1986 SNAP ELECTION The Presidential and Vice-Presidential snap elections were held on February 7, 1986 in the Philippines.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos and former Foreign Affairs Minister and Senate President Arturo Tolentino were proclaimed winners by the Batasang Pambansa as well as the official election canvasser, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) thus granting President Marcos another six-year term as President of the Philippines. The electoral exercise was marred by alleged electoral fraud from both sides of the political fence as well as violence. Marcos and Tolentino won by over a million votes according to the COMELEC. The opposition headed by Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr.'s widow Corazon C. Aquino and former senator Salvador Laurel refused to accept the allegedly fraudulent result. Due to the reports of fraud, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a statement condemning the elections, the United States Senate passed a resolution stating the same. This chain of events eventually led to the resignation of Marcos' Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and military vice-chief Fidel Ramos, who then decided to seclude themselves in the military and police headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame respectively, leading to the People Power Revolution which precipitated Marcos's departure from the country into exile in Hawaii. On March 24, 1986, the Regular Batasang Pambansa made a people's resolution signed by 150 lawmakers which nullified the election returns that proclaimed that Marcos and Tolentino as the winners. Instead, it mandated that Aquino and Laurel were the real winners of the snap elections.

THE ENRILE RAMOS REVOLT AND PEOPLE POWER I After opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated in 1983, Ponce Enrile became fearful for his safety. As the Marcos dictatorship became increasingly unpopular, he began aligning himself with dissident elements in the army, particularly the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM). Officers from this group, with Ponce Enrile' support, moved to launch a coup dtat against Marcos in February 1986. Marcos was alerted to the plot, and the conspirators took refuge in two military camps. From there, Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos, the head of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police), rallied opponents against Marcos in a citizen revolt that became known as the People Power Movement. At the same time, Ponce Enrile revealed details of the public deception he had perpetuated while serving in Marcoss government. This included being aware of fraudulent votes in the 1986 presidential election and faking an assassination attempt on his own life in 1972, which helped provide Marcos with the justification for declaring martial law. Juan Ponce Enrile thereafter emerged as one of the perceived 'heroes' of the People Power Movement, although the reasons for his involvement with the movement were highly disputed. In the postmartial law era, rumors spread that Ramos and Ponce Enrile were among the two think tanks in the assassination of "Ninoy" Aquino. It is alleged that in order not to be accused with the Marcoses, the two plotted a coup against the president.

CORY AQUINO PROCLAMATION AND MARCOS OUSTER The People's Power movement, which bore fruit in the ouster of Marcos on February 25, 1986, was broad-based but primarily, although not exclusively, urban-based, indeed the movement was commonly known in Manila as the EDSA Revolution. People's Power encompassed members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the business elite, and a faction of the armed forces. Its millions of rural, workingclass, middle-class, and professional supporters were united not by ideology or class interests, but by their esteem for Aquino's widow, Corazon, and their disgust with the Marcos regime. After her husband's assassination, Corazon Aquino assumed first a symbolic and then a substantive role as leader of the opposition. A devout Catholic and a shy and self-styled "simple housewife," Mrs. Aquino inspired trust and devotion. Some, including top American policy makers, regarded her as inexperienced and naive. Yet in the events leading up to Marcos's ouster she displayed unexpected shrewdness and determination. THE AQUINO REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT (1986 1992) With the People Power Revolution, Corazon Aquino's assumption into power marked the restoration of democracy in the country. Aquino immediately formed a revolutionary government to normalize the situation, and provided for a transitional "Freedom Constitution" that restored civil liberties and dismantled the heavily Marcos-ingrained bureaucracy abolishing the Batasang Pambansa and relieving all public officials. The Aquino appointed a constitutional commission that submitted a new permanent constitution that was ratified and enacted in February 1987. The constitution crippled presidential power to declare martial law, proposed the creation of autonomous regions in the Cordilleras and Muslim Mindanao, and restored the presidential form of government and the bicameral Congress. Progress was made in revitalizing democratic institutions and respect for civil liberties, but Aquino's administration was also viewed as weak

and fractious, and a return to full political stability and economic development was hampered by several attempted coups staged by disaffected members of the Philippine military. Aquino privatized many of the utilities the government owned, such as water and electricity. This practice was viewed by many as Aquino catering to oligarchic as well U.S. interests, losing the government's power of regulation. Economic growth was additionally hampered by a series of natural disasters. In June 1991, Mount Pinatubo in Central Luzon erupted, after being dormant for 600 years. It was the 2nd largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. It left 700 dead and 200,000 homeless, and cooled global weather by 1.5C. In September 16, 1991, despite lobbying by President Aquino, the Philippine Senate rejected a treaty that would have allowed a 10-year extension of the U.S. military bases in the country. The United States turned over Clark Air Base in Pampanga to the government in November, and Subic Bay Naval Base in Zambales in December 1992, ending almost a century of U.S. military presence in the Philippines. THE FREEDOM CONSTITUTION In 1986, following the People Power Revolution which ousted Ferdinand Marcos as president, and following on her own inauguration, Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No. 3, declaring a national policy to implement the reforms mandated by the people, protecting their basic rights, adopting a provisional constitution, and providing for an orderly translation to a government under a new constitution.[4] President Aquino later issued Proclamation No. 9, creating a Constitutional Commission (popularly abbreviated "Con Com" in the Philippines) to frame a new constitution to replace the 1973 Constitution which took effect during the Marcos's martial law regime. Aquino appointed 50 members to the Commission. The members of the Commission were drawn from varied backgrounds, including several former congressmen, a former Supreme Court Chief

