(1933-present)

• Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, universally and affectionately known as "Cory," was a Philippine president quite unlike those who preceded her

• Widow of Philippine  political leader Benigno Aquino 

• She was first called a "revolutionary," but later a mere "reformer."

•  When the old landed families recaptured the political system, she was called a "restorationist."

• She was born in 1933 into one of the richest clans in the Philippines, the powerful Cojuangcos of Tarlac Province

• Aquino neither sought power nor expected it would come to her. Her life was that of a privileged, well-educated girl sent abroad to the Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia, the Notre Dame Convent School in New York, and Mount St. Vincent College, also in New York.

• She studied mathematics and graduated with a degree in French in 1953, then returned to the Philippines to study law, but soon married the restless, rich scion of another prominent Tarlac family, Benigno ("Ninoy") Aquino, Jr

• Husband died and she became president

• Aquino won on February 7, 1986, but the margin of victory will never be known, for the election was marred by gross fraud, intimidation, ballot box stuffing, and falsified tabulation.

• When Marcos claimed victory, rioting broke out, which resulted in his fleeing the country and Aquino becoming President. She retired in 1992.