Corazon Aquino, president of the Philippines, died on August 1st, aged 76

Corazon Aquino

Corazon Aquino | Obituary | The Economist

The documentary-maker and wife of Francis Ford Coppola died on April 12th, aged 87

Eleanor Coppola recorded how a cinematic triumph almost came unstuck

The former Marine and AP Beirut bureau chief died on April 21st, aged 76

Terry Anderson was held by Islamic militants for 2,454 days

The wrestler who shocked and changed Japan died in early April, aged 54

Akebono was the first foreign-born grand champion of sumo

The heiress and IRA militant died on March 18th, aged 82

Rose Dugdale went from debutante to IRA bombmaker

The lawyer and author died on March 11th, aged 78

Paul Alexander lived longer than anyone in an iron lung

Obituary

span

gb_safe

gb_safe_from_high

gb_safe_from_high_med

pos_goldman_inclusion_2024

pos_israel-hamas_war

gs_politics

neg_goldmansachs_brandsafety

america_campaigns_elections

gt_mixed

ibm_blacklist

gs_politics_misc

gs_politics_issues_policy

neg_omd_exclusion

neg_ey_brandsafety

gs_science

gs_science_geography

neg_ey_kwbl

neg_ibm_brandsafety

chanel_neg

america_white_house

legal_law

neg_cartier

neg_workday_master

neg_jpm_2024q4

neg_exxon

neg_dit

neg_fidelity_gmo

microsoft_blacklist

google_negative_keywords

workdayblocklist

america_supreme_court

neg_ey

gs_popculture

gs_genres

neg_workday_4

gv_death_injury

neg_ey_politics

neg_nested5_fidelity_gmo

america_nanny_state

IF GREATNESS was thrust upon Corazon Aquino, and for a while it was, she did her best to parry it. The decisive moment came after eight hours of prayer at St Joseph's Convent of Perpetual Adoration in Quezon City, the former capital of the Philippines. There the self-proclaimed “plain housewife” resolved that she would, after all, accede to the request of 1m petitioners and run for president in the election that the wicked President Ferdinand Marcos had just called. Days of humming, hawing and after-youing were at an end, and the people had a champion. She was the lady in the yellow dress, simple, bespectacled, plain not just in her housewifery but also in her demeanour, a contrast in every way to the stylish Imelda, who was still stuffing the boudoirs of the presidential palace with frocks and furs and shoes, shoes, shoes. The power, however, was with the people, and the people were with Cory.

It was a tumultuous time for the Philippines, a country that has never been easy to take seriously. Its Spanish-American colonial experience, invigorated by Malay, Chinese and indigenous influences, has produced an Asian variant of the rum-and-Coca-Cola culture. In the 1980s this meant visitors could be forgiven for thinking they had arrived on the set of a wacky sitcom, perhaps made for the Central American market, in which the actors, all speaking American with a Latin twang, were masquerading as the nation's public figures.

 Strangely, though, they had nicknames that evoked either the Broadway characters of Damon Runyon or, more bizarrely, the upper classes of Wodehousian England: Bongbong, Teddyboy, Ting Ting and Ballsy, for example. But the aristocrats, pallid though they were by Philippine standards, were less Edwardian buffers than mestizos of Spanish-indigenous or Spanish-Chinese blood, whose landholdings and feudal attitudes were reminiscent of nowhere so much as time-warped Pakistan. Adding to the exotic admixture were such minor curiosities as Cardinal Sin, whose inspired name suggested someone in the Vatican must have had a sense of humour, and the ouija tables introduced to the Malacañang Palace during the Marcos presidency, which yanked the mind back towards the Chinese occult.

Strangely, though, they had nicknames that evoked either the Broadway characters of Damon Runyon or, more bizarrely, the upper classes of Wodehousian England: Bongbong, Teddyboy, Ting Ting and Ballsy, for example. But the aristocrats, pallid though they were by Philippine standards, were less Edwardian buffers than mestizos of Spanish-indigenous or Spanish-Chinese blood, whose landholdings and feudal attitudes were reminiscent of nowhere so much as time-warped Pakistan. Adding to the exotic admixture were such minor curiosities as Cardinal Sin, whose inspired name suggested someone in the Vatican must have had a sense of humour, and the ouija tables introduced to the Malacañang Palace during the Marcos presidency, which yanked the mind back towards the Chinese occult.

Against such a backdrop, Mrs Aquino—devout, shy and apparently devoid of ambition—was on the face of it an improbable tribune of the Filipinos. But circumstances propelled her. In August 1983 her husband Benigno, better known as Ninoy, a leading opponent of the president, had returned home from three years' exile in the United States. He was at once shot dead. Over 2m people attended his funeral, which turned out to be, in effect, the first of a series of mass demonstrations against the regime, many of them prominently attended by the woman in the yellow dress. These culminated, after Marcos had tried to steal the election and some soldiers had mutinied, in an outpouring of protesters onto Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, known as EDSA, the huge arterial highway that loops round the capital, Manila. Three days later, on February 25th 1986, Marcos was on his way to Hawaii and Mrs Aquino was president (see article).

