Corazon Cojuanco Aquino

Corazon Cojuanco Aquino

First President of the Fifth Republic of the Philippines and the first woman president of the Philippines


Birthdate: January 25, 1933

Term: February 25, 1986- June 301992


Political leader and the First Woman President of the Philippines. She succeeded her murdered husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. a popular critic of the Marcos administration, as leader of the opposition to President Ferdinand Marcos.

Economic Program of the Aquino Administration:

When Aquino became president, she inherited an economy that was bankrupt and debt-ridden as a result of twenty years of misrule and mismanagement under the Marcos regime. As president, Aquino focused her attention and energy to revitalize and rejuvenate the sagging economy.

One of her boldest moves was to dismantle the various monopolies that were perpetrated by Marcos during his stay in power. She also moved quickly to tackle the issue of the US$26 billion foreign debt incurred by her predecessor. Instead of repudiating it, Aquino chose to honor all the debts that were incurred previously under different administrations. Her decision proved to be unpopular but Aquino defended it, saying that it was the most practical move and choice to make as it was crucial for the country at that time to regain the confidence of investors and the international community in the Philippine economy. Since 1986, a portion of the national budget has been used to pay off the country's outstanding debts in order to regain good international credit ratings and attract the attention of future markets.
Further, the Aquino administration also sought to bring back fiscal discipline in order as it aimed to trim down the government's budget deficit that ballooned during Marcos' term through privatization of bad government assets and deregulation of many vital industries. It was also during Aquino's time that vital economic laws such as the Built-Operate-Transfer Law, Foreign Investments Act and the Consumer Protection and Welfare Act were enacted.
Furthermore, the economy posted a positive growth of 3.4% during her first year in office. On the overall, the economy under Aquino had an average growth of 3.8% from 1986 to 1992.
Upon her ascension into power, President Aquino envisioned agrarian and land reform as the centerpiece of her administration's social legislative agenda.