Justice (Roberto Concepcion), a Catholic bishop (Teodoro Bacani) and film director (Lino Brocka). Aquino also deliberately appointed 5 members, including former Labor Minister Blas Ople, who had been allied with Marcos until the latter's ouster. After the Commission had convened, it elected as its president Cecilia Muoz Palma, who had emerged as a leading figure in the anti-Marcos opposition following her retirement as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, . The Commission finished the draft charter within four months after it was convened. Several issues were heatedly debated during the sessions, including on the form of government to adopt, the abolition of the death penalty, the continued retention of the Clark and Subic American military bases, and the integration of economic policies into the Constitution. Brocka would walk out of the Commission before its completion, and two other delegates would dissent from the final draft. The ConCom completed their task on October 12, 1986 and presented the draft constitution to President Aquino on October 15, 1986. After a period of nationwide information campaign, a plebiscite for its ratification was held on February 2, 1987. More than threefourth of all votes cast, 76.37% (or 17,059,495 voters) favored ratification as against 22.65% (or 5,058,714 voters) who voted against ratification. On February 11, 1987, the new constitution was proclaimed ratified and took effect. On that same day, Aquino, the other government officials, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines pledged allegiance to the Constitution.

FRAMING OF THE 1987 CONSTITUTION In 1986, following the People Power Revolution which ousted Ferdinand Marcos as president, and following on her own inauguration, Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No. 3, declaring a national policy to implement the reforms mandated by the people, protecting their basic rights, adopting a provisional constitution, and

providing for an orderly translation to a government under a new constitution.[4] President Aquino later issued Proclamation No. 9, creating a Constitutional Commission (popularly abbreviated "Con Com" in the Philippines) to frame a new constitution to replace the 1973 Constitution which took effect during the Marcos's martial law regime. Aquino appointed 50 members to the Commission. The members of the Commission were drawn from varied backgrounds, including several former congressmen, a former Supreme Court Chief Justice (Roberto Concepcion), a Catholic bishop (Teodoro Bacani) and film director (Lino Brocka). Aquino also deliberately appointed 5 members, including former Labor Minister Blas Ople, who had been allied with Marcos until the latter's ouster. After the Commission had convened, it elected as its president Cecilia Muoz Palma, who had emerged as a leading figure in the anti-Marcos opposition following her retirement as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, . The Commission finished the draft charter within four months after it was convened. Several issues were heatedly debated during the sessions, including on the form of government to adopt, the abolition of the death penalty, the continued retention of the Clark and Subic American military bases, and the integration of economic policies into the Constitution. Brocka would walk out of the Commission before its completion, and two other delegates would dissent from the final draft. The ConCom completed their task on October 12, 1986 and presented the draft constitution to President Aquino on October 15, 1986. After a period of nationwide information campaign, a plebiscite for its ratification was held on February 2, 1987. More than threefourth of all votes cast, 76.37% (or 17,059,495 voters) favored ratification as against 22.65% (or 5,058,714 voters) who voted against ratification. On February 11, 1987, the new constitution was proclaimed ratified and took effect. On that same day, Aquino, the other government officials, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines pledged allegiance to the Constitution.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF AQUINO ADMINISTRATION 1986 Time Magazine Woman of the Year 1986 Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award 1986 United Nations Silver Medal 1986 Canadian International Prize for Freedom 1986 Nobel Peace Prize nominee 1986 International Democracy Award from the International Association of Political Consultants 1987 Prize For Freedom Award from Liberal International 1993 Special Peace Award from the Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Awards Foundation and Concerned Women of the Philippines 1994 One of 100 Women Who Shaped World History (by G.M. Rolka, Bluewood Books, San Francisco, CA) 1995 Path to Peace Award 1996 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding from the U.S. Department of State 1998 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding 1998 Pearl S. Buck Award 1999 One of Time Magazine's 20 Most Influential Asians of the 20th Century 2001 World Citizenship Award 2005 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Awards 2005 One of the World's Elite Women Who Make a Difference by the International Women's Forum Hall of Fame 2006 One of Time Magazine's 65 Asian Heroes 2008 One of A Different View's 15 Champions of World Democracy EWC Asia Pacific Community Building Award Women's International Center International Leadership Living Legacy Award Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize United Nations Development Fund for Women Noel Award for Political

Leadership END OF THE AQUINO ADMINISTRATION Following the end of her term, Aquino retired to private life. When she rode away from the inauguration of her successor, she chose to go in a simple white Toyota Crown she had purchased (rather than the government-issue Mercedes), to make the point that she was once again an ordinary citizen.[25] Aquino led the Pinoy Foundation, a non-profit organization that assists microfinance institutions through the provision of loans.[26] She also oversaw 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. President Aquino was likewise a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. Aquino was a skilled painter, and was fond of giving her own paintings as gifts to her close friends and acquaintances, including world leaders, diplomats, and corporate executives. SOURCES : http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/senatorsname-juan-ponce-enrile-as-new-philippine-senate-562997
: Library of Congress: Portals to the World <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/phtoc.html

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