Cory Aquino

GROUP 2 PRESENTS

Cory Aquino's speech

before the joint session of the u.s. Congress

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Table of cONTENTS

I Rationale II. RRL III. Theme IV. Effects

V. Underlying Circumstances VI. Roles and Intentions of the Authors

Rationale

From the historic event which had taken place that put a mark in Philippine history, Corazon Aquino’s speech before the joint session of the United States Congress on September 18, 1986 gave insights to many people in our nation and globally as well. Among these people were authors, who used media as a medium to express their opinions on the subject matter. In their works, the authors were able to convey certain reasons as to why they chose to write about the given topic. Upon reading their outputs, each of them had different reasons but all varying reasons may be connected to one another which leads us to the main reason, which is to show the target audience, the Filipino people, how far the country has progressed and improved since the speech was deliveredx

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

A Filipino historian named Jose Victor Torres wrote an educational book called “Batis”. A chapter of the book recounts the speech of President Corazon “Cory” Aquino that includes information about the speaker, the speech, and historical context. • As cited by Balladares & Chu, Torres hopes that in the course of studying our past, the young people of today will have a better understanding and appreciation of the Philippines, its people, and its culture. • According to Bilocura & Villalino, Torres’ arguments were that this speech gave credence to the People Power Revolution all over the world that change was possible through peaceful means.

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

President’s Secretary, Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin, Jr., only made the draft of the speech, and President Cory finished and delivered the speech to the U.S Congress. • As summarized by Ortiga, Cory mentions Ninoy Aquino’s death as the country’s resurrection in the courage and faith by which they could be free. • According to Balladares, Cory said that the Philippines paid an interest on a debt whose benefits the Filipino people never received and that she would not compromise the cause of peace from which she came to power.

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

Kerri Lee Alexander wrote a detailed article focused on Cory’s background and journey to presidency. • According to Bilocura and Villalino, Alexander tries to explain how the consecutive events came to be through the perspective of Cory and her perspective alone so we can better understand the events through her lens. • Also, as cited by Bilocura, Alexander did not have a noticeable argument. Her article was neutral with the intention to inform and educate those who would read up about Cory Aquino

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

American writer Joanne Omang, wrote a news report entitled “Aquino Appeals to Congress” that demonstrated the commitment of Cory Aquino to help the Filipinos who fought for honor. • According to Balladares and Chu, Omang believed that the US Congress was moved by Cory’s willingness to represent her country and made them approve the request for economic assistance. • As cited by Balladares, Omang argues that Aquino was on the right track in advocating peace overtures before renewed fighting and showed consummate finesse and good political instincts

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

According to Redona, Filipino author Miguel Escobar wrote an article entitled “Revisit Cory Aquino’s Historic 1986 Speech Before The U.S. Congress”' • The author states that this was written in order to make the audience be aware about the state of the government of the Philippines and why the speech was made

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

Atty. Bradley Schwer on his thesis entitled “The 1986 Filipino Crisis: Triumph of Democracy through U.S. Intervention An Honors Thesis (HONRS 499)”, as cited by Montero, states that the intervention of the U.S. government, supporting and granting financial aid to the Philippines after President Corazon Aquino’s speech, had different consequences.

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

According to Villalino, Mark Fineman, author of “LA Times Article: “Congress Cheers Aquino; House Votes Aid Increase”, tries to paint a detailed picture of how the event happened; by describing the color of the clothes people were wearing to the general atmosphere of the setting to make the reader feel like they are experiencing the event themselves. She stood firm in her belief that talks are a sensible first step toward peace and went a long way toward proving her credibility during her meetings with Reagan

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

David McKittrick, as cited by Ortiga wrote that the speech is more about the contributions during the Presidential time of Corazon Aquino and how she managed, although wasn’t able to fully restore the economy, a deteriorating country from the hands of a dictator.

Review of RELATED LITERATURE

Michael Serrill on his work “The Philippines Cory Hits a Grand Slam”, as cited by Chu argued that Aquino defended her policy of reconciliation in order to aid the rebuilding of the Philippines’ shattered economy. She stood firm in her belief that talks are a sensible first step toward peace and went a long way toward proving her credibility during her meetings with Reagan

Roles and intentions of the AUthors

Joanne Omang believed that Cory took responsibility for combating the independence that the country Her willingness to represent her country and made them approve the request for economic assistance.

