Literary Journalism/Reportage and natural disasters, but an incident involving her youngest daughter Kris. Mrs.
nd natural disasters, but an incident involving her youngest daughter Kris. Mrs. Aquino related she
SPECIAL REPORT: Shattering the Glass Ceiling
Housewife, President, Unfading Icon
By Judy T. Gulane
It was with great hesitation that Corazon C.
Aquino decided to run against strongman Ferdinand
E. Marcos in the snap election on Feb.7, 1986. After
all, she was simply a housewife and the mother of
five children, who avoided politics when she could.
But Mrs. Aquino was no ordinary woman.
Realizing it was now up to her to fulfil the dream of
her husband-the opposition senator Benigno "Ninoy"
S. Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated upon coming
back to the Philippines in 1983-to free the country
from the grip of the dictatorship, she agreed to
represent the opposition and to challenge Mr.
Marcos.
In so doing, she became the country's first woman president. But her ascent to the post was
anything but easy.
While she was widely believed to have won the election, Mr. Marcos pronounced himself the
winner and ordered the parliament to declare him so. The Reform the Armed Forces Movement or RAM
led by the charismatic Colonel Grugorio "Gringo"B. Honasan tried to stage a coupon Feb. 22, 1986 but
was forced, together with patron Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces Vice-Chief of
staff Fidel V. Ramos, to retreat to the constabulary headquarters in Camp Crame just across the military
headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.
The late Cardinal Jaime Sin, archbishop of Manila, urged the public to go to the Epifanio de los
Santos Avenue or EDSA that separated the two camps to protect the rebels. More than a million
Filipinos came and stayed for three days. Then US President Ronald Reagan finally decided to
withdraw support from Mr. Marcos, forcing him and his family, his closest advisers and cronies to pack
up and leave for the US on Feb. 25, 1986. Mrs. Aquino was sworn in as president that same day.
If becoming president was difficult, staying as one was even harder. Mrs. Aquino had to attend
to a state and economy in shambles and at the same time face seven coup attempts, two of them
serious enough to almost unseat her. An earthquake almost levelled Baguio City in July 199owhile Mt.
Pinatubo erupted in June 1991, laying Central Luzon farmlands to waste.
How she survived those trying years in Malacañang and the years prior to that-the martial law
period, Mr. Aquino's assassination, the campaign for the presidency and the "People Power" uprising in
1g86-was essentially due to Mrs. Aquino's abiding faith in God.
In an interview, Mrs. Aquino said she learned to trust everything to the Lord after a harrowing
experience that made her "want to give up. "It wasn't Mr. Aquino's assassination or the seven coups
was in the garden one day, attending to her bonsai. This was during martial law, when Mr. Aquino was
incarcerated in Fort Bonifacio along with other opposition members. Kris had joined her in the garden.
Suddenly, Mr. Aquino's two dogs - named Ferdie and Meldy - came running into the garden,
one of them biting the startled Kris in the thigh. Mrs. Aquino could not tear Kris away, and was
extremely grateful when the family gardener, to whom the dogs were loyal, arrived to call the animals.
"We wrapped Kris in a beach towel, because blood was gushing out of her thigh, “Mrs. Aquino recalled.
"We took her to the FEU [Far Eastern University] Hospital, where we found out that, thankfully, the bite
did not hit an artery. I' the later visited Mr. Aquino at the Veterans Memorial Hospital, where he was
recovering from a 4o-day hunger strike. "I told Ninoy [what happened]. I was really sobbing; I was ready
to give up."
She questioned why she must undergo suffering. "What wrongs have I done to deserve this, and what
must I do to redress the wrongs?” She was counselled by two priests, who told her that human suffering
has nothing to do with one's wrong doings, but is an opportunity for Christians to share in the sufferings
of Jesus Christ. “They told me I should accept suffering as part of life in and with Christ. And I should
trust in the Lord," Mrs. Aquino said.
Her trials mounted when she became the president, but she did not think once of giving up.
