Aquino, (Maria) Corazon (1933– )

Filipino centrist politician, president 1986–92. She was instrumental in the nonviolent overthrow of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. As president, she sought to rule in a conciliatory manner, but encountered opposition from the left (communist guerrillas) and the right (army coup attempts), and her land reforms were seen as inadequate.

A devout Roman Catholic, Aquino enjoyed strong church backing in her 1986 campaign. The USA provided strong support as well and was instrumental in turning back a 1989 coup attempt. She introduced a new pluralist constitution in 1987 and survived a further six attempted coups. She was debarred by the new constitution from contesting the 1992 presidential elections, which were won by her defence secretary Fidel Ramos.

The daughter of a Tarlac province sugar baron, she studied law in the Philippines and the USA and in 1956 married Benigno Simeon Aquino (1932–1983), a Liberal Party politician who was the country's youngest-ever mayor, governor, and senator. The chief political opponent of the right-wing president Marcos, Benigno Aquino was imprisoned in 1972 for alleged subversion. A death sentence imposed in 1977 was commuted and from 1980 the Aquinos were allowed to live in exile in the USA. On Benigno's return, in August 1983, he was assassinated by a military guard at Manila airport. Corazon Aquino, who had stayed in the Philippines to campaign for the opposition in the 1984 legislative elections, agreed to contest the February 1986 presidential election for the opposition, after a million people signed a petition asking her to run. She claimed victory over Marcos and, accusing the government of voting fraud, led a nonviolent ‘people's power’ campaign that succeeded in overthrowing Marcos on 25 February 1986.