Jose Victor Torres intentions were to address, report, and inform readers or the audience of the happenings that occurred during the Marcos era.

Michael S. Serrill showed his readers how capable Corazon Aquino is in trying to restore her people's broken economy

Kerri Lee Alexander's intentions were solely to relay and report information on what transpired in Cory’s step to presidency and her article under the National Women’s History Museum portal is there to bring information to the public about the many notable and powerful women that have played a part in history.

Mark Fineman has been studying this issue closely since the Marcos dictatorship. The historic speech was deeply personal and told the story of how Cory Aquino came to be president. declared the freedom of the Filipinos from the Marcos regime and appealed for financial assistance by informing the US Congress about the Philippines’ current state.

Roles and intentions of the AUthors

Atty. Bradley W. Schwer discussed the role of U.S. and the Filipinos on the 1986 crisis in the Philippines and reasons why the US government leaned on granting financial aid, give statistics on the economic downfall of the Philippines during Marcos Administration. He conveys democracy, and if it were not for the U.S. government, the presidency of Aquino would not have been feasible.

David McKittrick author wanted to pay tribute to her heroic acts and bravely lead the country out of its doom. He said “Yet overall, she left a mark on the history of her troubled country, so deep and so lasting that her death will bring a surge of emotion as the heady days of the short but memorable Aquino era are reassessed.”

Miguel Escobar showed a short gist of the state of the Philippine government during the year 1986 and what had happened prior to the speech.

theme

Former President Corazon Aquino’s speech multiple themes which include nationalism, international relations between the Philippines and the United States, empathy, sympathy, democracy, human rights, resourcefulness, and debt. But her main themes focus on democracy and nationalism.

theme

The other themes, namely empathy, sympathy, human rights, debt, and international relations came into play when Aquino emphasized the people, the struggles and abuse under the control of the government, the people's deep compassion for the motherland, and the urgency to receive aid.

EFFECTS

Cory Aquino was successful in persuading the U.S. Congress to provide financial assistance to the Filipino people and the Philippines. Five hours after President Cory Aquino's speech, the House of Representatives voted, 203-197, to give the Philippines $200 million in emergency aid. When the nation was rightly claimed free, it was the effects of the Marcos dictatorship that had to be dealt with next, specifically the foreign debt of the Philippines In the year 1980, because of Marcos' corruption, he was unable to pay the foreign loans he took in the year 1970. This had a major impact on the economy that affected the Filipinos in areas such as poverty, high taxes, high unemployment, and reduced salaries of workers

EFFECTS

Sadly, as the Aquino administration failed to enforce social-economic reforms, the newly-restored freedom did not last. Peace and order issues continued, especially with the communist insurgency, and it was not long before the government also dealt with right-wing elements in the military, leading to several supporters of Marcos initiating attempted coups. Former Armed Forces Chief of Staff and Defense Secretary, Fidel Ramos, succeeded her in 1992 as president. She later returned to the limelight when she supported President Joseph Estrada's impeachment, later known as EDSA 2. And in 2007, with her support, Aquino's son Noynoy successfully ran for Senate. She was diagnosed with cancer a year later. Corazon Aquino passed away on August 1, 2009. Her son was elected president of the Philippines a few months later. She unfortunately did not live to see him win.

Underlying circumstances

Nearly every senator and congressman in the hall marked the occasion by wearing in his lapel a yellow rose--the color of Aquino’s three-year protest campaign. Many of the lawmakers and Cabinet members present also wore yellow ties. This may suggest that Congress was already showing their support of Aquino’s peace endeavors even though it was her first appearance before them, and even though they supported Marcos before as well. After meeting President Aquino, US President Reagan made it clear that he supports Aquino’s talk-then-fight strategy, and the reaction of Congress afterwards indicated that it, too, endorses the current Philippine policy. Thus, the speech helped silence factions within the Administration that oppose Aquino’s approach. Even more significant, he said, was that the address was telecast live by satellite in Manila at U.S. government expense.

thank YOU!