Zu Lebzeiten ihres Ehemannes Ninoy Aquino war sie – als bescheidene, aber mitfühlende Hausfrau – der stabilisierende Einfluss, der seine dynamische Persönlichkeit ausglich. Doch übernahm sie nach der Ermordung von Senator Ninoy Aquino im August 1983 resolut seine Rolle als politische Führerin der demokratischen Opposition meines Landes gegen ein fest verwurzeltes despotisches Regime.
Cory Aquino motivated ordinary Filipinos to peaks of daring and selflessness at a time when their spirit had almost been broken by a 14-year dictatorship. While her husband Ninoy Aquino lived, she – as the unassuming but caring housewife – was the stabilizing influence that tempered his dynamic personality.  But after the assassination of Senator Ninoy Aquino in August 1983, she stepped resolutely into his role as political leader of my country’s democratic opposition to an entrenched despotic regime.