Against such a backdrop, Mrs Aquino—devout, shy and apparently devoid of ambition—was on the face of it an improbable tribune of the Filipinos. But circumstances propelled her. In August 1983 her husband Benigno, better known as Ninoy, a leading opponent of the president, had returned home from three years' exile in the United States. He was at once shot dead. Over 2m people attended his funeral, which turned out to be, in effect, the first of a series of mass demonstrations against the regime, many of them prominently attended by the woman in the yellow dress. These culminated, after Marcos had tried to steal the election and some soldiers had mutinied, in an outpouring of protesters onto Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, known as EDSA, the huge arterial highway that loops round the capital, Manila. Three days later, on February 25th 1986, Marcos was on his way to Hawaii and Mrs Aquino was president (see <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/1986/03/01/after-the-dawn">article</a>).

Cory had not been passive. She had seen off the charges of crypto-communism, faced down the efforts at intimidation and rejected the ill-judged attempt by Ronald Reagan's envoy to make her share power with Marcos. But her greatness was already at an end. As president, she introduced a democratic constitution and set the judiciary free. Her land reform, however, failed to break the grip of the aristocrats, and her promises to end the long communist insurrection were soon set aside. Worse, she failed to control the army. Her greatest achievement was to survive seven attempted coups and hand over peacefully at the end of her six-year term. 

At bottom, she was quite conservative. She spoke for the people but her family was rich, landed and firmly set in the political establishment. In 1948, after studying in Philadelphia and New York, she had worked as a volunteer in the campaign of Thomas Dewey, the Republican presidential candidate. Nothing she was to suffer later would either shake her faith or turn her red. The “revolutionary” government she proclaimed owed nothing to Marx or Mao. Decency and honesty she had in plenty, and on occasion a hint of steel. But these were overwhelmed by indecision, naivety and a lack of political instinct.

Today Mrs Aquino's reputation rests mainly on her role as the leader of a people-power revolution of the kind that seemed to be sweeping the world a few years ago. Her yellow dress and the yellow ribbons it inspired are even seen as the forerunners of the roses, tulips and other coloured emblems of these uprisings. Unfortunately, in the Philippines, as elsewhere, people power has sometimes turned into mob rule rather than direct democracy: in 2001 President Joseph Estrada, though legitimately elected, was deposed in another EDSA revolution.

 As the yellow fades, Mrs Aquino may come to be seen as just another example of Asia's political-widow syndrome, in which the doughty wife of a slain statesman rises to replace him. It has happened in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. No one, however, has done it with such modesty, pluck and charm as Cory Aquino. 

Get to grips with a region where capital, climate and geopolitics collide

Go deeper with our Middle East newsletter. Every week our correspondents delve into the political, social and economic stories of a region that is rarely out of the news.

Sign up to our Middle East newsletter

Middle East Dispatch

Follow the action in Latin America, from the depths of the Brazilian Amazon to the Mexican-American border

Every week our correspondents share insights on politics, economics and business from an increasingly complex region

Stay informed with our weekly Latin America newsletter

El Boletín

A sharp round-up of the most important US political news

Sign up for updates from our correspondents and data journalists, poll tracker and election-forecast model as the 2024 race unfolds

The US in brief

Inside Europe, from the front lines in Ukraine to the corridors of power in Brussels

Stay informed with our weekly Europe newsletter

Café Europa

Understand a vast and complicated country that will increasingly shape the future

Stay informed with our weekly India newsletter

Essential India

The best of The Economist’s defence coverage, in one place

The War Room

A weekly conversation about culture. Because culture is a serious business

Exploring trends and connections across entertainment, the arts and politics

Broaden your perspective with our weekly culture newsletter

Plot Twist

Analysing the challenges facing Britain and what needs to be done to overcome them

Stay informed with our weekly Britain newsletter

Blighty

Understand what the world makes of China—and what China makes of the world

Stay informed with our weekly China newsletter

Drum Tower

Your essential guide to global business and technology

From supply chains to semiconductors, The Bottom Line newsletter has you covered

Need to track the megatrends shaping business and technology?

The Bottom Line

Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter

Sign up to enjoy a mind-expanding mix of stories, delivered six days a week

Catch up quickly on the stories that matter

The World in Brief

A behind-the-scenes look at how we chose and designed this week’s cover

How we chose this week’s cover image

Cover Story

Exclusive insight from our correspondents in America

Exclusive insight and reading recommendations from our correspondents in America

Checks and Balance

A weekly fix of our mind-expanding science coverage

Curious about the world? Enjoy a weekly fix of our mind-expanding science coverage

Simply Science

Climate-change analysis that you won’t read elsewhere in The Economist

The Climate Issue

Expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics and markets

Money Talks

Taking you behind the scenes of our data journalism

Off the Charts

Long reads and life from 1843 magazine

The Extraordinary Story

The very best of our journalism, handpicked for you each weekday

A daily newsletter with the best of our journalism

Handpicked stories, in your inbox

The Economist today

Highlights from the latest weekly issue, introduced by our editor

Corazon Aquino

Corazon Aquino, president of the Philippines, died on August 1st, aged 76

From the August 8th 2009 edition

More from Obituary

Eleanor Coppola recorded how a cinematic triumph almost came unstuck

Terry Anderson was held by Islamic militants for 2,454 days

Akebono was the first foreign-born grand champion of sumo