
Maria Corazon Sumulong "Cory" Cojuangco-Aquino was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th President of the Philippines, the first woman to hold that office, and the first female president in Asia. Regarded as "The Mother of Philippine Democracy", Cory led the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines. She was named Time magazine's "Woman of the Year" in 1986.
A self-proclaimed "plain housewife", Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., the staunchest critic of then President Ferdinand Marcos. After her husband's assassination on August 21, 1983, upon returning to the Philippines after four years in exile in the United States, Corazon Aquino emerged as the leader of the opposition against the Marcos administration. In late 1985, when President Marcos called for a snap election, Aquino ran for president with former senator Salvador Laurel as her vice-presidential running mate. After the elections were held on February 7, 1986, and the Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Marcos the winner in the elections, she called for massive civil disobedience protests, declaring herself as having been cheated and as the real winner in the elections. Filipinos enthusiastically heeded her call and rallied behind her. These events eventually led to the ousting of Marcos and the installation of Aquino as President of the Philippines on February 25, 1986 through the "People Power Revolution".