She took comfort in what Sister Lucia, one of the three who witnessed the Lady of the Fatima, told her.
"It was in the early days of my presidency. Coming
back from Portugal, Cardinal Sin gave me a rosary
that Sister Lucia made herself. He also relayed to me
her message, that I would undergo more suffering,
but in the end I would overcome,” she recalled.
Mrs. Aquino believed becoming president
was her destiny, although she had no inkling about it
when she married Mr. Aquino in 1955 at the age of
21."It was Ninoy who wanted to be president. I was
just determined to be a good wife and mother. Ninoy
worked very hard for his dream, while I had no
ambition whatsoever.
Yet it paid to learn from no less than Mr. Marcos's main rival. As she admitted, “basically, what
I knew of politics, I learned from Ninoy, even if I was not a direct participant.” Martial law, declared on
Sept. 21, 1972 that saw the arrest and detention of thousands including Mr. Aquino, and his
assassination, just as he came out of a plane after a three-year exile in the US, also forced her to step
out of the home and take on a public role.
In a speech in 2004, Mrs. Aquino said she could have chosen to say "no" to the responsibilities
hoisted on her. "I could have turned my back and said ‘no.’ But a hero is someone who is willing to
sacrifice for others.”
"Think of Nelson Mandela and his 27 years in prison. When things seem desperate or
impossible, people like Nelson Mandela or Ninoy give you hope. So I thought: 'If I don't at least try, my
conscience may bother me later on and make me wonder if I could have made a difference.”
 Asked what she considers as her greatest accomplishment as president, Mrs. Aquino readily
answered "the restoration of democracy.” “I dare anybody to do the same thing,” the widow, who
thought herself too inexperienced to challenge Mr. Marcos, said.
Mrs. Aquino completed her six-year term in 1992, turning over the reins of the presidency to
Mr. Ramos. And whereas she became president on the crest of the people's uprising in 1986, she
chose to leave Mr. Ramos's inauguration quietly, in a Toyota Crown she herself purchased, to return to
the family home in Times St., Quezon City.
She is not about to fade away into retirement, however. She is committed to spread the ideals
of “people power, “launching the peoplepower People Movement on Aug. 21, 2003, the 2oth death
anniversary of Mr. Aquino.
"We need to help people help themselves,” ‘she said, taking note that the government alone cannot
solve all of the country's problems.
The Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation, which she heads, has undertaken a microfinance project with
the Assisi Development Foundation, Inc. The project, launched just two years ago, now has about
28,000clients, all of them women, and enjoys a repayment rate of 99%.
"Microfinance is helping them help themselves. For instance, they told me they did not need to borrow
at the beginning of this school year since they had put some money away for their children's schooling,
“she said.
The immediate task now is to increase the number of areas covered by the project, and to help
women's microenterprises expand to small enterprises, said the former president (Business World,
2006).
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COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
About the content:
8. What to her (Mrs. Aquino) was her greatest accomplishment as a president?
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9. Who are the primary clienteles of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation?
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10. What is the goal of the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation?
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On the structure:
1. What information was presented in the reportage?
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2. Can you say that the report was well-researched? Why?
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3. What, do you think, are the research techniques or tools used by the author in writing the report?
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4. What pattern of organization was used to arrange the idea in the report?
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5. What literary techniques/devices were used by the author?
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In a nutshell…
In a short bond paper, create a pictograph, word graph, or a collage that
summarizes your understanding of what literary journalism/reportage is.

1. What forced Mrs. Aquino to run for presidency?

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Example:
2. What forced the Marcos’s to pack up and leave for the U.S on Feb. 25, 1986?
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3. How did she survive the trying moments in Malacañang and other trials in her life?
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4. What life experience did she have that almost made her want to give up?
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5. According to the priests that counselled Mrs. Aquino, how should we accept/look at sufferings in
life?
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6. While her husband, Ninoy, wanted to become a president, what was Mrs. Aquino’s dream on the
other hand?
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7. How long did she serve as the president of the Republic of the Philippines?
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