Born in Tarlac province to parents Jose Cojuangco and Demetria Sumulong of Antipolo, Rizal, Corazon “Cory’’ Cojuangco was the fourth among six children. Her siblings were Pedro, Josephine Reyes, Teresita Lopa, Jose Jr., and Maria Paz Teopaco. She was sent to St. Scholastica’s College Manila and finished grade school as class valedictorian in 1943. In 1946, she studied high school for one year in Assumption Convent Manila. She was sent to the United States to study in Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia, the Notre Dame Convent School and the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York.

Cory studied liberal arts and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in French Language and minor in Mathematics. She intended to become a math teacher and language interpreter.

When the young Corazon returned to the Philippines, she enrolled in the law school of Far Eastern University, studies that she gave up in 1954 when she married Benigno Servillano “Ninoy’’ Aquino Jr., the son of Benigno Q. Aquino, former Speaker of the Second Philippine Republic National Assembly from 1943 to 1944.

She dutifully performed the role of a supportive wife and caring mother to their children. When her husband was incarcerated at the start of Martial Law, she drew strength from prayer, attending daily mass and saying three rosaries a day.

When her husband decided to return to the Philippines after being exiled in the United States in 1983, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino knew the danger to her husband’s life but accepted his decision. After Ninoy was assassinated upon his return, she herself returned to the country and soon took an active role in bringing about unity among the elements of the opposition.

In several mobilizations that drew the participation of an erstwhile apathetic middle class, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino increasingly became a leading figure in the opposition and was subsequently tapped to run for President by a movement that generated a million signatures to convince her of the Filipino people’s determination to end the dictatorship. Although reluctant at first, she eventually was convinced following a ten-hour meditation session at a Catholic convent.

At the February 7, 1986, elections, the people continued to protest the subversion of their will, with Mrs. Aquino taking the lead in the protests. When the people power uprising succeeded, she was installed as President in the morning of February 25, 1986, at the Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila.

Declared Time Magazine Woman of the Year in 1986, Mrs. Aquino spared no time in dismantling the institutions of dictatorship and setting into motion the framing of a democratic political order. The six-year administration of President Aquino saw the enactment of a new Philippine Constitution and several significant legal reforms, including a new agrarian reform law and a new local government code. President Aquino was clear about her mandate, distancing herself from any partisan affiliation and remaining true to the commitment to secure a peaceful and orderly transition of governmental administration in the 1992 elections.

After her term in office, former President Aquino went back to private life, leading a simple life that had been characteristic of her across the years. She devoted her time to forming and leading non-governmental organizations that provided direct assistance to the needy, such as the PinoyME Foundation, a non-profit organization that assisted microfinance institutions through the provision of loans; providing social welfare and scholarship assistance projects through the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation; and good governance advocacy through the EDSA People Power Commission and the People Power Movement.

She was likewise active in the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize  highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. In her spare time, President Aquino painted, and was fond of giving her paintings as gifts to her close friends and acquaintances, including several world leaders, diplomats, and corporate executives.

As an advocate of democracy, President Aquino was easily drawn to movements that called for the protection of the democratic gains after EDSA 1986. She persistently spoke against the extension of constitutionally set term limits for the President, and impressed upon her successors the need to be sensitive to their accountabilities. President Aquino’s influence in Philippine politics remained and even expanded after her term.

President Aquino received numerous awards and citations among which are the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding from the Fulbright Association, joining past recipients such as Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela in 1996. In 1998, she was conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding. 

Last year, she was named by the Europe-based A Different View as one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy, along with Abraham H. Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Lech Walesa, and Vaclav Havel. Last year, she was given the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize and the United Nations Development Fund for Women Noel Award for Political Leadership. She was conferred many honorary doctorates by universities in the Philippines, Asia, and the United States.

Her health deteriorated last March, 2008, as she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She, however, continued her advocacies and displayed the strength of her faith. When masses and prayers were being offered for her recovery, she thanked the many who prayed for her, but she also asked them to pray more profoundly for the others who may be suffering from the same illness and for all Filipinos who were experiencing difficulties.

For all that Corazon Aquino has done, for her family, for our beloved country, for the world, two things stand out – her persistent advocacy for democracy and her unwavering faith in the goodness of God, her source of strength amidst all the trials that she has encountered.

We extend our condolences and sympathies to the family of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, children Maria Elena “Ballsy’’ A. Cruz, Victoria Eliza “Viel’’ A. Dee, Aurora Corazon “Pinky’’ A. Abellada, Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy’’ C. Aquino III, and Kristina Bernadette “Kris’’ A. Yap, grandchildren, and other relatives, and, together with them pray, for the eternal repose of her soul.

May she rest in peace.