Word: aquinos
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...Read "Asian Heroes: Corazon Aquino...
...there was something inexplicable about the mass phenomenon that rescued the Philippines from a failing dictatorship, there was no doubt when the process began. It was Aug. 21, 1983, on the tarmac at Manila's international airport. On that day, opposition politician Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino Jr., 50, returning from three years of self-imposed exile in the U.S., was shot as he stepped off a jetliner into a crowd of soldiers and well-wishers. Though Ferdinand Marcos, the country's authoritarian President, tried to blame communist agitators, one Filipino civilian and 25 members of the military, including General Fabian...
...Aquino murder shocked and angered the country, sparking popular demonstrations, intensifying the disaffection and causing the already stagnant economy to spiral downward, even as most other Southeast Asian nations were prospering. Two of the most important elements of Philippine society, the church and the military, began quickly turning against Marcos. The Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, a powerful figure in a country nominally 85% Roman Catholic, openly encouraged opposition political figures...
...Navy Captain Rex Robles, a spokesman for the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, which Enrile clandestinely helped establish. Realizing that he was being pushed aside in favor of General Ver, Enrile began to work secretly to protect himself and lay the groundwork for the inevitable post-Marcos period. (See Aquino's life in photos...
...fall of 1985, events began to move rapidly. Marcos declared in November that he would hold a special presidential election to convince U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Administration that he still enjoyed popular support. A month later, Corazon Aquino announced that she would challenge Marcos for the presidency. The military men established links with Aquino and helped train her security detail...