Corazon C. Aquino

News about Corazon C. Aquino, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. More

Updated July 31, 2009

Corazon C. Aquino was the president of the Philippines for six years, after being swept into office on a wave of "people power" in 1986.  Ms. Aquino then led the country through a difficult transition to democracy after two decades of autocratic rule under Ferdinand Marcos. She died on Aug. 1, 2009.

Ms. Aquino became a popular symbol of opposition to Mr. Marcos after her husband, Benigno S. Aquino Jr., a chief challenger to Mr. Marcos, was assassinated in 1983.

After Mr. Marcos claimed victory in a 1986 election that Ms. Aquino was widely believed to have won, she organized huge rallies that helped drive him from office. Her ascension to office was seen as a high point in modern Philippine history.

Over the next six years she staved off multiple coup attempts while restoring a freely elected parliament and independent judiciary. But she did not lead the social revolution some had hoped for, failing to institute effective land reform or to address the concentration of power over the country's politics.

The popular movement that brought Ms. Aquino to power set a difficult precedent in the Philippines, where people nostalgic for their shining moment continue to see mass movements as an acceptable, if unconstitutional, answer to the difficulties of a flawed democratic system. The restoration of democracy, and the democratic transition to a new president, were Mrs. Aquino's prime legacies. Yet, she has led mass demonstrations against all three of her democratically elected successors.

She blocked the first one, Fidel V. Ramos, from changing the Constitution in 1998 to keep himself in power. She helped drive the second, Joseph Estrada, from office in 2001 in what became known as "People Power 2." As recently as 2008, she joined demonstrations against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.