Corazon Aquino swears in as President of the Philippines at Club Filipino, San Juan on February 25, 1986. Photo courtesy of the Malacañang Palace Archives
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Ferdinand Marcos came to power in the Philippines in 1965. By 1972, he declared Martial Law and abandoned the country’s constitution, rewriting a new one that gave him more power. Opponents were threatened, jailed, exiled or killed. One of the most prominent opponents was Senator Benigno Aquino Sr. who was exiled to the US. On his return to the Philippines in 1983, Aquino was assassinated. His widow, Corazon “Cory” Aquino ran for president against Marcos in 1985. Marcos declared his victory by a landslide and angered Filipinos who refused to believe Aquino’s loss. With the backing of the Catholic church, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos peacefully protested on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Manila. Marcos ordered the military to end the protests, however, many soldiers defected and joined the protesters instead. Three days later, Marcos fled to the US and a bloodless revolution had occurred in the Philippines.
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