from 2010 to 2016.
• Aquino’s family stated on March 24, 2008, that the former President had been diagnosed with colon cancer. 
• She underwent medical treatment and chemotherapy after being told by her doctors that she only had three months to live. For Aquino’s recovery, a series of healing masses were organized nationwide. She was a passionate Catholic.
• By July 2009, Cory was losing her appetite and was in critical condition. She was being treated at Makati Medical Centre at the time. It was later revealed that Cory and her family had discontinued her chemotherapy and other medical procedures. 
• At 3:18 a.m., on August 1, 2009, at the age of 76, Aquino died at Makati Medical Centre from cardiorespiratory arrest.
• Several Filipinos mourned her death and paid respect for her achievements in the process of democratization in the Philippines.

Corazon Aquino Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Corazon Aquino across 25 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Corazon Aquino. Corazon “Cory” Aquino was the first female President of the Philippines and in Asia from 1986 to 1992 and the widow of opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Corazon Aquino Facts
2. Vocabulary Picture
3. Aquino Bio
4. Bringer of Light
5. Calling Corazon
6. Fight Sign
7. From Housewife to President
8. Famous Quotes
9. Dictatorship
10. Corazon
11. In News

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Corazon Aquino?

Corazon Aquino, also known as Cory Aquino, was a prominent Filipino politician and the 11th President of the Philippines. She served as the first female president of the country from 1986 to 1992.

What role did Corazon Aquino play in Philippine history?

Corazon Aquino played a pivotal role in Philippine history as a prominent leader of the “People Power” movement that successfully overthrew the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Her presidency marked a transition to democracy and the restoration of civil liberties in the Philippines.

How did Corazon Aquino become president?

Corazon Aquino became president through a peaceful revolution known as the EDSA Revolution or People Power Revolution. In the wake of the disputed 1986 presidential elections, she led a massive nonviolent protest movement that ultimately ousted President Marcos and led to her assumption of the presidency.

What were some of Corazon Aquino’s notable achievements as president?

As president, Corazon Aquino focused on restoring democratic institutions and implementing political and economic reforms. Her administration worked towards land reform, human rights protection, and the restoration of the Philippine economy. She also played a significant role in the drafting of a new constitution for the country.

What is Corazon Aquino’s legacy?

Corazon Aquino’s legacy is that of a courageous leader who fought for democracy and social justice in the Philippines. Her presidency marked a turning point in the country’s history, inspiring democratic movements worldwide. She is remembered as an icon of democracy and a symbol of hope for the Filipino people.

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